this post was submitted on 23 Aug 2026
51 points (98.1% liked)

Books

8461 readers
41 users here now

A community for all things related to Books.

Rules

  1. Be Nice. No personal attacks or hate speech.
  2. No spam. All posts should be related to discussion or reviews related to books. (Please avoid posts that are just a link to the book and a generic summary)
  3. No self promotion.

Official Bingo Posts:

Related Communities

Community icon by IconsBox (from freepik.com)

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
dresden@discuss.online
dresden_do@lemmy.world
JaymesRS@literature.cafe
JaymesRS@lemmy.world
dresden@piefed.world
51
My flight read tonight - Piers Anthony Steppe (infosec.pub)
submitted 2 weeks ago by 0xKesh@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/books@lemmy.world
18 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Picked up my first Piers Anthony book today when browsing around the Queen Victoria Markets in Melbourne. Looking forward to getting stuck in to this while on my flight home tonight

top 18 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Apeman42@lemmy.world 21 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (5 children)

Piers Anthony has some good moments, but he can be weird in kind of a creepy way sometimes. Oddly-shoehorned-in sexual scenes with fucked up dynamics, underlying misogyny, etc.

But if you can set that aside, he also tells some pretty entertaining stories sometimes. If you like him, check out his Incarnations of Immortality series, and maybe the Apprentice Adept (sometimes called Phaze) series. Those are my favorites from him. The early Xanth books have some charm, but the constant firehose of puns can get very tiring.

[–] sixtoe@lemmy.blahaj.zone 12 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

im not one to yuck your yum but dude writes pedo normalization stories. I don't read him anymore.

https://litreactor.com/columns/themes-of-pedophilia-in-the-works-of-piers-anthony/

[–] Dozzi92@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

But it's this book or OP has nothing to read for the flight. That's a tough choice, and I know I'm settling on pedo normalization, but I'm not gonna be happy about it.

[–] sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

So, like, does he ever improve as a person and stop writing stuff like that, or are his most recent books just as bad? Asking for a friend who used to read him as a kid

[–] sixtoe@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

i don't know. i didn't consider having another read. im not gonna ever think a sick fuck like him is gonna improve. i don't even know or care if he's alive.

[–] sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I really wish there was a series like xanth with the puns and zany world-building, but none of the gross stuff :/

[–] sixtoe@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

ngl, read Terry Pratchett. problem solved. seriously. much better even.

[–] sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I like his books too, but they are less zany somehow

[–] Hazmatastic@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah I liked the Xanth series a lot as a kid. Then i read one as an adult and yeah, dude wrote some pretty creepy stuff

[–] LordMayor@piefed.social 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I picked up one of his books in middle school and couldn’t get into it.

A couple weeks later I noticed my dad was reading it. After he got about a third of the way through he asks me “uh, are reading this stuff?” I told him I didn’t like it and had put it down and he was just like “ok, good.”

[–] FluidBeef@quokk.au 2 points 1 week ago

The attic in my house was full of mad stuff by this guy and other weird sci-fi fantasy authors that my dad had stashed up there. Lord Of The Rings and Book Of The New Sun were good but it was a long way down from there.

[–] 0xKesh@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Ah true! I've never read Piers Anthony's work before, but have been recommended him in the past as a sci-fi fan.

I'm interested to see if I pick up on these things too!

[–] sixtoe@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 2 weeks ago

its not subtle to adults but invisible normalization to children. enjoy. 🙈🤢

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 1 points 1 week ago

My thing is he is an amazing story teller. He has a lot of stuff where he is rehashing things but man he can talk about making breakfast and have it be enthralling.

[–] sixtoe@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 2 weeks ago

im not one to yuck your yum but dude writes pedo normalization stories. I don't read him anymore.

https://litreactor.com/columns/themes-of-pedophilia-in-the-works-of-piers-anthony/

[–] mesamunefire@piefed.social 6 points 2 weeks ago

Hes a strange one alright. I used to love xanth. But i learned he was one of the ones that went after the internet archive.

I hope you enjoy the book. Hes a good author.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 2 points 1 week ago

wow thats an old one of his to.

[–] FluidBeef@quokk.au 1 points 1 week ago

Have fun with the weird creepy vibes amid strangers!