A Spell for Chameleon

Name: A Spell for Chameleon
ISBN: 9781857232509

by Piers Anthony · first published 1977

4mentions

3recommended by

4HN commenters

2008–2024first – last mentioned

75% recommend25% neutral

Fantasy Fiction & Literature

Xanth was the enchanted land where magic ruled - where every citizen had a special spell only he could cast. It was a land of centaurs, dragons and basiliks.But poor Bink alone had no magic. And unless he got some - and fast - he would be exiled. The Good Magician Humfrey was convined that Bink did indeed have magic, magic as powerful as any possessed by the King or Good Magician Humfrey himself. But no one could fathom the nature of Bink's very special magic. Bink was in despair. This was worse than having no magic at all...and he would still be exiled.

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View on Open Library ISBN 9781857232509

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What Hacker News says

msg · Jun 27, 2008 · Recommends

…friend of mine killed himself, I went to the library and picked this up basically by accident. I read it in the space of an afternoon. It was the beginning of my thoughts about the meaning of death. A Spell for Chameleon, by Piers Anthony. It was the first of my mom and dad's sf books that I chose to read for myself. It started a lifelong love affair. I outgrew the Xanth, but not the sf. Anna Karenina, by Tolstoy. An…
on “Books That Changed My Life” ↗
mooreds · Oct 7, 2024 · Recommends

A Spell for Chameleon, by Piers Anthony. It's the first fantasy novel I ever read. I picked it up from the school book fair on a whim. Led to a lifelong love of fantasy and science fiction. That influenced my college choice…
on “Ask HN: What book had a big impact on you as a child or teenager?” ↗
gravitycop · Jan 31, 2009 · Recommends

…to better know where your friends - who might have read Xanth books at ages at which they could better appreciate the writing style - are coming from, I would pick the first three of the series: * A Spell for Chameleon * The Source of Magic * Castle Roogna
on “Google giving Malware Warning on all search results (now fixed)” ↗
gcanyon · Apr 6, 2023 · Mentions

…the most recent book is ranked 280,000th, so better than the middle of the series, but not as good as the first book. This speaks more directly to your point than any of the examples you gave, since A Spell for Chameleon came out almost fifty years ago. And the Battle Circle omnibus edition (it was a trilogy originally) is ranked 180,000th, so better than the most recent Xanth novel. But all of this ignores the point…
on “If we lose the Internet Archive, we’re screwed” ↗