34. Castle Roogna

by Piers Anthony(329 pgs)

Rating: 5

Dor, son of Bink and Chameleon, is now 12 and beginning to notice certain...things...about women. He's being groomed as the next king of Xanth and feels a certain angst about his relationships with other children. He consults King Trent who sends him on a quest to get a restorative potion for Millie the once ghost's love, the zombie Jonathan. (read The Source of Magic for the full back story) Because of his new awareness of women, this whole quest is problematic for the adolescent but undertakes the quest anyway. The major problem is the potion of restoration only exists in the past causing Dor to time travel 800 years in Xanth's past to find the remedy for his adolescent crush's undead love.

Castle Roogna surprised me delightfully. I think I missed this one when I was reading the series as a kid. It is essentially a coming of age story but I found it uncharacteristically touching and involving. The story, itself, was quite strong and Dor was extremely well fleshed out. He grew noticeably as a person throughout the story and I found that many of his self doubts were familiar. His internal monologue was reminiscent of things I say or have said to myself. In addition, the character of Jumper the giant spider was very well done and intriguing and I noticed no unresolved loose ends. All in all, a superior Anthony novel and perhaps my new favorite in the series.

I recommend this to every kid (even adult-kids) who feels awkward...ever...about anything.