Esrever Doom

Kody only knows that something is terribly wrong with him, but he doesn’t know what—just that he’d be going into surgery and might encounter side effects like mood reversals. When he wakes up in Xanth, he finds more than just his mood reversed—Xanth is under a curse that makes pretty people look like hags and ugly ones beautiful. Only Kody is immune. Along with Zosi, the reanimated zombie, and a few others picked up along the way, Kody must find a way to reverse the curse and return home.

My first visit to Xanth came by way of my brother’s tattered paperback copy of A Spell for Chameleon. I returned fairly frequently in the ensuing years—because Xanth is a lovely place to go for the most groan-worthy puns and some surprisingly innocent naughtiness. It has been a while since I’ve ventured that direction, though, so I’m not entirely certain if my current disappointment is due more to the quality of the book or simply that my sense of humor has evolved. Either way, the puns and panty humor in this one just felt overdone and gratuitous, making this read more of a chore than a pleasure.