The Source of Magic
core novel 1979 Xanth
Record
| First published | 1979 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.90 (26,559 ratings, collected 2026-08-25) |
| Page count | 326 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780345300744 |
| Internal chronology | 2 |
Synopsis
Following the events of A Spell for Chameleon, King Trent appoints Bink as Xanth's Official Researcher and sends him on a mission to discover the true source of the land's magic, a question no one has ever definitively answered. Accompanied by his centaur friend Chester, the griffin-transformed soldier Crombie, and later joined by the reclusive Good Magician Humfrey and the small golem Grundy, Bink journeys through unfamiliar and hazardous terrain in pursuit of an answer that could reshape everyone's understanding of Xanth itself. Along the way the group encounters magical hazards and revelations that test both Bink's resourcefulness and his growing responsibilities as a new husband and father-to-be.
Where it sits
- Universe: Xanth
- Series: Xanth, the original trilogy core; position 2 of 3 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Piers Anthony
Notes
- From the series record (Xanth, the original trilogy): The first three Xanth novels, which established the pun-based magical land of Xanth.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series Xanth, the original trilogy: position 2 of 3: previous A Spell for Chameleon (1977) · next Castle Roogna (1979)
- Internal chronology, within Xanth: position 2 of 33: previous A Spell for Chameleon (1977) · next Castle Roogna (1979)
Sources
- Wikipedia: Xanth
- Wikipedia: Piers Anthony bibliography
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Source_of_Magic
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