Recap / Xanth

• 1. A Spell for Chameleon
  • Thanks to a law banishing all non-magical humans from Xanth, young Bink is desperate to prove that he indeed has a Talent, a journey that ultimately forces him into the dreary, magic-less Mundania, an encounter with the exiled Evil Magician Trent, and the discovery of both the long-lost Castle Roogna and the woman named Chameleon, who becomes the love of his life.

• 2. The Source of Magic
  • Trent has become King, and commissions Bink to set out on a quest for the source of all Xanth's magic, joined by his friends Crombie the Soldier (transformed into a griffon for the adventure) and Chester Centaur, and the gruff Good Magician Humfrey... a quest that leads them to the demon X(A/N)th itself, and a temporary triggering of a Time of No Magic.

• 3. Castle Roogna
  • Bink's young son Dor is sent into a magical tapestry to rediscover information about Xanth's ancient past and the creation of Castle Roogna itself, as he meets Magicians Roogna and Murphy, who are competing to see who becomes the second King of Xanth.

• 4. Centaur Aisle
  • When King Trent goes missing in Mundania, Dor and his friends set out to find him, and their quest leads them to something they never expected - a Centaur Magician, with the ability to generate an aisle of magic around him even in Mundane settings.

• 5. Ogre, Ogre
  • Dor's friend Smash Ogre sets out on a quest to discover where he truly belongs and come to terms with being a half-breed, both human and ogre. Along the way, he helps seven young women with their own journeys, including ridding Tandy Nymph of the demon that's been trying to force himself on her.

• 6. Night Mare
  • Having lost her touch with bad dreams, Mare Imbrium is tasked with saving all of Xanth from two dangerous threats - the mysterious Horseman, and a barbarian Nextwave invasion, both of which threaten the people of Xanth and are targeting its Kings.

• 7. Dragon on a Pedestal
  • Due to an accident, both Good Magician Humfrey and the Gap Dragon have been reduced to infancy. Meanwhile, the Forget Spell on the Gap Chasm is breaking up, sending Forget Whorls across Xanth, one of which leads to young Princess Ivy getting lost and befriending both Humfrey's son Hugo, also lost, and the young Gap Dragon, all while her mother Queen Irene sets out to find her.

• 8. Crewel Lye: A Caustic Tale
  • Princess Ivy, bored after the arrival of her baby brother Dolph, cleans a magic tapestry in order to learn the history of one of her friends, Jordan the Ghost, who is able to re-discover his past as Jordan the Barbarian and his quest to bring Threnody, daughter of a past King of Xanth, back home.

• 9. Golem in the Gears
  • Stanley Steamer, the young Gap Dragon, was accidentally transported away as the result of a magic spell at the end of book 8. Now, Grundy Golem sets out to bring him home, which requires him to ride Snortimer, the Monster Under the Bed (specifically, Ivy's bed), to the Ivory Tower. There, he must rescue Ivy's pun-pal Rapunzel and contend with the evil Sea Hag, along with still finding Stanley Steamer.

• 10. Vale of the Vole
  • Eskil "Esk" Ogre, son of Smash Ogre and his wife Tandy Nymph, goes to ask Good Magician Humfrey for help with Demoness Metria, who has seemingly threatened his family. Unfortunately, Humfrey and his wife and son have gone missing, and Esk must team up with Volney Vole, who's having some demon troubles of his own, and the winged Chex Centaur to solve their main problems. He also rescues Marrow Bones from the Lost Path in the Gourd, bringing him into the mortal realm, and later frees Bria Brassie, whom he falls in love with.

• 11. Heaven Cent
  • Prince Dolph is bored and wants adventure, but his parents won't let him go without adult supervision. Joining with the skeleton Marrow Bones, Dolph sets out to find and rescue Good Magician Humfrey, only to end up unintentionally betrothed to both Princess Nada Naga, whom he cares for despite her lack of real interest in him for being younger, and the young Electra, awoken from an enchanted sleep and now fated to die unless he marries her, which he swears to do in order to save her life. Now, however, he's left with the problem of deciding which of the girls he can marry, since his parents refuse to let him have two wives.

• 12. Man from Mundania
  • Princess Ivy, Nada Naga and Electra set out to retrieve a stolen magic mirror from the evil machine Com-Pewter, which she needs to find Good Magician Humfrey. A combination of the mirror, the magical Heaven Cent (charged by Electra) and a computer program in Mundania lead to her being sent to Grey Murphy's college dorm. As he helps her return to Xanth, Grey's origins are revealed - he's the son of Magician Murphy and Sorceress Vadne, both imprisoned in stasis after their failure to overthrow King Roogna and escaped to Mundania during the Time of No Magic, and has a powerful Magician-class Talent. Unfortunately, he's also bound to serve Com-Pewter due to a deal his parents made; luckily, Ivy is able to find and meet with Humfrey, who refuses to leave his current location until some specified event occurs. However, he declares Grey to be in his service as the replacement Good Magician, staving off his service to Com-Pewter until then. Meanwhile, Murphy and Vadne agree to work for Dor rather than against him, and are allowed back into Xanth.

• 13. Isle of View
  • Chex Centaur's winged foal has been captured by goblins, and Nada Naga and Electra must set out to help rescue both she and the young Jenny Elf, a girl from the World of Two Moons, who accidentally stumbled into Xanth with her pet Sammy Cat. Together, they learn that Che Centaur was captured to serve as a companion for the goblin princess Gwendolyn, who is lame and mostly blind; if she can't conceal her physical disabilities by riding on Che's back, she will be overthrown and killed. Ultimately, Che agrees to serve as her companion, along with Jenny and Sammy, and all of them will stay with Che's parents for now. Meanwhile, Prince Dolph must finally decide which of his fiancees he'll marry; he ends up intending to marry Electra and divorce her once her curse is abated, then take Nada for a permanent wife, but falls for Electra and stays with her for good while still fulfilling the prophecy that was thought to bind him to Nada.

• 14. Question Quest
  • Lacuna, daughter of the Zombie Master Jonathan and his wife Millie, is bored with her life. Setting off on a quest, she arranges to free Grey Murphy of his scheduled servitude to Com-Pewter, and then get an Answer from Good Magician Humfrey, whose soul is residing in the anteroom to Hell. There, she transcribes the story of his life, his six wives, and his reason for going to Hell - to meet with Demon X(A/N)th and free his third wife Rose from Hell, a deal which ultimately results in his being allowed to regain all five and a half of his wives, who can now take month-long turns staying with him. With Humfrey's problem solved, he helps Lacuna to revise her personal history so she is now happily married and a mother of three.

• 15. The Color of Her Panties
  • Mela Merwoman, having failed to trick Prince Dolph into marrying her in Heaven Cent, is still desperate for a husband. During her quest to find one, she joins forces with the civilized Okra Ogre and Princess Ivy's long-lost twin sister Ida, who can make anything come true as long as it's suggested by someone who doesn't know her Talent. Meanwhile, the trio of Gwenny Goblin, Che Centaur and Jenny Elf must prevent Gwenny's bratty half-brother Gobble Goblin from taking over the chiefship of the goblin horde.

• 16. Demons Don't Dream
  • Demon X(A/N)th and Demon E(A/R)th have made a bet, each choosing a champion to play in the Companions of Xanth computer game. E(A/R)th has picked Dug Mundane as his champion, as Dug has made a bet with his friend Edsel - Dug's girlfriend Pia against Edsel's motorcycle. X(A/N)th has chosen Kim, a girl who won a copy of the game in a talent show, and while the two believe they're only playing for a magical Talent to be used in future visits to Xanth, the real prize is Xanth itself, as E(A/R)th wants it to become part of their territory and X(A/N)th is playing to defend it. Ultimately, Dug figures out the catch to the game and ensures that Kim wins, allowing Xanth to remain as it is.

• 17. Harpy Thyme
  • Gloha Goblin-Harpy sets out on a quest to find love, and on the advice of the Good Magician Humfrey, goes to find Humfrey's second son. She does so with the aid of Tandy Nymph, who suggests her father Crombie can use his talent to point out that person, and they soon learn Crombie is the very individual they're looking for. Now in his 90s, Crombie is preparing to fade out of existence with his wife Jewel, and his friends Trent, Bink and their respective wives Iris and Chameleon, but agrees to use his talent to point to the person who can help Gloha on her quest, which turns out to be Trent. The six agree to put off their fading-out, with Trent taking youth elixir in order to restore his capabilities and join them. The other five, meanwhile, choose to rest in the Brain Coral's pool, in stasis, until he returns; in turn, the Brain Coral releases Cynthia, a girl turned into a winged centaur filly by Trent during his Evil period, to aid the two. They're also joined by Marrow Bones and Demoness Metria in the course of their adventures, and by the end, Metria has married a man named Veleno, gained half a soul from him and fallen in love with him, in that order, while the group helps save Graeboe, a formerly invisible giant, who is slowly dying of a blood disorder. Performing a marrow transplant from Marrow Bones, Graeboe is cured (and gives Marrow half his soul in thanks, so Marrow can preserve his existence and that of his wife and children, as all four are in danger of fading should they stay outside the Gourd for much longer), and then turned into a winged goblin so he can be with Gloha, whom he has fallen in love with and whom has fallen for him in return. Meanwhile, Trent decides to put off fading out, having gained a renewed enjoyment of life from this adventure.

• 18. Geis of the Gargoyle
  • There's a problem with the Interface protecting Xanth, and Gary Gargoyle teams up with the newly youthened Sorceress Iris, Metria's crazier half Mentia, the Zombie Master's son Hiatus, and the young Surprise Golem, who is in need of guidance in regard to her ability of using any talent, to find the magical philter which can restore the Interface protecting Xanth from the encroaching madness and keeping it separate from Mundania, along with taking over the duty of purifying the water coming from Mundania into Xanth, a task that the gargoyles have handled for thousands of years.

• 19. Roc and a Hard Place
  • Demoness Metria has married, gained half a soul and fallen in love, in that order. Now she's trying to summon the stork with her husband, but isn't getting the bird's attention. In order to do so, she must carry out a service for the legendary Simurgh and gather together everyone needed for the trial of Roxanne Roc, which becomes the subject of a bet between the World Demons X(A/N)th and V(E/N)us. In the course of her journey, she is able to reconcile with her daughter Threnody and rid her of the curse keeping her out of Castle Roogna. Meanwhile, after the trial, Princess Ivy finally marries Grey Murphy, and Princess Nada Naga marries D. Vore, son of Demon Professor Grossclout.

• 20. Yon Ill Wind
  • Demon X(A/N)th makes a bet with Demon JU(P/I)ter, binding him to a mortal body (a dragon-ass known as Nimby) that can only speak once, and must get a single Xanthian to shed a tear for him. Entering Xanth in this form also allows Tropical Storm Gladys to enter Xanth along with the Baldwin family from Mundania. Now, they must protect Xanth from the hurricane, which is stirring up magic dust, causing madness and becoming a sapient being in the process, all while Demon X(A/N)th bonds with Chlorine and tries to fulfill his end of the bet. The two quests quickly intersect when Good Magician Humfrey sends Chlorine and Nimby to aid the Baldwins in dealing with the storm, a mission that will take the help of many, including the demon-turned-cloud Cumulo Fracto Nimbus, to lead the storm into the Region of Air where Fracto can tame her, as she is renamed Happy Bottom and becomes Fracto's spouse. Finally, soon after the threat is abated, Chlorine returns home, but her parents react with hostility to Nimby, who realizes he has learned love from his time around the Baldwin family; as her parents try to kill him, Chlorine sheds her last tear, winning the bet for him.

• 21. Faun & Games
  • Forrest Faun discovers his friend Branch Faun has gone missing into the Void and thus, the tree that Branch was bound to will wither and die. Joining forces with Mare Imbrium, he must visit Princess Ida and travel to her moon of Ptero, home to everyone and everything that does, did or could exist in Xanth. On Ptero, the pair are joined by the local versions of the twin princesses Dawn and Eve, Dolph's children with Electra, in order to find a solution to both his own problem and a danger that lurks further on, as Ptero's Ida has her own moon, Pyramid, which is home to even more people. Visiting the Ida of Pyramid, they visit her moon of Torus, and the Ida of Torus, who is able to find a solution for them by consulting her own moon of Cone. Returning to Pyramid, the group are able to defeat the four Wizards there, saving Ptero from the threat they pose, and after a final stop on Ptero, Forrest and Imbri return to Xanth, and to his tree. There, they realize they have fallen in love, and Imbri bonds with Branch's clog tree to become its tree nymph, able to stay with Forrest for good. During their adventures, they also meet Chlorine and Nimby; the two now live in the Nameless Castle, and travel about Xanth once a month or so, helping others.

• 22. Zombie Lover
  • Breanna of the Black Wave has unwittingly attracted the attention of Xeth, a zombie who's become King of the Zombies and wants to make her his Queen. After helping Com Pewter meet a fellow machine, Com Passion, Breanna makes her way to the Good Magician's castle and meets with Mare Imbri and the spirit of Justin Tree, who is interested in an adventure of his own after years of being a tree and is able to travel with her as a dream, with the help of Mare Imbri. Humfrey directs them both to the Isle of Women, so Breanna can get away from Xeth. Meanwhile, Bink and Chameleon take youth elixir, like Trent and Iris before them, and Bink joins Dor and Dolph on a quest to find out what's stirring up Xanth's zombies, hoping to find a solution before a wedding that's been suddenly scheduled to be held at Castle Roogna in a week, with Jenny Elf writing out the invitations due to instructions from Humfrey and Clio of the Muses, despite being distressed that she's apparently not invited.

  • To find out what they want to know, the three Kings go to meet with the Zombie Master, but find he is using an elixir to travel, as a dream, to Ida's moon of Ptero and deeper into the moons in order to find one where the zombies can live. The three kings follow his path, visiting Ptero, Pyramid, Torus, Cone, Dumbbell, Pincushion, Spiral, Tangle and finally Motes in turn. There, they catch up with the Zombie Master and alert him, before returning to Xanth with Aurora, a winged mermaid who merges with a being known as the Blob so that she can be real in Xanth and Blob can have form. The trio then escort Aurora to Mount Rushmost to find another winged mermaid, Erica. Soon after leaving her, the trio have an encounter with a branch of Lethe, which causes them to forget their homes, and thus they must find someone who knows where they live. The man who helps them directs to the Island of Women so they can find a woman for him, and they meet Breanna and Justin at the dock that leads to it. Once the group arrives, Breanna finds herself gaining a new appreciation for the undead and aids Xeth, who finally catches up with her, in finding love with Zyzzyva Zombie, while the men are able to direct the isle's residents on how to use the dream elixir to visit Ptero and meet a group of princes who live there, and find love with them. Once their quest is accomplished, the group return to the mainland (along with Tipsy Troll, who's unable to find a husband even on Ptero).

  • On the mainland, the group takes Tipsy Troll to Phil Istine, who directs them to another who can find their home. They go to the Isle of Wolves, where they agree to help Prince Jeremy Werewolf deal with a curse on him. When Jenny Elf comes to find the three Kings, she meets Jeremy and falls in love with him, thereby abating his curse and realizing that it's actually her wedding that she's been making invitations for, which Humfrey and Clio knew all along. At the wedding, Breanna and Justin realize that they've fallen in love with one another, and Justin agrees to stay with Breanna for another three years until she's eighteen, at which point he will resume his human form, use youth elixir to become 21, and then marry Breanna, so he can take up the post of Zombie Master with Breanna as his bride. By doing so, they will allow Zombie Master Jonathan and his wife to retire to Zombie World in Ida's moons, with the majority of the zombies following them, while Justin and Breanna represent the zombies staying in Xanth. At the same time, Breanna learns that her magic talent, which she had developed since moving to Xanth, is a gift from Demon X(A/N)th in return for her letting him share her dreams and thus learn how to dream himself; she and Justin also learn that Nimby is X(A/N)th in a disguised form.

• 23. Xone of Contention
  • Dug and Kim Mundane are happily married. Dug's friend Edsel and ex-girlfriend Pia, however, are not; the two are on the verge of divorce. On the advice of Dug and Kim, the two take a two-week vacation in Xanth, switching places with Chlorine and Nimby, who are curious about life in Mundania. While in Xanth, Pia and Edsel are accompanied by Breanna and Justin (the latter having resumed human form and de-aged to 18), and together they discover that a valley is flooding, threatening the trees there; the cause is Demon CoTwo, who hates all things cold and is purposely warming up the colder air atop a mountain, melting the ice atop it and causing the floods, uncaring of the damage. In order to stop him, Pia and Edsel must help Magician Grey to abate the debt he still feels he owes to Com Pewter. The two do so by seeing through the eyes of Grey and a golem named Robota, made by Pewter, as they use the border of Xanth and Mundania to travel back to the time when the Storm King Aeolus was still alive and briefly study his weather magic.
  • During this time, they discover that for the past year, he has been using a Soular Cell to extend his lifespan by halting his aging while his soul is in the Soular Cell. After watching his powers, the two depart and head out across Xanth, where they visit the Magic Dust Village, and Grey accidentally gets himself turned to stone by the Gorgon, while Robota returns to the Magic Dust Village. A year later, Grey is freed by the Time of No Magic. Meeting the Gorgon again, he advises her to go to Mundania, and she joins he and Robota as they return to Pewter's cave. There, they have an inadvertent run-in with Murphy and Vadne, helping the two also travel to Mundania, helping the Gorgon take up residence in one historical period and bringing Murphy and Vadne to another, while inadvertently revealing that the two are now expecting a delivery from the stork. Unaware of Grey's true origin, Vadne promises to name her son after him. Grey and Robota finally return to their own time period of Xanth, thus completing Grey's service to Pewter.
  • Breanna, Justin, Pia and Edsel then set off to find the key item they need to stop Demon CoTwo, a locket that can store anything it needs, which had been in the hands of Metria's son Demon Ted and Nada Naga's daughter DeMonica, whom they'd had to babysit for a day or so earlier. Unfortunately, the pair left it in the Fanta Sea, a lake in Xanth where wild dreams, both good and bad, appear. After finding the locket, the group use it to suck in CoTwo, then give it to Willow Elf, who also needs it. In her case, it's to carry magic dust into Mundania and to Nimby, who is in trouble.
  • Over in Mundania, Nimby and Chlorine (in Edsel and Pia's bodies) enjoy themselves learning about this world. In the process, however, they admit to Dug and Kim that X(A/N)th made a bet with E(A/R)th. Within a year of the bet, X(A/N)th must sneak into Mundania and and go three days without being noticed by E(A/R)th. If he is noticed, he has three days to get back into Xanth, and if he can't get back, he loses the bet and his status. E(A/R)th does indeed notice Nimby, and does everything he can to stop the other World Demon from escaping, but fails thanks to the aid of Sean and Willow, and David Baldwin's cat Midrange. After Nimby and Chlorine return to Xanth, the two give Pia and Edsel their thanks, and a few gifts (including curing Pia's diabetes, for which she was taking insulin shots), while Pia and Edsel have patched up their marriage and Pia plans to study the environment and help keep Mundania's trees safe. Nimby also promises that both Pia and Kim will be receiving deliveries from the stork soon, something that overjoys both women, since Kim had been having trouble conceiving, and Pia now feels ready to have a family.

• 24. The Dastard
  • Having traded his talent of Stupid Ideas for the talent of Unhappening events, Anomy has become the Dastard, neutralizing people's joyous moments for his own cruel pleasure. Soon, however, he winds up teaming with Becka Weredragon, who's been made immune to his powers. Together, they set out on a journey that not only forces the Dastard to change his ways, but ends the threat of the equally wicked Sea Hag, who's escaped from her prison in the Brain Coral's pool.

• 25. Swell Foop
  • Cynthia Centaur and her five companions must find the Six Rings of Xanth (Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Void, and the Idea) in order to find the Swell Foop and use it to rescue the Demon E(A/R)th from the thrall of the Demoness Fornax, lest his power of gravity fade from Mundania and threaten its very existence.

• 26. Up in a Heaval
  • As part of another wager, the Demon JU(P/I)ter hurls his Great Red Spot at Xanth, and the unlucky youth Umlaut and friends, including Jenny Elf's pet Sammy Cat, have a limited time to figure out how to make him call it back.

• 27. Cube Route
  • A girl named Cube sets out on a quest that ultimately leads she and her companions to Counter-Xanth, a realm created from territory won from the Demoness Fornax in a previous book.

• 28. Currant Events
  • Clio, the Muse of History, becomes involved in a quest to rescue Xanth's dragons from the verge of extinction, a journey that leads her to the dangerous Dragon World in the Moons of Ida.

• 29. Pet Peeve
  • A robot army wreaks havoc in Xanth, forcing Goody Goblin to find a solution... and a home for a very rude bird known as a Peeve.

• 30. Stork Naked
  • Surprise Golem's new baby is taken from her due to a clerical error (she arrived late and is recorded as younger than she really is, making her too young to receive a delivery from the stork), and must pursue the stork through a hole in reality leading to myriad alternate Xanths in order to recover her child.

• 31. Air Apparent
  • Good Magician Humfrey's son Hugo suddenly vanishes, and his wife Wira, the hurricane-turned-Xanthian Happy Bottom and her daughter Fray Cloud, Demon X(A/N)th's own son Nimbus, the unfortunately named Debra (whose undergarments leap away every time her name is spoken) and a few others set out to rescue him.

• 32. Two to the Fifth
  • The evil avian magician Ragna Roc seeks to conquer Xanth and become its king. Fortunately, Good Magician Humfrey enlists Cyrus the Cyborg to put together a troupe of traveling players to catch the bird's attention. Among them are the triplet princesses Melody, Harmony, and Rhythm, whose magics might just be a match for the evil bird... but there are complications, as underage Princess Rhythm falls for Cyrus and uses aging magic to make herself temporarily old enough to summon the stork with him.

• 33. Jumper Cable

• 34. Knot Gneiss

• 35. Well-Tempered Clavicle

• 36. Luck of the Draw

• 37. Esrever Doom

• 38. Board Stiff

• 39. Five Portraits

• 40. Isis Orb

• 41. Ghost Writer in the Sky