Swell Foop (Xanth Novels) [Hardcover]

I think the primary downfall of the series has been the inclusion of so many fan suggestions (in 'Swell Foop' more than 100). Almost every chapter has been reduced to 'Character X must solve several puns/puzzles to get item or information Y.' It certainly makes it easier to include suggested puns, but it doesn't make for good story telling, unless you're more interested in puns than plot.

There were a number of other problems with this book. Characters constantly repeat the same information: "Hello, I'm character X. My quest is Y." The story also includes a huge number of characters and locations from prior books in the series, but assumes that you haven't read any of them or don't remember them, so there's an enormous amount of exposition just to recount things that aren't that important to the story. The dialogue at times is just painful.

If you've already read the prior books in this series, you've undoubtably got your own opinion as to whether the stories remain fresh, so decide whether or not to read this book on your own judgement. But if you haven't read the prior books, I strongly suggest you start with 'A Spell for Chameleon,' because I don't think this book really shows the appealing aspects of this series.

Cynthia gathers a party of adventurers including the Syn, the bird that will eventually know everything, Zombies, and even a girl from Mundania (Earth as we know it), each of whom must find and control one of the rings.

To the puns and adolescent sexuality that make Xanth run, author Piers Anthony adds some of the games more common in some of his other series (e.g., the Apprentice Adept series), giving SWELL FOOP a bit more complexity and plot than some of the other Xanth series.

In each Xanth novel, Anthony combines a huge number of truly bad puns (is there such a thing as a good pun?) with an adventure. Some of these novels (e.g., A SPELL FOR CHAMELEON and CASTLE ROAGNA) are truly wonderful while others are less so. SWELL FOOP is above average in this hugely popular series.

If you enjoy the Xanth novels, you'll find SWELL FOOP a fine addition to the series. If you aren't familiar with this series, you may start with this novel, but I recommend starting with the first book in the series (A SPELL FOR CHAMELEON).

She must find the Six Rings of Xanth that only the zombies know anything about. Upon obtaining the six Rings, Cynthia must use them to locate the SWELL FOOP so that she can use that in turn to rescue the Demon Earth from an abductor. Without the Demon Earth, this planet and Xanth will lose its gravity and ultimately vanish forever.

Though action-packed, fast-paced, and loaded with the tons of puns, SWELL FOOP is clearly for those Xanth fans that need word play with every meal. The problem with the tale is that with two worlds at stake and the adventure quite harrowing, the quest seekers spend much of their time exchanging humorous often-sexual barbs (Hans Solo where are you?). Though the jokes are amusing, the plot becomes sidetracked and secondary to the bon mots. This reviewer can understand a shoetree, but the gravity of this story line is too much swill in the soup for those readers who enjoy the simplicity of A SPELL FOR CHAMELEON.

Harriet Klausner