Currant Events (Xanth, No. 28)

Currant Events (2004) is the twenty-eighth Fantasy novel in the Xanth series, following Cube Route. Clio and her eight sisters are the Muses of Xanth. As the Muse of History, Clio writes the various volumes of the Xanth saga. In this novel, Clio discovers that the 28th volume of the history of Xanth is unreadable. Moreover, she cannot quite remember what it is about. She decides to take the problem to the Good Magician Humfrey. At the Good Magician's castle, Clio is treated as a querent! How could he treat a friend with such rudeness? Going along with his charade, Clio solves her three Challenges and enters the castle. When she explains her problem to Humfrey, he states that she needs a magic currant berry to solve her problem. First, however, she must obtain five breeding pairs of each type of dragon on Dragon World and bring them to Xanth to replace the rapidly dying native dragons. She has a week to accomplish this first assignment. To guide her path, Humfrey places a magic compass/timer in her wrist to tell her which direction to travel and how long she has to complete each travel segment. On Dragon World, Clio saves two tiny dragon lovers from being eaten and they vow to accompany her until this service is repaid. Since Drew and Drusie are telepathic and winged, they greatly help in the quest. Besides, they are small enough to fit into her pockets. The dragon lovers introduce Clio to the leaders of each dragon type and translate their conversations. Of course, dragon assistance is not free; Clio has to win a visible riddling contest with each of the five leaders. Her stakes in each contest are her life and the lives of her friends, but she also has to remove one item of clothing selected by the dragons for each lost point. Of course, Clio wins all five contests and arranges to take the selected couples back to Xanth. She goes on to other adventures, solving problems for other people and collecting items along the way to solve her own problem. She also collects fellow travelers, including Sherlock -- who has a reversing talent -- and Ciriana -- a young girl immune to the Adult Conspiracy -- and others who help in her travels. This story is chock full on puns -- the acknowledgments list is about three pages long -- and ends with a twist. In other worlds, a typical Xanth novel, with promises of more to come. A great read for most (except for critics). Highly recommended for Xanth fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of humor, atrocious puns and light romance. If you are not familiar with this series, please start with A Spell for Chameleon so that you don't miss any of the fun. -Arthur W. Jordin

If the holiday season has you down and a good laugh, chuckle or chortle is all you need, then this is the one for you. You do have to like science fiction and fantasy and not be looking for a SAGA. This and all the others in the Xanth series are full of punish humor and silliness. There are underlying themes from the world of mundania, which are cloaked in Xanth's exagerated & colorful culture. These themes are a little like fractured fables and deal with moral dilemas. Piers Anthony has a way of addressing these issues in very subtle ways. It is always fun to see old names and talents surface, advance just a little in character development, then await their next adventure. New faces are added, given a foundation and they too are held in waiting for their next assist in an adventure. As you may have noticed, I am a Xanth fan from waaaay back and have read all 28 in this series. Although,I wasn't overly enthusiastic about the last 3 or 4 books, this 1st of a "trilogy" holds great promise or "pun-ishment" for dye hard fans. I am looking forward to the new episodes alluded to in this book. I wonder what the stork will bring for Sherlock and Clio?

This most recent installment in Anthony's Xanth series was definitely worth the wait. I received it yesterday in the mail and finished it last night. I just could not put it down... but almost all Anthony's books are like that. Currant Events follows Anthony's recent trend with the Xanth books, being a bit more risque and broaching more controversial topics than the first twenty or so books of the series. He does it so tastefully, however, that you don't seem to mind the innocence and integrity of the series perhaps being shaken up a bit. Some of my favorite parts of this book were Clio's visit to Dragon World, and the description given of that world, as well as the little girl whose talent is immunity to the Adult Conspiracy (I think that was my talent growing up too!) and the re-introduction of Sherlock Black into the series. If you've never read a Xanth book before, treat yourself and start at the beginning of the series. For the rest of us, this is definitely a keeper, and according to Anthony's Author's Note, just the beginning of another 3-cubed trilogy.

On Mount Parnassus Clio the Muse of History begins to write the twenty-eighth Chronicle of Xanth, only to find the tome exists, which means somehow she already has written it. Already shocked beyond words adding to her chagrin, the tome is impossible to read as it contains words that are indecipherable. Clio decides to visit Humfrey the Good Magician Humfrey to learn how to read the enigmatic book. Of course this being Humfrey, he does not care that Clio is a long time friend as anyone who wants his help must perform a required service. He orders her to find the magical red berry, a simple enough task. However, this is Xanth and not Mundania; nothing is ever simple especially if Humfrey is involved. On her trek, Clio gathers a host of fellow travelers especially Sherlock and must perform sidebar deeds like transporting safely six thousand dragons from Dragon World to Xanth and other dangerous tasks to solve the mystery of the unclear history book. More a book of puns held somewhat together by the quest, Xanth fans will appreciate this lighthearted romp that takes readers away from Mundania. The story line leaps from one pun to another with occasional twists and turns to make room for a double entendre. Clio is a fine muse although skirting the edges of her magical world. As has been most of the recent novels, Piers Anthony has fun incorporating a zillion jibes, jokes and witty and not so droll bon mots provided by Xanthian readers, whom the author acknowledges for their contributions, but the Mundanian masses might feel it is time to punt. Harriet Klausner