Fire Sail

November 1, 2019
Anthony's forty-second Xanth novel maintains a non-stop, dizzying pace of puns, puzzles, and probable cause-and-effect twists. The Good Magician has recruited two compulsively honest residents for a special mission. The embarrassingly shy youngster Dell and the elderly grandmother Nia have been promised their heart's desire if they will pilot a flying skiff to its new proprietors. The catch is that no one knows who or where the proper owners are, and the chosen adventurers wonder how they can accomplish their mission without knowing where they are going. Luckily there are a few clues that may help?if the hapless sailors can fathom them. The journey will take Dell and Nia across the realm and occasionally beyond, crossing paths with delightful characters and curious plotlines from previous books in the series. But the real question throughout is, how many lady loves will Dell fall for and lose before finally finding The One? Anthony takes a frivolous fantasy of staying true to oneself and turns it into a lesson of tolerance, acceptance, and finding answers in unexpected places.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)