2006-01-23
Harpy Thyme
Author: Piers Anthony
Gloha, the first goblin-harpy crossbreed, is growing up and needs a man to love. But where will she ever find another winged goblin, since she's the first? Meanwhile, Bink, Trent, Iris and Crombie are getting together for a party. They're all quite old by now, but in Xanth main characters don't die, they just fade out. It's going to be a fade-out party.
Some of the Xanth novels have stronger plots than others. This is one of the weaker plots -- there's no real urgency to Gloha's search for a man, especially when she knows there are no other winged goblins anywhere. The story consists of moving the main party from place to place, where minor adventures happen and other characters' quests come and go. The novel overall feels like a housekeeping activity, tying up loose ends created earlier in the series: crossbreeds with no potential mates and characters from the first two stories that should simply be dead by now.
As usual, the narrative contains no introduction to Xanth or the characters involved. Knowledge of the events of Demons Don't Dream is not required, but familiarity with the series as a whole is. Harpy Thyme (Xanth-17) is only of interest to readers that have been following along with the whole series. Gloha isn't all that interesting a character and it was hard to care whether she found love or not. Some of the mini-stories help fill in some gaps in the overall history, but as a whole this episode is fairly forgettable.
Gloha, the first goblin-harpy crossbreed, is growing up and needs a man to love. But where will she ever find another winged goblin, since she's the first? Meanwhile, Bink, Trent, Iris and Crombie are getting together for a party. They're all quite old by now, but in Xanth main characters don't die, they just fade out. It's going to be a fade-out party.
Some of the Xanth novels have stronger plots than others. This is one of the weaker plots -- there's no real urgency to Gloha's search for a man, especially when she knows there are no other winged goblins anywhere. The story consists of moving the main party from place to place, where minor adventures happen and other characters' quests come and go. The novel overall feels like a housekeeping activity, tying up loose ends created earlier in the series: crossbreeds with no potential mates and characters from the first two stories that should simply be dead by now.
As usual, the narrative contains no introduction to Xanth or the characters involved. Knowledge of the events of Demons Don't Dream is not required, but familiarity with the series as a whole is. Harpy Thyme (Xanth-17) is only of interest to readers that have been following along with the whole series. Gloha isn't all that interesting a character and it was hard to care whether she found love or not. Some of the mini-stories help fill in some gaps in the overall history, but as a whole this episode is fairly forgettable.
