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Title: Roc and a Hard Place |
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Review of Roc and a Hard Place
- Seeking a solution to a perplexing personal problem, the delectable Demoness Metria asks for help from the wise Magician Humfrey. But before he will help her, she must perform a perilous mission: Rove the length and breadth of Xanth in search of a suitable jury for the trial of Roxanne Roc-a notably noble and virtuous bird charged with a most improbable offense.
Exciting, exhilarating, and brimming with hilarious high jinks, Roc and a Hard Place is Xanth at its most enchanting.
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Comments for Roc and a Hard Place
- Posted on 2008-03-20
Xanth are Always Fun
I don't read a lot of fiction, but our kids were raised with Xanth in the background. Now my daughter is writing a book, and Piers Anthony read part of her first chapter, replying with some excellent encouraging suggestions! Xanth has provided multiple illustrations on dealing with life.
Score: 4
- Posted on 2007-06-02
Love at first sight
You've probably been reading Xanth already, so I won't describe it at length. I'll just say that it's like Narnia, Wonderland and the world of the Phantom Tollbooth combined, where the only thing that doesn't exist is impossibiliy itself.
Strange to say, this was the first Xanth novel I read. Instant love. I've since read some of the earlier books and they do indeed have a more moderate level of random wackiness. But Roc and a Hard place shares their subtle moral sensibilities and remarkable characters while outdoing any I've yet read with an endless cornicopia of wonderful wordplay and plot twists that only Piers Anthony could think up. If it's also your first one, I would advise reading at least some early ones because not much background information is given.
Yes, it's light. Not a thriller or timeless classic. And it shows Anthony's unfortunate weakness for suddenly springing neat endings from wretchedly twisted conflicts. But if you have a stressful life and long for sojourns in a world of infinite linguistical and zoological glories, you couldn't do much better than this.
Score: 5
- Posted on 2007-03-22
Pleasant but mostly fluff
I think if I had encountered the Xanth books as a teen they would have become some of my all time favorites. Back then I would have really loved the wordplay and the fertile imagination of the Xanth series. And it is still enjoyable. But the is a general lack of depth to Anthony's world and characters that makes these books much less appealing to me now. After reading a few Xanth novels, I really couldn't imagine going through the whole very lengthy series.
The specific plot for this story is that the demoness Metria, in order to attract the attention of the stork, agrees to summon various individuals from throughout Xanth, and in some cases beyond, to be trial personnel and jurors for a trial of Roxanne Roc. Metria needs her various talents, along with those of her alter egos De Mentia and Woebetide to manage the many obstacles to retrieving all these folks. Most of these characters have been introduced in prior tales, and there are references to the events of these earlier books, most of which I hadn't read, but I didn't find that to be a real obstruction to reading the novel.
It's a nicely built story with some good twists at the end. Loads of puns, frequently with each being an even worse groaner than the one before. As seems to be true in other Anthony books, there's a fair amount of slightly risque material without ever going to a level that would offend anyone other than the abnormally prudish. As I believe Lincoln first said, "For people who like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing they will like." But I like my fantasies with more fully realized worlds, issues, and conflicts.
Score: 3
- Posted on 2006-07-09
A Par Above.
I think this is one of Anthony's better of the series, at least in terms of its organic completness. Although it covers a lot of ground, only the adventure into the gourd seemed ad hoc fluff. A much less involved ramble would have sufficed to explain the blank token, as it is an important element for the end of the story. Aside from that, the demon's beauty contest seemed a little forced, probably due to little character build up for the part of prince Vore. With a little more effort, Anthony could have developed a better underpinning for love (as he has done so many times before), rather than the superficial clap-trap that is presented here. However, these are sins of commission, rather than omission, and could be as easily laid at the feet of the editor. Overall the book comes together better at the end than do many in this series; as well as tying up a number of lose ends left over from past books. Although not a fantasy classic, any fan of the Xanth series will like it as well or better than most of the others in the series. So if you have read all the ones before this one, chances are you will enjoy it well enough to continue on to the one that comes after.
Score: 3 - Posted on 2000-11-17
Its old now
By this time Piers Anthony is losing the magic that made him so refreshing a read in the first place. There's hardly anything new and even the puns are getting dull. I think its time he moved on to other works. If he doesn't, then his readers will.
Score: 1