Nitpicker's Guide to Piers Anthony's "A Spell for Chameleon"

General comment: Piers Anthony uses the word 'balk' quite a bit, not only in this book, but in several other Xanth novels as well.
General comment: Chameleon's three names, Wynne, Dee, and Fanchon fit together to form the proper name "Wendy Fanchon". This could be a reference to a real person Piers Anthony knows.
page 44: Cherie notes that "the Second Wave was an all-male army." On the next page, however, she mentions the "Second Wave women". She probably meant the First Wave women, who were taken by the Second Wave men as wives.
page 47: "Herman the Hermit" is probably a reference to Herman's Hermits, a popular music group in the 60s or 70s.
page 57: "the three girls shook their heads, no." It's somewhat surprising that all the girls had the exact same answer without consulting with each other. If one actually had been raped, you'd think she'd be more likely to answer yes, or at least hesitate in shaking her head.
page 114: "technicolor hailstorm" is a reference to something, but I can't figure out what.
page 127: Getting the manticora to stick its tail into the wooden door is a neat trick... so neat, in fact, that something very similar is used in Sierra's King's Quest VI (this isn't a nitpick, but this scene reminded me of King's Quest VI a great deal).
page 135: Humphrey says, "I had thought there were only three persons on that rank [Magician-caliber] alive today", and lists himself, Iris and Trent. However, he fails to mention the Storm King; all Kings must be of Magician-caliber, and since this designation is lifelong, the Storm King must still hold it.
page 189: After being transformed into a cockatrice, Bink sees "another of his kind. A female". However, on the next page, Bink and Fanchon discuss how cockatrices are genderless; how could Bink recognize the other cockatrice as female?
page 251: "Snakes were emerging... whose bones showed through". Do snakes have bones?

Return to Nitpicker's Home Page

Last modified stardate: 20070609.123527

No time to send an email, but still have something to say?
Make a Quick Comment
Your Comment:
IMPORTANT: Please change the word 'cat' to 'dog' to show that you are not a spam bot.
Your Name (optional):
Your Email (optional):