Zombie Lover (Xanth)

Customer Reviews

• Ambivalence  Jun 30, 2001 (12 of 14 found this helpful)

  In the past twelve years, I've gone to being a rabid, enthusiastic and proselytizing Anthony fan to being... well... sorta lukewarm. (My first Xanth book -- and thus my favorite of the series for a long time, just for sheer exuberant silliness -- was "Crewel Lye.") To compare the style and scope of "Zombie Lover" to, say, "A Spell for Chameleon" or other earlier books is just begging to be depressed. The series has gone from being always gripping, often moving and consistently hilarious to merely amusing. (I've been noticing a constant, half-hearted resurrection of older characters from the series' "glory days," before Ivy's adolescence and before the Adult Conspiracy became such an annoyingly inescapable plot point.) And like many of today's mainstream authors, Anthony means well, but his interpretation of, for example, racial prejudice (in this book at least) is superficial and clueless. (I would be interested to guess the number of black women fans (yes they do exist) who, not having green eyes and straight, rump-length hair, might be more than a little hurt by his interpretation of black "beauty." Black Barbie, indeed. No offense meant to the Halle Berrys of the world who actually look like that.)

  I was sad to realize that this will probably be my last Xanth book. Mild amusement has its place, but if you want a *real* taste of Anthony, let Xanth die a quiet death already and go directly to the "Incarnations of Immortality" series, or the first two "Geodyssey" books.

• Zombie Lover  Jan 23, 2000 (5 of 5 found this helpful)

  I enjoyed the book itself, the writing always captures and maintains my interest. I usually read these books in one or two days. I have been pleased with Xanth books from the beginning and have not missed a volume. The reason that this book only received three stars from me is the cover art. The story depicts Breanna as a very dark skinned young woman. The cover depicts her as a pale faced girl with dirty or hairy arms and legs. A little more consistancy between the artist and the illustrator would appropriate and appreciated.

  I am amazed to find that what seems like such a minor detail is so incremental in causing this book to lose two stars from my vote.

  Piers and publishers, you cannot present a wonderfully diverse setting if the marketing on the front tries to appeal to only one group, by making the black character look almost white.

• Enough with the Adult Conspiracy!  Jul 24, 2001 (6 of 7 found this helpful)

  The Xanth series is what got me reading sci-fi and fantasy novels. Its a shame this series has turned into unreadable mush.

  Zombie Lover was the last book I've bought in this series and I don't think I'll continue with it. I can't take in anymore stories of adolescents thinking about who they want or don't want to have sex with.

• Ehh...  Jul 30, 2007 (1 of 1 found this helpful)

  I craved for a fantasy read and stumbled onto Piers Anthony (my first time reading him) and who could turn down a book titled Zombie Lover? Our 15-year-old, black wave hero Breanna takes the reader on a tour of Xanth (and other worlds) as she runs from a zombie king in a Snow White kissed awake tale gone wrong. Along the way she picks up many delightful characters and intrigue continues. I was a bit turned off as Anthony insists on explaining all of his puns to the reader and the end of the book was rather predictable (i.e. I mostly skimmed the last 40-pages or so). I was really turned off at the never ending smorgasbord of [...] and bottoms and poorly done sexual quips. In addition, half of my love for fantasy tends to be the cover art and I was hugely disappointed that Breanna was depicted as a slightly tan white girl rather than the black girl she's described as in the story. Additionally, Anthony's commentary on race seemed very superficial and uninformed. Overall it was a fun "bad" read but one I definitely had political problems with.

• Ok  Jun 22, 2000 (1 of 1 found this helpful)

  This book is alright but I feel that the author shouldconcentrate more on the plot and dispense with the puns... they'regetting irritating... I started reading xanth when I was 8 and was hooked instantly- I couldn't wait for the next book to come out! But now I think the books are getting worse and worse... frankly this is sort of a disappointment... I much prefer the earlier books.