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While the first volume of this series involved Death, and the second Time, this volume turns to Fate -- in all three of her traditional aspects. Like the previous volume, the stage is set rather well in the opening chapters. Unlike the previous volume, the novel continues well! Of particular note: the relationship of the three women who share the single body of Fate; the recognized voluntary "temporariness" of their several assignments; the role that Fate has to play with relation to Free-Will (a concept Anthony seems to accept); and (on a rather humorous note) the visit of Fate and Nature to a temporary "hell" constructed for the sole purpose of convincing humanity that hell is, after all, a pretty nifty place. (The women were not fooled!)
The greatest weakness? The final battle between Fate and Satan. Totally unconvincing, even for fantasy.
Nevertheless, like "On a Pale Horse", this novel should be read by seminary students to give them fresh perspectives on the difficult questions which people ask in times of crisis.
An outstanding read.
I highly recomend this book to any person who truly loves science fiction, fantasy, or is seeking an enthralling introduction to the wonderful world of sci-fi/fantasy.
Like I noted in the ranking, I consider this to be a definite top ten, and that is including all of the rest of this series in that top ten listing.
Take my word for it folks, this is a great literarary investment, even if you have never before held an interest in this genre. I definitely suggest that you burn rubber to add this book to your personal library today.
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Would love to hear from other Refugee fans or anyone who enjoyed the Space Tyrant series. I am conducting some research and would appreciate your input.
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"Tatham Mound" is not in this series, and it isn't easy to believe that it was even written by the same author. If you read the Author's Notes in "Tatham Mound" this apparent discrepancy gets explained. Piers Anthony had a deal with his publisher and editor that, for every so many high-volume-sales light fantasy books he wrote, he could write one completely of his own choosing. "Tatham Mound" is one of those "his own choosing" books, and is truly magnificent.
"Tatham Mound" is the story of a Native American man just before and during the Spanish discovery of the Americas. The young man is injured and cannot be a warrior; he instead becomes a traveler and earns his living by telling stories and relaying news from village to village, tribe to tribe, ranging from his home in Florida, north into New England, west into the Great Plains, south to Mexico, and eventually back home. Along the way, the reader learns how the great victory and conquest for the Spanish in the "New World" was a devastating tragedy for many Native Americans. Entire cultures were lost, while others were irrevocably altered and damaged. Some of this was deliberate and cruelly intentional, while much of it was due to ignorance, apathy, and tragic happenstance (e.g., the measles brought by the Spanish wiped out entire villages at a time).
While this book is often going to be catalogued as "historical fiction", which will drive away many readers who think that category too dry, "Tatham Mound" is a stunning and magical example of epic tragedy told by a master wordsmith. It is an outrage that this book is out of print, while the bookstands are cluttered with a significant amount of pulp that is best suited for kindling.
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Gloha is a half goblin and half harpy. She wonders if she'll find a half goblin half harpy man to love. So she goes to ask the Great Magician. Instead of giving her an answer the Magician sends her on a wild quest. She meets new friends and adventure is magically weaved throughout the pages! In the end she found friendship ... but could it be love? No, how could it possibly be love if he's her kind of creature???
A fun read, full of puns and adventure!!! Recommended to anyone who likes or loves a nice book to smile about in the end! Have fun! :-)
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After her brother Dolph looked for the Good Magician Humphrey in the previous book and came back with two fiancees, Princess Ivy decides its her turn to go look for the Answer-providing Magician. After stealing back a magical mirror from a magical Com-Pewter, she invokes the Heaven Cent and ....
Enter Grey Murphy, stage left. Residing in magicless Mundania, he has managed to obtain a computer program that procures girlfriends for him. And its latest procurement? No prize if you guess Ivy. Following the by-now standard Xanth formula, they undertake a journey (back to Xanth) and fall in love along the way.
But it's a good journey. Piers Anthony made two very, very good decisions with this novel. First, he abandoned the juvenile tone that infested earlier and later entries in the Xanth series. Second, after umpty-ump Xanth novels made tangle trees, ladies-slipper bushes, and other magical marvels seem mundane, Anthony chose to approach much of novel through an outsider -- Grey Murphy.
Even as he confronts wonder after wonder, Grey Murphy refuses to believe in magic. A sailing mountain? Special effects. Invisible giant spouting a river of blood? Food coloring. A half-human, half-equine centaur? A robot. A hate spring? Ordinary water, backed by a strong superstition that it will make people hate each other.
Despite his disbelief in magic, Grey Murphy is nonetheless the typical Anthony protagonist, with a code of ethics that uniformly matches every other protagonist we've seen out there. Not that I mind ethical characters, mind you; it just gets tiresome when, after a dozen books, all the good guys display identical codes of ethics. Kind of ruins diversity of characters.
The plot continues, with Grey having to meet a certain challenge to successfully assert a claim to Ivy's hand in marriage, journey all over Mount Parnassus, and overcome a rather nasty oath that's been forced on him ... but things might just turn out well for this happy couple, right? Right??
If you would like to inflict the remainder of this series on yourself, this book is a very good jumping-on point. Grey Murphy's unfamiliarity with the land of magic makes him a good proxy for an unfamiliar reader, but the book's other flaws (uniform characters, linear plotting) keep it from a perfect rating.
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I wont go in to details about the plot, as I have seen many others here already have. I will say, however, that his characters in this book posses of level of development unseen in his current works. The dialog is much better, crediting the reader with the intelligence to infer meaning rather than having is spelled as if we were ALL 13 yaar old girls. He does not rely on excessive sexual innuendo to hold the readers attention ( neither childish as in Xanth where everyone wants to peek up skirts, sadistic as in Cathon, imaginitive as in the CLuster series, or disturbing as in Firefly ( where he tries to convince us that having sex with a pre-schooler is okay if she asks for it)). IN summation, this book has all the elements of great sciecne fiction without the literary (?) tricks he relies on today.
It is one of my favorites, but stay away from it if you like the stuff he writes today or you will never be satisfied again.
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