This book was one of the best that I've ever read... and I've read a ton of books. In this book, Gary Gargoyle encounters a pollution that he can't purify, so he goes to the good magician for help. Not surprisingly, the good magician tells him what he needs then sends Gary off to do the job he must do for repayment of the good magician's service of helping him. He gets a hard job though... tutoring (Remember Grundy and Rapunzel's daughter?) Surprise!

Peirs Anthony may not be the best fantasy writer in my book, but he has a great gift for light-hearted fantasy! This story takes us all of the way through the punny world of Xanth, but there's something great about this book! Most of it takes place in an even wackier place-unbelievable, right? Wrong! This place is the madness, where angry constellations stir up a fight! It's great isn't it!

In a way, this books needs no explination because really any Xanth book is worth the read, but this is one of the greater ones! Trust me! Don't miss this! Enjoy!

This book started out as easy reading - comprehensible and not much to the story line. As the book progressed, however, the plot became more detailed as more and more characters were introduced. I would recommend the reader to definitely have a strong imagination to picture the intricate objects explained in this book, as well as the scenery. I found this book to be most enjoyable; I read it in only three days. I definitely look forward to reading more Xanth books, this being my first.

I am a 16 year-old guy who loves Piers Anthony's style of writing. This book has staked its claim at the top of my list of Xanth writings. Wow. This novel is full of twists and turns that keeps the reader coming back for more. Even if you have read ahead of this and know the story, you will be quite pleased. Che Centaur is the only offspring of his kind that he knows of, and he is protected by all the winged monsters of Xanth due to a pledge enstated by the infamous Simurgh, however, Che is kidnapped by Goblins. (Never good!) Meanwhile, it is a very short time away from poor Electra's eighteenth birthday, and Prince Dolph has still not chosen between the voluptuous Princess Nada Naga and Electra, the maiden he awoke from a 1000 year slumber, who has fallen magically in love with him. Naturally being a young man, Dolph is considering Nada Naga mor readily than Electra, despite the huge age difference between himself the half-serpentine princess. The book pans out in the usual Piers Anthony way, full of puns, twists and turns, and has a beautifully written climax that can literally take your breath away. If you like fantasy at all, you must pick this book up. Also, on a personal note, Jenny Elf is introduced in this book, and for those who are unaware, Jenny Elf is actually a real girl who has horribly injured for life in a brutal drunk-driving accident, when she was a young girl. Her story is also in the end notes of this book. It truly brings a tear to one's eye, and this reviewer's heart goes out to her and her family.

The Xanth series is the best series I have ever gotten into. I believe that the best book in this series so far is Isle of View. Isle of View captures the essence of the soul of Xanth, with characters such a the undecided Dolph, who can't make up his mind between the beautiful Nada, whom he loves with all his heart, or the unbeautiful, but sweet and rather cute Electra, who loves him with all her heart. Unfortunatly, Dolph will have his heart forever broken if he can't have Nada. Electra, because of an enchantment placed on her 900 years ago, will be forever dead if she can't have Dolph. There's also lovable Che, who was kidnapped by Gobins. The Goblins had a good reason, which complicated things, and left poor Jenny to make her most diffucult decision, What was more important, Che being with his parents, and educated in the fashion of a young winged centaur, or the life of a Goblin girl?

Isle of View is a fun-filled, action-packed extravaganza! It's absolutely my favorite of all the Xanth novels. I would recommend this book to anyone.

I happen to own all five books of the Bio of a Space Tyrant series, in paperback format. I've read each one at least twice. I was looking to replace rather a worn-out copy of Politician - but now it appears I will have to scour the Out-of-Prints. This pentology tells the epic tale of one boy's rise from humble beginnings as a refugee to becoming a powerful leader, visionary, and elder statesman in a setting where the political climate holds close parallels with our own global situation of the early 1980s.

In REFUGEE, we follow Hope Hubris as a teenager with his family, forced to escape from Callisto (counterpart to Cuba or Haiti) into space and brave the depradations of pirates in the hopes of finding a better life elsewhere. Raped, plundered, and set adrift by pirates, the survivors resort to cannibalism to survive - eating their own friends and family.

In MERCENARY, we find Hope and his sister Spirit as the only known survivors of their family. Now in the military of the United States of Jupiter (counterpart to our United States), they proceed to ascend the ranks, gather allies, and mount an expedition to wipe out piracy throughout the solar system.

Returning from their successful mission, Hope turns to civilian life and embarks upon a career as a POLITICIAN, with the eventual goal of becoming President of the United States of Jupiter. With the help of his wife, Meghan, his sister, Spirit, and others, he succeeds - with a twist. Massive opposition from the incumbent president, Tocsin, leads a Constitutional assembly to suspend their Constitution and government and declare Hope Hubris to be the sole source of lawful government.

Backed by the military of which he was once a part of, he takes power as Tyrant in EXECUTIVE. Under his rule, he enforces sweeping social changes in government - addressing recurring societal problems within health care, education, crime, and the economy by executive fiat. While this approach solves some problems, his harsh rule lends strength to oppositional forces that eventually force him from power.

In the last book of the series, STATESMAN, a middle-aged Hope Hubris travels the solar system, promoting peace and sharing his vision of developing light-speed travel as a means of settling mankind into the stars before political and populational pressures cause the solar system to erupt into an unsurvivable System War III (counterpart to what would be our World War III).

The Bio of a Space Tyrant series really is an excellent read, but it can definitely bore others. If you want, you can read Mercenary first. The military tactics, intrigue, and human manipulation angles can be very interesting. It might then lead you to want to read the others, including Refugee, the book that began it all, or Executive, which is also somewhat fun.

I hope you find this review useful in determining whether these books are worthy of your purchase.

I was an early lover of the Xanth series and then the Incarnation series. Although not all of Piers Anthony's books/Series have given me equal pleasure, I found a second hand copy of of all five books of this series years ago and plunged into a most vivid world of imagination for a week and a half. I was consumed by this wonderful story of the adventure, ingenuity and growth of Hope Hubris (what an appropriate name!) and his sister. I somehow lost the books among many moves and am hoping I can buy them again to share with my son.

The books are not really out of print. All five volumes of Bio of a Space Tyrant can be found at www.Xlibris.com (search under piers), however these new copies are expensive and are not too hard to find used.

The books parallel the history of the last 50 tears transposed to the twenty-seventh century. The first volume is quite downbeat; the other four are more like Piers's usual upbeat style. The originals of a lot the places and people can be identified. For example Megan (of volume 3) is Helen Mary Gahagan Douglas who lost a race for the Senate to Nixon in 1950. One final comment. There is a nice definition of honor on page 72 of Mercenary (vol.2). Those familiar with Piers's books know this is a recurring theme for him.

I read the first 2 books, and read this one for the sake of finishing the trilogy. I hoped that it would be better, but unfortunately I am disappointed.

Firstly, the writing just doesn't flow. The very opening of the book seems chunky and stilted. It takes quite an effort to read the whole book. Throughout, much of the dialogue seems...weird... just not natural at all. You have this sense that the characters have written their thoughts down and are reciting it.

Though the storyline is on the whole acceptable, I find that much of the book is cluttered with details, details and more details. I find myself flipping over pages, even chapters, at a time, skipping tedious commentary and descriptions to get straight to the action.

Piers Anthony can write better than this. Just look at most of his Xanth novels -- plots flow smoothly, the writing is fluent and fresh, etc. Somehow this one has the feel of being written when half asleep.

I thought that this book was better than the first two. Not that it was written any better, but that it had more interesting things going on in it. I thought that it was interesting how, towards the end, they had to struggle against the goblins and "Adverse Adepts" to get the huge ball of phazite across the curtain.

The twist at the end that leaves Stile in Phaze and puts Blue in Proton wasn't something that I would've suspected.

It wrapped up that part of the series quite nicely.

The book just keeps building and building at a manic pace, to produce one the craziest, most chaotic endings to a book and a series ever. It is really one of Anthony's best series...part of me wishes he'd kept the series to just the first three, but the second "trilogy" was also really good. But if you like adventurous (i.e. creative) fantasy, read this series.... And Sheen has quite a will for a robot.

I find it amazing that so many people champion this book for being an entertaining novel while admitting that its historical inaccuracies permeate throughout. It is my opinion that authors who attempt to use history as their stage for fiction must be held accountable for their veracity and lack thereof. Historical accuracy is the glue that holds a story such as this together. And in my view, it falls apart in too many places. I freely admit that this novel is listed as a "Fantasy" and I accept it as such. And the historical settings chosen are of an interesting variety. The first several chapters are very captivating and well conceived. However, just as the story begins with great promise it ends like the last swallow of a flat beer. The final chapter was horribly contrived and pathetic. See for yourself. I do commend Mr. Anthony for his efforts and his inspiration. The idea for this story is wonderful and original. It is simply too bad that the execution is marginal at best.

Piers Anthony has written in a janre too little used in a world full of the knowledge of evolution and cultural diversity. The chapters are introduced by the time frame and theories of what may have been taking place in each. Although knowledge of evolution changes very quickly and is always open to debate depending on the most recent archeological finds, Piers Anthony deserves distinction for attempting such an undertaking as reconstructing human origins and history. He does an exceptional job proposing hypotheses for each step in evolution, while also working them into a coherent storyline in which the reader can become involved. As a student of anthropology, I am frustrated by the lack of imaginative storylines based on evolution, and Piers Anthony's series is the only reading I have been able to find which satisfactorily shows that the author has a working knowledge of evolutionary theory and its' realistic possibilities.

Ember and Blaze met at the beginning of time and fell in love. They couldn't marry each other because they were members of the same tribe, so they both married other people and had families. Ember, Blaze and their kin are reborn every chapter, each in another point in history. But all the while, they feel a strange longing for each other. And in the furture from today, they finally meet again. Piers Anthony brings a reader all around the world throughout the centuries, and into the personal lives of the characters associated in the story. As teenage girls, we found this story to be well-written and detailed in all aspects of life. We recommend it to all mature readers

Nightmare was a good read. In it we have the point of view of a horse, not a human, not really a horse either. In Xanth, bad dreams are not accidents but designed. Special horses, night mares deliver them to Xanthians. Bad dreams are lessons to Xanthians to punish them for acting badly. What happens to a horse who no longer can deliver these night mares to others? Why another Xanth novel of course. Night mare is good and keeps the tradition of the early books.

Piers has done it again! I have read all of his Xanth books up to this one. They are all good, but this one has more happening in it than the others! Mundane barbarian warriors think they've gone to war with a rival territory. Wrong! Well, they can't pull out now, so they decide to see if they can take over Xanth. A mysterious person keeps putting the kings in a trance and nobody know's how. It's up to a night mare to set Xanth back to the way it use to be!

Piers Anthony(also Pier Xanthony) writes a tale of a Night Mare, horses that deliver nightmares, that has a half a soul. She was supposed to bring it to her boss the Dark Horse but she didn't so he fired her. So Mare Imbrium, the sea of rains on the moon, starts an adventure to stop the evil Horseman from taking over Xanth. I thought this book was great and I couldn't put it down.

As Athony's fan (I have stick with him since 1985), Ogre Ogre is his best. The first book I read, Spell for Chameleon made me run to the bookstore to get his other books. But although I have enjoyed Crewel Lye and Golem in the Gears, I have read Ogre 9 times. Just in Xanth you could find such magic to keep you enjoying a book you read before as if it was fist time

I loved all of the books in this series so far, so it is hard to choose a "best" one. But Ogre, Ogre, is definetely a good read. It maintains all of the traditions of the first four books, but the action is taken up a notch or two. It is much better then Centuar Isle, the four book in the series.

In Ogre, Ogre, like all of the books in the series, there is a quest or mystery. Here an Ogre, a vegetarian, travels in Xanth finding adventure and romance along the way. Smash, son of Crunch, like all ogres likes to rhyme. For this book, the rhymes are fun and add to the charm of the book.

Smash gets into trouble with a demon who, like all demons, are probably the most powerful creatures in Xanth. (But like all creature in Xanth, we learn that every creature or demon thinks their kind is the "most powerful.) Smash, who is really only half Ogre and half human, thus has a powerful foe to contend with. And, since he is only half Ogre, he appears to be at a disadvantage.

But, sometimes, your human half can be helpful too. In particular, humans are smarter then Ogres. If he can find a way to use his brain and his brawn, Smash may stand a chance. Otherwise he may be, well, he may be smashed by his opponents. Ogre, Ogre is another fun, good read. Plenty of surprises and twists, and much magic, makes this book a pleasure to read.

I had a strange experience with this book. One of the other reviewers stopped reading Xanth after this book, and I almost did too. Yet it was my dad's favorite. I asked him why, and he rattled off about ten reasons, none of which I remembered reading. That was really weird; normally I have good memory and reading comprehension. I quit reading Xanth for a while, getting more interested in Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker stuff, and after I got through with that I decided to re-read the first four Xanths because they were so much fun. I got to this one, read it again, and loved it. I concluded that this was because it is hard to see an ogre as a human being, and therefore I, as a human being, had a hard time putting myself into it. I was a bit nettled at the concept of blanket trees too. So what's so great about this book? Well, you realize that the Good Magician Humfrey's answers ALWAYS make sense, but you don't realize that they do until they do, giving the querent greater satisfaction. This book is hilarious. It has some great fights, like Smash Ogre vs. the Gap Dragon, and Smash vs. another ogre, and Smash vs. demon. Smash runs into an Eye Queue (IQ) vine and becomes smart. He regards it as a curse, as ogres are proud of their stupidity. Ogres are also soulless, emotionless creatures, and Smash is not; over the course of the adventure he becomes more and more humanlike until he falls in love at the end. I don't know if this is realistic, but all through the story he thinks of himself as an ogre; no identity crisis in contrast to Bink in Xanth 1 or Dor in Xanth 3. His adventure triggers new feelings, which at first he doesn't understand, and eventually becomes comfortable with the idea of being a soulful human being while maintaining the ability to bash someone's brain in at need. My original dislike for this story was due to the fact that it was too dark and serious although humorous, but the second time through I came to appreciate that quality.

Anthony's works are all easy to read and the world of xanth draws you in automatically; I guess its the bookworm's equivalent of junk food--not nourishing for your literary education but satisfying nothenless. This book was one of the "better" books of Xanth--although i have yet to find one that didn't leave me rolling on the floor and lauging. Its fun reading about a barbarian...they aren't the typical main chracter after all and its interesting how Piers Anthony manages to make something fearsome seem silly and human.

Crewel Lye: A Caustic yarn is the first, and so far the only, Xanth book that I have read. I can't wait to get my hands on another of this series. I loved Piers Anthony's use of puns. In this book a barbarian ghost tells a young girl living in the castle he inhabits the story of his life. This is a well-written,easily readable, humorous, fantasy that is too good to put down.

Crewel Lye is about the journey of Jordan the Barbarian. Like all Xanth books, this one is comical and full of puns. Since Jordan's talent is full regeneration, it adds an interesting viewpoint through the eyes of a person who doesn't care if he gets killed(he'll just come back). I think that anyone who reads the Xanth series should definitely read this one.

The Dastard is on of Piers Anthony's better Xanth books. It has a lot of humor and too many puns (as usual), but the puns don't detract from the story. I have been waiting for the last 2 years for Melody, Harmony, and Rhythm to make an appearance as major characters and I really like their personalities. I would have liked them to star more as children (like Ivy did in Dragon on a Pedestal, my favorite Xanth novel), but maybe next time. Becka also proved to be a dynamic character. She had her dragon heratige to keep the Dastard in line, but also her morals and common sense to provide an alternate point of view from the Dastard and to move the plot along. Castle Maidragon was great fun and I hope it appears in future books. I'm glad Becka got her wish (though I won't say what it is). I thought the ending needed work and I would have prefered to see the Dastard work on using his talent for good. Over all, it was a terrific book and it kept me enthralled till the end.

Piers Anthony's Xanth series fills that void we all get when we just want to read for the pure pleasure and not have to "think". You know, like wanting to watch a light hearted movie where you don't have to follow an intricate plot line or keep track of who did what to whom and why. The Xanth series pokes fun at the mundane world. Anyone who lives in Florida will appreciate the way Anthony describes local landmarks with a pun-ish twist.

The Dastard didn't let me down. Piers Anthony is back with a great plot as well as a bucketful puns. I know, people have been saying that the Xanth books were becoming just one big pun and there wasn't really a story. I'll have to agree, but it was only a few books and they were still a GREAT read. But, be forewarned. The Dastard has not one, not two, but more plots and subplots than you'd ever dream of in Xanth book. Savor it slowly so you don't miss any of the fun.

I adore this series and eagerly await the next release. I fiercly guard by collection and only let very special people borrow copies after leaving an adequate replacement such as their car or deed to their house as collateral.

I love the Xanth series but I don't think I'd pay $24.95 for an e-book version! Most other e-book prices are in line with a paperback sale price, $4.00 - $7.00. I think if you bundled 3 of his book together for download you could ask for that kind of price.

You know how lots of books you read when you were a kid are still absolutely great the second time around? Well, this isn't one of them. I read it for the first time when I was maybe 14 and loved it, but since then have moved on to more involved fantasy. This book should have been extended to a short series maybe - then Anthony might have developed his characters more thoroughly and, as another reviewer pointed out, had them use their gifts more. And the ending seemed like so much proselytizing - yes, I believe the Holocaust was horrible and of course I don't like to see a dead deer in the street, but I also don't need to have that preached at me when I'm reading a fantasy novel. Aren't they called fantasy because they're an escape from the real world? Oh, and I think Piers Anthony should keep his Author's Notes to himself. Some of us I think would like his writing better if he didn't feel the need to be so explicit about his motives. When he writes about the q! ! uestion of getting paid on this - the collaboration with a dead teenager - well, sure, we know authors like to get paid. But when he puts it in the author's note, it's, like, cry me a river! The boy is dead! You're alive! And all you're worrying about is getting paid?! And I'm sure his collaborator's family loved reading that. All in all, an average book. Save your time and go read something like Ann Marston's Rune Blade trilogy.

For people reading this review I will not tell you the story line of the book but I will say that if you like fantasies and fiction stories this would be a good book to read. This book is about 4 people who are each from different worlds and brought to one world to fight an evil scorcer to keep balance on all worlds. The book keeps you wanting to read more to see what happens to the four because they are always in trouble. The ending to me was not that great but that's me. I'm a person who thinks that the last guy the main characters fight, in these kind of books, should be the most challenging enemy of them all. Although the ending was not that great to me, the rest of the book is great and I recomend you to read this book.

It's a good book to begin with. It has an original storyline and an ending with a statement on morals that I personally believe or at least, would like to believe. Before I read Through the Ice I had read many other Peirs Anthony novels but was hesitant to read a collaboration. When I read it I was pleasantly suprised at the freshness of the writing. I'm dying to reveal the other reason why I liked this book, but I feel it would ruin it for others. Suffice to say I think that what Anthony did in writing this book is one of the nicest and most touching things I've ever known anyone to do. A good story in itself. After I read this book I felt better about people and life in general. Not saying it's a masterpiece or anything but it's quite good and I can't think of anything really wrong with it which is all I ask of any book. Five stars is my score and I'm sticking to it.