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Title: Dragon on a Pedestal (Xanth Novels) |
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Review of Dragon on a Pedestal (Xanth Novels)
- There is trouble in Xanth again. The Gap Dragon had escaped and was ravaging across the land, the forget-spell was causing mass amnesia, three-year old Ivy was headed right for a hungry dragon. Could things get any worse? Probably....
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Comments for Dragon on a Pedestal (Xanth Novels)
- Posted on 2008-03-24
The best of the bunch to date!
It's the seventh book in the Xanth series and I believe that the author has hit his stride. This book is a lot of fun to read and can cause uncontrolled chortling to all who read it. Highly entertaining!
The storyline is only a vehicle towards bombarding and barraging you with puns. Nonetheless, here it is: It is five years since the conclusion of the NextWave war and the marriage of Dor and Irene and they are now blessed with a precocious three year old called Ivy. Dor is now King of Xanth and he is travelling to Castle Zombie to have a council of war to figure out what to do about the marauding Gap Dragon who appears to have come out of the gap. Since everything in Xanth is related to everything else, this is actually a long delayed outcome of that episode where the demon Xanth left for a short while. That caused a reduction in the strength of the forget spell and so on.
While travelling, Irene has a horrible vision of seeing Ivy between two pedestals: One with Mare Imbri on it, and the other is a Dragon (hence the name of the book). At this exact moment in time, it turns out that in addition to the Gap Dragon, little whorls of the forget me spell are spinning out of control and they can wipe your memory clear and cause all kinds of mischief. In our case, Ivy ends up affected and goes wandering off.
Not only that, but the Good Magician Humfrey is also indisposed. It turns out that he likes to take a sip of Fountain of Youth water every so often to maintain himself as a 100 year old. Unfortunately, this time he takes his 8 year old son Hugo with him. When they are at the Fountain, the Gap Dragon finds them. Hugo tries to save the day by splashing the Dragon with the water, but he also manages to splash a quantity on Humfrey. This causes Humfrey to "youthen" to the status of a baby. So, he cannot help the rest of Xanth.
So, now the story is set: We have a lost Ivy, a lost Hugo, and a Gap Dragon who is rampaging the Xanth mainland. Looking for them are Irene, the Gorgon (Hugo's mother), and a whole bunch of helpers. One quest is distracted by another quest and the story rolls along. We encounter the ancient feud between the Harpies and the Goblins as well as some feuds and fights and characters never before seen.
The main message of the book is the inter-relatedness of everything and how peace and love and good feelings can trumpet all the evil that you might encounter - especially when everyone works together towards the common cause. It's hard to believe that such a funny book would have a message, but the author hits you over the head with it enough times that you have no choice but to hear it!
The main thing about Xanth books though is not the plot or the message. It is the play on the puns that make it fun. Therefore the readers encounter those horrible monsters of the Parable, the Talking Yak, and the Hypotenuse. We also meet the 9 muses and the Monster under the bed!
In my mind, the heroine of the whole story though, was Zora the Zombie. She starts out as simply a zombie that is dispatched with Irene to work as a messenger but she becomes much more as the story unfolds. It is no surprise that she get re-animated as we go along, but I was somewhat surprised at the neat way some of the story's threads get pulled together because of her and her magical talent.
Finally, the book must have been written at the same time as the follow-on novel (Crewel Lye), as the book's title is mentioned as are broad hints about its storyline. Since this book was so good, I cannot wait to read Crewel Lye!
Score: 5
- Posted on 2007-11-29
Dragon and the Princess
A beautifull addition to the xanth series, and a wonderfull introduction for the little sorceress and the Muses as well.
Score: 5 - Posted on 2004-05-28
Disappointing Effort from a Worthwhile Author
I have truly enjoyed all of Anthony's Xanth books up until this one. The books of this series are made memorable and entertaining to me largely due to the incredible imagination of the author. That is, unfortunately, the main missing aspect of this novel. Our young heroine's talent seems to function as a vehicle for making unbelievable polt twists occur rather than as a specific talent that marked the heros and heroines of the other Xanth novels. **SPOILER** Another weak chain of events was the benefit reaped by the Tree of Life. That idea was about as poorly put forth as Ivy's talent of convenience---I was half expecting Irene to find a seed that grew cannons or Volvos.While most other Xanth novels had the ability to make the reader believe that the fantastical events were possible in Xanth due to the incredible magic of the land and characters, this one just made this reader believe the author ran out of good ideas.
Score: 2
- Posted on 2004-05-20
Cute, but compared to the other Xanth novels, it's pathetic
Alright, most people will agree that the first 3 Xanth novels were awesome. And some of the later ones were entertaining as well. But this book does not do the series justice. About a young girl, who happens to be the princess, who is lost in the jungles of Xanth. Meanwhile, the Gap Dragon has become a child and escaped from the Gap and caused "forget whorls" to appear all over Xanth. Okay, sounds really good right? Nice plot, huh? No, it's not. This book is overly coincidental, has pretty uninspired characters, and is pretty unrealistic, even for the setting. It totally does not show the normal actions of a child well after about the first 50 pages. And each conflict seems to appear with no relation to the last. Basically, it was a good idea turned bad, by some lazy planning by our friend Piers. The puns are still in full effect, fun, but getting a tad corny. If you're reading the series in order, you may as well read this - it's fun for a while but in the end a turn off - but don't let that distract you from this wonderful series.
Score: 2 - Posted on 2002-07-29
Best of the Zanth Series
If you're going to read any of the Zanth series, this is the one to read.While really serious readers would be best adviced to avoid this book-and all others in the Zanth series-like the plague, if you want a light, humorous, cute, and up-lifting story, then it's hard to find one that comes off as well as this. Just the mention of "Stanley Steamer" brings a little smile to my face.
If you like this Zanth story, then there are others in the series that are others nearly as good. (Although I'd never ever recommend reading the whole series, unless you're about 13 and extremely bored over the summer.) The first one, A Spell for Chameleon is probably the most serious of the series, and rather good. Castle Roogna is also good, as is Ogre, Ogre, and Night Mare. Reading more than 5 (maybe even fewer) though would expose the enormous flaw in the series-repitition.
Score: 5