Night Mare, by Piers Anthony
When Night Mare Imbrium accepted Chem’s soul to carry her out of the void, she stepped onto a path that no one but the Good Magician could possibly have predicted. The Night Stallion releases her from nightmare duty and sends her out to become a day mare with a warning for Chameleon: ‘Beware the Horseman.’ Imbri herself encounters this Horseman accidentally, is captured, and realizes that he is leading an invasion of Mundanes into Xanth. Imbri manages to escape with the aid of the Day Horse, the Horseman’s former stallion who had also escaped. She rides to Castle Roogna with her warning, and is caught up in events to repulse this latest Wave of Mundanes. But when King Trent shows signs of defeating the Wave, his mind is ensorcelled. This starts a chain of Kings who all try to defeat the Mundanes, and all are soon ensorcelled. Imbri is running her tail off trying to help where she can, but eventually it will be up to her to ‘break the chain.’
I love how Piers Anthony connects all of his books together. We learn about Mare Imbri in the previous novel, and now she has her own book. We learned about Smash in Castle Roogna, he reappears in Centaur Aisle, and gets his own book later. I like the interconnectedness of the characters, because if there is an interesting character, it is likely that eventually we will be spending more time with them.
But this is a slight downfall, because Anthony cannot seem to kill off characters. There will always be a happy ending, and the main characters will never die: even of old age. I believe we start to see this in Night Mare, and this idea certainly continues on throughout the books. But that is the nature of Xanth, and some of the charm of the novels.
In Night Mare we do meet some new characters, like Imbri and the Horseman, but it is mostly like a reunion for the previous casts of the books. We get to see everyone all over again, doing what they do best, and what we love them for. It certainly is enjoyable, because I like to learn what has happened to them in the interim between books, and see their talents come into play again. Despite all of this, Night Mare definitely has hints of the repetitiveness that dogs some of Piers Anthony’s work, but it is an enjoyable romp just the same.
I love how Piers Anthony connects all of his books together. We learn about Mare Imbri in the previous novel, and now she has her own book. We learned about Smash in Castle Roogna, he reappears in Centaur Aisle, and gets his own book later. I like the interconnectedness of the characters, because if there is an interesting character, it is likely that eventually we will be spending more time with them.
But this is a slight downfall, because Anthony cannot seem to kill off characters. There will always be a happy ending, and the main characters will never die: even of old age. I believe we start to see this in Night Mare, and this idea certainly continues on throughout the books. But that is the nature of Xanth, and some of the charm of the novels.
In Night Mare we do meet some new characters, like Imbri and the Horseman, but it is mostly like a reunion for the previous casts of the books. We get to see everyone all over again, doing what they do best, and what we love them for. It certainly is enjoyable, because I like to learn what has happened to them in the interim between books, and see their talents come into play again. Despite all of this, Night Mare definitely has hints of the repetitiveness that dogs some of Piers Anthony’s work, but it is an enjoyable romp just the same.
posted by Tai Schutz | Tuesday, November 28, 2006
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