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Title: Castle Roogna (Xanth Novels) Author: Piers Anthony Rating: Not available Avg. Score: 5 Submit Comment Hits: 36

Review of Castle Roogna (Xanth Novels)

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Comments for Castle Roogna (Xanth Novels)

• Posted on 2008-04-09
  Not a Piers Anthony Fan, It Turns Out
  
  I tried to read this book. I got about 120 pages into it and decided I couldn't finish. There are those who think it's funny and clever, but I thought it was silly.
  
  This is the 2nd time I've tried to read Piers Anthony. I guess he just isn't for me.
  Score: 1
• Posted on 2005-03-17
  One of the last decent Xanth books
  
  Castle Roogna, the third in the Xanth books, is one of the last of the readable Xanth books in the series. From this point out, the series decays into a mudge of eeping nymphs with luscious flesh and awful puns.
  
  I remember as a pre-teenager being captivated by a Spell for Chameleon and becoming an addicted Xanth reader. It was interesting to pick this book up again as an adult and realize that while my opinion of Anthony eventually declined, the first three books in the series are still pretty readable.
  
  Xanth in the first three books is a really edgy place. People are often quite cold and their motivations obscure. Dor feels very real as a character, bearing his burdens of expectations and confusion as he struggles his way into the adult world.
  
  The silly puns themselves are at a minimum in this book, with the exception of a couple of real groaners. (Gerrymander, oy!) The nice thing is that since the puns are not omnipresent they are almost funny when they do appear and do not spoil the read as a whole.
  
  The first three books are still recommended for pre-teenagers. I am sure that they will enjoy them-- be a little aware that Anthony indulges in some fairly dubious gender stereotyping, so if you are very sensitive to that sort of thing you might want to read them first before you give these books as a present.
  Score: 4
• Posted on 2004-01-27
  Why all the weird names
  
  I wrote in my review of a spell for chameleon that I didn't like the Bink name. Now we have more of the same old stuff about weird names. Dor? Roogna? What ever happened to Dave or Mike. Other than that the book was pretty good. It tells of a young prince's adventures in a tapestry. How this can happen in a tapestry is beyond me. Magic I guess. The main character he meets up with is a smart talking spider. He has many adventures and comes of age while helping to save the kingdom. This book impressively deals with many adolescent problems and is very exciting. This novel makes you remember what it was like back when you were growing up. I know I will never look at spiders the same way again. And dcn't be so quick to kill those flee's in your hair. This book is head and shoulders (no pun intended) above the rest of the fantasy genra.
  Score: 5
• Posted on 2003-11-18
  Castle Roogna
  
  I think Castle Roogna is one of the best Xanth novels I have read. I couldnt put it down and was finished in only two days. Not only does it have adventure and thrills it also teaches us a little something about friendship and wisdom.
  Score: 5
• Posted on 2003-04-04
  a very good Xanth novel
  
  This is the third book in Piers Anthony's Xanth series. The book takes place 12 years after the events in The Source of Magic. Bink's son is twelve years old, and has a Magician Class talent. Dor can talk to inanimate objects (they audibly speak to him). Dor is the heir apparent to the throne of Xanth, but he still has to deal with the same issues that any 12 year old might have to deal with. In his case, loneliness. King Trent, in hopes to help mature Dor, sends him on a quest to The Good Magician Humphrey to discover a way to reanimate the Zombie Jonathon. Millie the Ghost, no longer a ghost loves Jonathon, but Jonathon is still a zombie. Humphrey knows of a way to get an elixir to heal Jonathon, but it can only be acquired from the Zombie Master, a Magician who lived 800 years earlier.

  The Good Magician gives Dor a spell to put him into a tapestry that shows the events of that time period. In this way, Dor occupies the body of a Mundane warrior during the 4th Wave of Mundane Invasion. The King at the time is the legendary King Roogna. In Dor's quest for the elixir he encounters the Magicians of the time and gets involved in the very civil conflict between King Roogna and the Magician Murphy.

  This book is one of the better Xanth novels (i.e. one of the first Xanth novels) and while it gives part of the history of the land (always important), it also introduces characters who will later become important players in the series (Dor, Iris, Murphy, Vadne).
  Score: 4