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Fantasy. Fiction. Thriller. Humor (Fiction.) HTML:The magic of Xanth was useless in Mundania�??until Dor tried honesty! Dor was having troubles growing up to be the next Magician-King of the magic Land of Xanth. He wanted no part of running the Kingdom. But now the Good King Trent was leaving on a trade mission to non-magical Mundania, home of such weird beasts as horses and bears, so Dor had to take over as King for a week. A week passes. No Trent. Then three weeks. King Trent still hasn't returned. Surely, something terrible had happened; he was apparently held captive in some foul dungeon, unable to escape. Dor was left with the burden of ruling�??and with Irene, who was entirely too willing to be his Queen! His only hope was to enter Mundania and free King Trent. But how could it be done without the powers of magic? Nevertheless, he started forth bravely�??together with Irene, a golem, a centaur, and a young ogre�??heading for the far south of Xanth. The entrance to Mundania, of course, lay t… (more)
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King Trent has left Xanth on a mission of trade to Mundania and has left Dor as temporary king. When Trent fails to return after some time, Dor must find a way to rescue Trent. He is informed
King Trent decides to go on a journey and puts Dor in charge of the kingdom. However Trent does not return when he is supposed to and Dor brings some friends together (a Golem and an Ogre, I think, it has been a long time since I read this book, so I am grateful to Wikipedia for having summaries of pretty much every one). Trent has gone to Mundania to try to establish trade routes, but he is captured. The catch with Mundania is that magic does not work there, so Dor and his friends travel to an island and meet up with a cantaur (Centaurs hate magic) who has been exiled because of a gift. His gift is the ability to create a field of magic where there is none. So armed with this 'weapon' they travel to Mundania to rescue King Trent.
It should be noted that Dor's gift is the ability to communicate with inanimate objects, which is a very useful gift for a king to have. The thing with Xanth is that everybody has a gift, but it is not like atypical fantasy novels where magic is learnt through hard study and is possessed by a few. Magic in Xanth is a birthright, however all one gets is that one gift, so it comes down to how this gift is used.
Some have suggested that these books are about hope, struggle against impossible odds, and never giving up. Sure, it is a common thread through a lot of books, but I would hardly say that it is worthy of writing an essay on. Even then, by year 12 my English Teacher would hardly have been impressed with me writing an essay on a Xanth Novel, when in his mind there are plenty of better novels out there on which one can write an essay.