Xanth and TCTC

A place to discuss the books in the FC and SC. *Please Note* No LC spoilers allowed in this forum. Do so in the forum below.

Moderators: Orlion, kevinswatch

Post Reply
Reisheiruhime
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 2573
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2003 3:22 pm

Xanth and TCTC

Post by Reisheiruhime »

Ok, ok, you can put the stones down. I'll be brief.

In Man from Mundania, Grey seems to exhibit the whole "unbelief" thing. Grey = TC

Good Magician Humphry = Mhoram
A long shot, I know, but it makes sense to me.

Com-Pewter = Lord Foul, of course! :twisted:

The demonesses Metria and Mentia = Daphin, I think.

Smash Ogre = Bannor *dodges pebbles*

Iris = Atiaran

Irene = Linden

And my personal fav, Grundy Golem = Amok

For those of you who like Xanth, help me with the comparisons!
Top
User avatar
Cail
Lord
Posts: 38981
Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2004 1:36 am
Location: Hell of the Upside Down Sinners

Post by Cail »

It's been about 18 years since I read any of the Xanth novels, but I do remember thinking that they had a "very familiar feel" to the TC books.
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." - PJ O'Rourke
_____________
"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
_____________
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
_____________
Top
User avatar
danlo
Lord
Posts: 20838
Joined: Wed Mar 06, 2002 8:29 pm
Location: Albuquerque NM
Been thanked: 1 time
Contact:
Contact danlo

Post by danlo »

**Puts down stone** Somehow SRD's writting talent appears just a leee-tel bit better than Mr. Anthony's...
fall far and well Pilots!
Top
zenslinger
Servant of the Land
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Jun 18, 2004 8:34 pm
Location: San Francisco

Post by zenslinger »

Let me just back up this dump truck full of stones...
Top
User avatar
Alynna Lis Eachann
Lord
Posts: 3060
Joined: Wed Mar 20, 2002 8:23 pm
Location: Maryland, my Maryland

Post by Alynna Lis Eachann »

LOL, I'll reiterate what I said somewhere in the Library: Piers Anthony? Ack! :crazy:

I think A Spell for Chameleon is worth a read, but after that it sorta goes downhill. Gets really goofy, IMO. I do confess to having read some of his other stuff, and I am inclined to believe he may have been influenced by SRD - his author's notes suggest he's the kind of guy who'd relate with some of the themes in TC. Of course, you'd have to ask the man himself. I'm sure he'd tell - he always seemed eager to share.
"We probably could have saved ourselves, but we were too damned lazy to try very hard... and too damn cheap." - Kurt Vonnegut

"Now if you remember all great paintings have an element of tragedy to them. Uh, for instance if you remember from last week, the unicorn was stuck on the aircraft carrier and couldn't get off. That was very sad. " - Kids in the Hall
Top
User avatar
[Syl]
Unfettered One
Posts: 13021
Joined: Sat Oct 26, 2002 12:36 am
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 1 time

Post by [Syl] »

Anthony's not all bad. Except for (the vast majority of) Xanth, I'd put him on about the same level as Alan Dean Foster (loved the Spellsinger books, btw) or Jennifer Robberson. Blue Adept, Bio of a Space Tyrant, and the Incarnation of Immortality series were enjoyable.

Maybe Anthony did borrow (and I use that in the Donaldsonian sense of the word) from SRD for Man from Mundania. That book represented a rise out of the trough the series had sunk into. One that, Anthony's promises aside in the Author's Note, continued to sink again soon after.
"It is not the literal past that rules us, save, possibly, in a biological sense. It is images of the past. Each new historical era mirrors itself in the picture and active mythology of its past or of a past borrowed from other cultures. It tests its sense of identity, of regress or new achievement against that past.”
-George Steiner
Top
User avatar
King Elessar 8
Woodhelvennin
Posts: 66
Joined: Sat Sep 04, 2004 10:45 pm
Location: Fort Wayne, IN

Post by King Elessar 8 »

Anthony has written some enjoyable novels (the "Apprentice Adept" trilogy was fun) but I can hardly think of two more different works (in the realm of Fantasy literature at least) than the Chronicles and the Xanth books.

I havent read "Man From Mundania", however. I became extremely bored with Xanth and its pun-filled environs sometime around Book 8. I hear the series is now up to almost 30 books, which is staggering, and not in a good way.
Top
Believer
Elohim
Posts: 213
Joined: Sun Aug 31, 2003 12:53 am
Location: Philadelphia, PA

Post by Believer »

Anthony ruins all of his series.

Incarnations of Immortality started off well (1) then trailed off until 6, which was magnificent, then died a horrible death with book 7.

Apprentice Adept, books 1 and 2 were fun fun fun, but books 3-7 got worse with each step.

I think the only one he didn't ruin was Bio of a Space Tyrant, but I get the feeling that if I re-read that one I'd think it was silly.
Top
Reisheiruhime
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 2573
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2003 3:22 pm

Post by Reisheiruhime »

Bah. I guess I'm just better adapted to puns. :) *settles self by a pie tree* C'mon, ya gotta love the trees! :D
Top
User avatar
fightingmyinstincts
Giantfriend
Posts: 332
Joined: Fri Mar 15, 2002 3:39 pm
Location: Waaah! I just fell off KW!!!!

re

Post by fightingmyinstincts »

Xanth novels are like....rock candy or something. Tasty, quickly gone, but utterly nutritionless. Yes, that about sums it up. They're book candy! I like candy. But I like a balanced diet too, with cruciferous veggies and lean meats, hence, I read books with levels like TCTC. Xanth isn't bad, it's just...insubstantial.
"Well of course I understand. You live forever because your pure, sinless service is utterly and indomitably unballasted by any weight or dross of mere human weakness. Ah, the advantages of clean living."
TC to Bannor, LFB
Top
Post Reply

Return to “The First and Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant”