A Spell for Chameleon by Piers Anthony: a Fantasy Classic that Has Not Aged Well

         A Spell for Chameleon was Piers Anthony’s first book in his extensive Xanth series, which consists of 27 books. The Xanth series is considered a classic in the fantasy genre.

          A Spell for Chameleon takes place in the magical world of Xanth, a land inhabited by humans, sentient creatures, monsters, and a vast variety of magical plants. This story follows the protagonist, 25-year-old Bink, who must discover a magical talent if he is to remain in Xanth. This is because in the magical land of Xanth, exhibiting a magical talent by the age of 25 is the one and only prerequisite for citizenship, and for Bink, time is running short! 

All throughout his life, Bink has been bullied and teased for being a “spell-less wonder”, a freak who cannot perform magic in a society where every citizen has one magical talent, ranging anywhere from Magician-level magic such as storm-summoning to “spot on the wall” magic, which is the term for useless magical talents such as projecting a colorful spot on the wall. If Bink cannot demonstrate his talent soon, he will be exiled to Mundania, a land where there is no magic at all.

          The first half of the book is dedicated to Bink’s quest to discover his talent. Bink journeys through the dangerous wilderness to seek the Good Magician Humphrey, whose magical talent lies in ascertaining the truth. Bink is willing to pay the Good Magician’s exorbitant fee, one year of indentured service, to learn the answer to his question, but even the talented Humphrey is unable to indentify what Bink’s talent is, other than to affirm that he does have one. When the time comes to prove to Xanth’s King that he has what it takes to be a citizen, the senile King, who can barely summon a dust devil, much less the awesome storms of his youth, refuses to accommodate Bink’s inability to perform out of jealousy of the Good Magician Humphrey’s power, leading to Bink’s exile. This is when the real story starts.

          After he passes the killing border between Xanth and Mundania, Bink is captured by the Evil Magician Trent, a figure he has only heard about in childhood stories. Trent, a powerful magician with the power to transform any living being into whatever he chooses, was banished from Xanth 20 years ago when he tried to violently usurp the throne. Trent still harbors designs on the throne, and he plans to use Bink’s knowledge to bypass the magical border in order to enter Xanth with his Mundane army.

          A Spell for Chameleon focuses on the challenges Bink faces: making the hard choice between personal gain/happiness and remaining loyal to the country that exiled him, determining the nature of his magical talent, and discovering what it truly is that he wants in a woman.

What I liked about this book:

          Inventiveness: The best parts of these books focus on the magical land of Xanth and the myriad dangers of its ecosystem. The creatures that make up Xanth are what make it so special. At times heavily reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland, the plants and animals of Xanth are bizarre, magical, and prone to playing tricks on the unwary. A Spell for Chameleon places a heavy emphasis on applying normal (read: real world) evolutionary theory to the magical creatures and ecosystem of Xanth, and the book explores the repercussions of reproductive isolation that was caused when Xanth was cut off from Mundania 100 years prior. The plants of Xanth frequently possess spells of their own that aid in their survival. For example, there are trees that have spells that divert the attention of passerby so that they will not be harmed by loggers. There are carnivorous trees that cast sleep spells on any creature that gets too close… and you can imagine what happens to them once they fall asleep! There are paths that magically disappear, forests that herd people in the direction of their choosing, and a myriad of helpful plants such as trees that grow bread, blankets, beer, and other items useful for travelers. 

          The characters: the juxtaposition between the selfish, profiteering, crotchety, but ultimately harmless (and thus “good”) Good Magician Humphrey and the frequently noble, heroic, and powerful (and thus “evil”) Evil Magician Trent was amusing because the reality of the two Magicians’ natures are at odds with the public’s perception of the two figures. Sure, the Evil Magician Trent is a criminal who has abused his magical talent in the pursuit of power, but is he really so bad when compared with the Good Magician Humphrey who casually demands a year’s worth of hard labor from every person who comes to him seeking knowledge? The evolution that takes place in the character of the Evil Magician Trent is a treat to behold.

          The plot: A Spell for Chameleon is an absolutely original story. The people, the magic system, the flora and fauna that make up Xanth’s ecosystem, and the plot are all unique and interesting. The story is fast paced, witty, frequently funny, and sometimes intelligent (hey, not all books can be deep and poignant all the time).

          But before you get too excited about A Spell for Chameleon, know that it has some major flaws!

What I didn’t like about this book:

          Oh my god. The RAMPANT misogyny and sexism: personally, although I really enjoyed the plot of this book and the magical world it is set in, I was very put off by the casual, persistent objectification and denigration of women featured in this book. Every time Bink encounters a new female character, the reader is subjected to Bink’s lusty evaluation of her physical attributes. As many reviewers of this series have noted, Piers Anthony seems to be obsessed with breasts: he finds the time to evaluate the breasts of every female character, including the half-human ones (apparently centaurs and mermaids have especially nice racks). Bink makes casual comments about women he doesn’t even know, saying “she could have made some farmer a marvelous showpiece” when referring to a particularly dumb but gorgeous young woman. This type of comment is endemic in this novel. Considering that a lot of the book’s plot is devoted to Bink discovering what he truly desires in a woman, which in this novel is basically a treatise on beauty versus brains, there is no escaping the objectification. 

          Early on in the novel, Bink is separated from his beautiful and brainy fiancée, Sabrina, when he is exiled from Xanth. Before he even reaches the border, he “realizes” that Sabrina never truly loved him, but instead loved him because she believed he had a powerful magical talent because both of his parents had been strongly talented. Firstly, this premise just seemed wrong: Sabrina had saved herself for Bink until she was 25 years old even though Bink had never manifested magic and even despite the fact that she was subject to teasing and harrassment as a result of her relationship with Bink. What was Sabrina supposed to do, join Bink in exile where she would lose her magical talent, her family, and her very way of life? But because of this encounter, Bink decides that women that are both smart and beautiful are NOT to be trusted, lamenting, “what was the matter with beautiful women, that they could not be constant?”

          But these examples are the lighter side of the sexism in A Spell for Chameleon. It gets worse. When Bink encounters the gorgeous but dumb-as-rocks Wynne, who is likewise seeking the aid of the Good Magician Humphrey, Bink explains to her the cost of the Good Magician’s services (a year of servitude), which he contends she “would not want to pay”. Explaining Bink’s rationale, the author goes on to write: “The Good Magician was male, and Wynne had only one obvious coin. No one would be interested in her mind.” The obvious implication in this example is that because Wynne is beautiful but horrendously stupid, the only way she will be able to pay off her year’s service to the supposedly Good Magician Humphrey is to be his sex slave! And if that isn’t bad enough, there’s the extremely problematic rape trial scene.

          At one point in the novel Bink is asked to participate in a bizarre sham of a rape trial. This scene is utterly random and has no bearing on the plot of the book, and is surprisingly light-hearted. At the trial, after asking a few questions, the judge summarily announces, "I presume [the accuser] would have fled him at the outset, had she disliked him--and that he would not have forced her if she trusted him. In a small community like this, people get to know each other very well, and there are few actual surprises. This is not conclusive, but it strongly suggests she had no strong aversion to contact with him, and may have tempted him with consequence she later regretted. I would probably, were this case to come up in formal court, find the man not guilty of the charge, by virtue of reasonable doubt." He then asks the woman if she would care to continue with the case, at which point she demurely says no. This passage is SO problematic, for so many reasons. This is victim-blaming at its worst, implying that the rape victim was falsely accusing the man in order to avoid the consequences of consensual sex, or that the victim didn’t try hard enough to get away. The passage even implies that women are never raped by people that they know and trust, which couldn’t be more wrong considering statistics show that up to 90% of reported rapes are committed by people that the victim knows. I don’t know what culture was like in 1987 when this book was written (it was published a year before I was born), but frankly, A Spell for Chameleon has not aged well. This may have been a commonplace attitude at the time it written, but in today’s climate, talking about women in this manner is absolutely wrong and inappropriate.

          Would I recommend this book? It’s hard to say. Usually I like a book, or I don’t, with clearly defined reasons. Although I did like many aspects of the book, and generally it was an amusing read, the misogyny and objectification of women in A Spell for Chameleon was jarring and definitely soured my enjoyment of the book. Usually I don’t believe that there is much harm in letting kids/teenagers read books with non-graphic romance/some sexuality, especially considering what they are exposed to in today’s media, but I would NOT recommend introducing your children to A Spell for Chameleon because the messages underlying the sexuality featured in this book are inappropriate to be teaching today’s youth. If you, as an adult reader, can tolerate the sexist attitude that is present in this book without getting too pissed off, there is something to this book that made it a fantasy genre classic in the first place. But really, when it comes down to it, there are SO many good fantasy books out there that are not plagued by rampant misogyny, so why bother reading one that is? I know that I won’t be reading any further books in the Xanth series.