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Apprentice Adept #3
Juxtaposition
In this brilliantly satisfying conclusion to the epic adventure begun in Split Infinity and continued in Blue Adept, Piers Anthony again proves himself a consummate master of both science fiction and fantasy.
Stile had problems--two whole worlds of problems, in fact.
On Proton, a world of future science, his murder was averted only by the help of a lovely robot, who sent him through an invisible "curtain" to Phaze, an alternate world ruled by magic. There he found he was the double of the sorcerer, the Blue Adept, who had been mysteriously murdered. And the assassin was after Stile!
To survive, Stile had to master magic, fight a dragon, win the friendship of a lady unicorn, locate his enemy among the paranoid Adepts, and return out of Phaze to win the Great Games on Proton. After that, he was ready to face the real problems!
The infallible Oracle was suddenly involved in the conspiracy against him. The two worlds were out of balance and heading for disaster. Stile was somehow supposed to take over the job of saving them or go down to total destruction with all he loved, he had to act and act quickly--with no idea of what he was supposed to do.
Stile had problems--two whole worlds of problems, in fact.
On Proton, a world of future science, his murder was averted only by the help of a lovely robot, who sent him through an invisible "curtain" to Phaze, an alternate world ruled by magic. There he found he was the double of the sorcerer, the Blue Adept, who had been mysteriously murdered. And the assassin was after Stile!
To survive, Stile had to master magic, fight a dragon, win the friendship of a lady unicorn, locate his enemy among the paranoid Adepts, and return out of Phaze to win the Great Games on Proton. After that, he was ready to face the real problems!
The infallible Oracle was suddenly involved in the conspiracy against him. The two worlds were out of balance and heading for disaster. Stile was somehow supposed to take over the job of saving them or go down to total destruction with all he loved, he had to act and act quickly--with no idea of what he was supposed to do.
368 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 1, 1982
115 people are currently reading
1598 people want to read
About the author
Piers Anthony
441 books4,214 followersThough he spent the first four years of his life in England, Piers never returned to live in his country of birth after moving to Spain and immigrated to America at age six. After graduating with a B.A. from Goddard College, he married one of his fellow students and and spent fifteen years in an assortment of professions before he began writing fiction full-time.
Piers is a self-proclaimed environmentalist and lives on a tree farm in Florida with his wife. They have two grown daughters.
Piers is a self-proclaimed environmentalist and lives on a tree farm in Florida with his wife. They have two grown daughters.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 141 reviews
February 19, 2023
I liked this one a lot better than the previous installments. The climax was a cool see-saw conflict until the very end.
July 29, 2016
When I was 13, I read a lot of Piers Anthony, and when I say “a lot,” I mean a lot. The guy was pretty much all I read, from the Xanth series to the Incarnations of Immortality series, and even the Battle Circle and Bio of a Space Tyrant series, but my favorite of his books from that time would have to be the Apprentice Adept series. I read them again in my late 20s and thought they held up pretty well, so when I got on a bit of a nostalgia kick recently, I thought I’d give these another go, just to see if they were still pretty good. And the verdict is … well, mixed.
When I was 13, I realized that most of Piers’ books had a lot of sex in them (that may have been a reason I liked them as much as I did); what I didn’t realize was how much sexism they contained. As I was re-reading this series, I started finding some questionable quotes from them, of which these are some choice selections:
“She evinced the confidence normally associated with a larger person, though of course height was less important to a woman.”
“Stile could not pick among women; he had to have one shorter than he. Not because he demanded it but because society did; if he appeared among serfs with a girl who outmassed him, others would laugh, and that would destroy the relationship.”
“‘You have a Tourney to win,’ she reminded him, aptly changing the subject in the manner of her sex.”
“She smiled brilliantly and bobbed her cleavage about, enjoying her youthful form as only an old hag could.”
“…no one feared age like a middle-aged woman!”
“Yet she was a consummate actress, as so many women seemed to be.”
And perhaps the most egregious, from when he and one of his many paramours are running from the threat of death, hiding inside a hollow wall, and he attempts to get frisky with her but she speaks encouragement, but ultimately denies him:
“To speak readiness while withdrawing — that was often woman’s way.”
I mean, this stuff bypasses plain old sexism and start to take a walk in the land of misogyny. It’s really insulting.
It would be one thing to have these passages written from the perspective of the characters, to indicate their own motivations and feelings. There was another quote I thought to include — “What is a bitch, compared to oath-friendship?” — but in the context of the speaker and the culture (a werewolf, with a pack mentality similar to standard wolves), it fit the moment. But the other quotes were buried in the narrative, indicating that they represented more a philosophy of the author himself. It makes me realize that, much like with Dave Sim and Cerebus, it’s impossible to separate the author’s work from his own questionable philosophies. In the end, Anthony’s portrayal of women wasn’t just offensive, but it was also condescending and arrogant, as if this was just the way it was supposed to be.
The generalizations are insulting, as is the way Anthony writes the women characters to be servile to the men, more so because Anthony writes the women characters to be strong and speak their minds. That would suggest that the characters are independent, but it’s hard to call them such, since ultimately they’re all pawns to the male character. The only independent female characters out of the trilogy appears in the second book, and you can see her over there on the cover of Blue Adept. She’s strong-willed, fierce, and independent … but she’s also a man-hater who gets written out of the story by the end of the book. It’s almost like the only way a woman couldn’t be somehow used to Stile’s needs is if she couldn’t stand men at all, and it was even more insulting and demeaning. The theme mirrors the same theme from Sos the Rope, and I imagine that I’ll find that same sort of thing in the last two volumes of that series.
The weird thing about the series is that I knew from the first couple of chapters of Split Infinity that the story was going to keep going down that road, where Anthony developed his male characters and used the women as objects for them to use in one way or another (if they weren’t sleeping with Stile, they wanted to, and found other ways to be servile to him), but I still felt pretty compelled to read through the stories. Part of it was morbid curiosity, just to see how bad it would get, and to see if my memory of the stories had somehow betrayed me, but I can’t deny that the stories were interesting and compelling by themselves, either. Shoot, I re-read them all in the span of about a week, so regardless of his feelings about women, Anthony clearly knows how to tell a good story.
Something else that bugged me about the trilogy was the overbearing sense of arrogance, conceit, and condescension of the narrative. Stile, the main character, is basically an example of male perfection (enough so that I started to wonder if Stile is just a Mary Sue character), and while there’s some justification for this — he’s supposed to be a top player in the Game, which requires skill in several areas of sport and art — the way he speaks to other characters is irritating. Lots of “of course”s, “obviously”s, “always”s and “clearly”s are used in the way he communicates, none of them ironically, and after a while it becomes pretty grating. He’s self-confident (of course) and self-assured (obviously), and the few times that he’s not the best at what he does, he’s at least second-best (clearly), so it’s somewhat understandable, but he lacks empathy toward anyone else who doesn’t meet his own standards (always).
So, I re-read the series, and plan to finish off the Battle Circle series (I already picked up the rest of the books in the series), but I think after these, I’ll be done with Piers Anthony for good. I have some fond memories of the Incarnations of Immortality series, too, but I also remember all the women characters being patsies of men, even when they were the protaginists. And the less spoken of the Xanth series, I think, the better. Even when I was 13, I felt like those were a lot more juvenile than the stuff my friends were reading.
When I was 13, I realized that most of Piers’ books had a lot of sex in them (that may have been a reason I liked them as much as I did); what I didn’t realize was how much sexism they contained. As I was re-reading this series, I started finding some questionable quotes from them, of which these are some choice selections:
“She evinced the confidence normally associated with a larger person, though of course height was less important to a woman.”
“Stile could not pick among women; he had to have one shorter than he. Not because he demanded it but because society did; if he appeared among serfs with a girl who outmassed him, others would laugh, and that would destroy the relationship.”
“‘You have a Tourney to win,’ she reminded him, aptly changing the subject in the manner of her sex.”
“She smiled brilliantly and bobbed her cleavage about, enjoying her youthful form as only an old hag could.”
“…no one feared age like a middle-aged woman!”
“Yet she was a consummate actress, as so many women seemed to be.”
And perhaps the most egregious, from when he and one of his many paramours are running from the threat of death, hiding inside a hollow wall, and he attempts to get frisky with her but she speaks encouragement, but ultimately denies him:
“To speak readiness while withdrawing — that was often woman’s way.”
I mean, this stuff bypasses plain old sexism and start to take a walk in the land of misogyny. It’s really insulting.
It would be one thing to have these passages written from the perspective of the characters, to indicate their own motivations and feelings. There was another quote I thought to include — “What is a bitch, compared to oath-friendship?” — but in the context of the speaker and the culture (a werewolf, with a pack mentality similar to standard wolves), it fit the moment. But the other quotes were buried in the narrative, indicating that they represented more a philosophy of the author himself. It makes me realize that, much like with Dave Sim and Cerebus, it’s impossible to separate the author’s work from his own questionable philosophies. In the end, Anthony’s portrayal of women wasn’t just offensive, but it was also condescending and arrogant, as if this was just the way it was supposed to be.
The generalizations are insulting, as is the way Anthony writes the women characters to be servile to the men, more so because Anthony writes the women characters to be strong and speak their minds. That would suggest that the characters are independent, but it’s hard to call them such, since ultimately they’re all pawns to the male character. The only independent female characters out of the trilogy appears in the second book, and you can see her over there on the cover of Blue Adept. She’s strong-willed, fierce, and independent … but she’s also a man-hater who gets written out of the story by the end of the book. It’s almost like the only way a woman couldn’t be somehow used to Stile’s needs is if she couldn’t stand men at all, and it was even more insulting and demeaning. The theme mirrors the same theme from Sos the Rope, and I imagine that I’ll find that same sort of thing in the last two volumes of that series.
The weird thing about the series is that I knew from the first couple of chapters of Split Infinity that the story was going to keep going down that road, where Anthony developed his male characters and used the women as objects for them to use in one way or another (if they weren’t sleeping with Stile, they wanted to, and found other ways to be servile to him), but I still felt pretty compelled to read through the stories. Part of it was morbid curiosity, just to see how bad it would get, and to see if my memory of the stories had somehow betrayed me, but I can’t deny that the stories were interesting and compelling by themselves, either. Shoot, I re-read them all in the span of about a week, so regardless of his feelings about women, Anthony clearly knows how to tell a good story.
Something else that bugged me about the trilogy was the overbearing sense of arrogance, conceit, and condescension of the narrative. Stile, the main character, is basically an example of male perfection (enough so that I started to wonder if Stile is just a Mary Sue character), and while there’s some justification for this — he’s supposed to be a top player in the Game, which requires skill in several areas of sport and art — the way he speaks to other characters is irritating. Lots of “of course”s, “obviously”s, “always”s and “clearly”s are used in the way he communicates, none of them ironically, and after a while it becomes pretty grating. He’s self-confident (of course) and self-assured (obviously), and the few times that he’s not the best at what he does, he’s at least second-best (clearly), so it’s somewhat understandable, but he lacks empathy toward anyone else who doesn’t meet his own standards (always).
So, I re-read the series, and plan to finish off the Battle Circle series (I already picked up the rest of the books in the series), but I think after these, I’ll be done with Piers Anthony for good. I have some fond memories of the Incarnations of Immortality series, too, but I also remember all the women characters being patsies of men, even when they were the protaginists. And the less spoken of the Xanth series, I think, the better. Even when I was 13, I felt like those were a lot more juvenile than the stuff my friends were reading.
January 15, 2019
The conclusion of the Apprentice Adept trilogy. Although that trilogy seems to have grown somewhat since the first time I read the first three. Now it's a seven part series: two trilogies and a finale apparently.
The end of the first trilogy ties up all the loose ends. The ending isn't ever in any doubt – the good guys win, the bad guys lose. The journey is the fun. Now I'm gonna have to find the rest of the series aren't I?
The end of the first trilogy ties up all the loose ends. The ending isn't ever in any doubt – the good guys win, the bad guys lose. The journey is the fun. Now I'm gonna have to find the rest of the series aren't I?
May 29, 2012
Juxaposition is definitely the best of the initial trilogy. The pace is very fast, with satisfying, significant events happening regularly. Stile-as-Citizen is delightful - some of the gambling scenes are better than any of the previous Game scenes. And while Stile's rigid morality gets tiresome, it is, at least, internally consistent, and the deux ex machina that insures everyone gets a happy ending is better than marginally plausible.
The rampant sexism gets no better - Stile still has every woman he meets drooling after him, to ridiculous lengths, and while Sheen at least has better things to do for most of the book than swoon, she does manage to work in some significant swooning in her spare moments. The Citizens' culture seems about as patriarchal as it gets - the women go for medical/surgical beauty improvements while the men are content to be fat slobs, which would only be mildly eyebrow-raise-worthy if it wasn't explained as "The vanity of women caused them to go this route." In a book describing a male-gaze paradise, that was almost enough to cause me to throw the book across the room.
This was originally the end of the trilogy, and it's a perfectly good end, for what it is - the additional four books are definitely only for the faithful. I loved these when I was a kid, but man, I'm not sure I can even justify the shelf space for them any more.
The rampant sexism gets no better - Stile still has every woman he meets drooling after him, to ridiculous lengths, and while Sheen at least has better things to do for most of the book than swoon, she does manage to work in some significant swooning in her spare moments. The Citizens' culture seems about as patriarchal as it gets - the women go for medical/surgical beauty improvements while the men are content to be fat slobs, which would only be mildly eyebrow-raise-worthy if it wasn't explained as "The vanity of women caused them to go this route." In a book describing a male-gaze paradise, that was almost enough to cause me to throw the book across the room.
This was originally the end of the trilogy, and it's a perfectly good end, for what it is - the additional four books are definitely only for the faithful. I loved these when I was a kid, but man, I'm not sure I can even justify the shelf space for them any more.
July 10, 2014
The red and blue adept continue their spat
2 March 2012
This is the final book in the first trilogy of the Apprentice Adept series and is where the battle between the Blue Adept (Style) and the Red Adept comes to a conclusion. The final parts of the book are very action orientated as the battle rages across two interconnected worlds. Personally I have no idea why the Red Adept was so intent on killing Style, but it is a conflict, and it is a requirement of most literature that there be a conflict that needs to be resolved.
Both the Red and Blue Adepts are similar in that in Phase they are powerful entities that form a part of the magicians that rule the planet, while on Proton they are both serfs who are competing in the game to become citizens. I believe that it is in this book that Style wins the game and becomes a citizen, and despite now being allowed to clothe himself, discovers that despite being a citizen, he still sits at the bottom of the ladder and now faces new challenges to increase his status in the world.
This, and the first book, seem to work on the principle of sex-sells. Both of these books have a naked woman on the cover, though the first has a robot, and this one has a stone statue. I suspect in some places these versions of the books were banned, however I notice that it was these covers under which the Australian version was sold, so I suspect that this was also the British version. The reason I say this is because there was, and I believe still is, a restrictive trade deal between Australia and Britain. This deal pretty much says that Australia is only permitted to source its books from Britain, not America, which means that it makes books in Australia somewhat more expensive.
There has been a long running dispute regarding this, which once again surprises me since it could easily have been solved by the World Trade Organisation. Despite it being a very opaque organisation that seeks to strike down any treaty or law that restricts trade, in some cases it is beneficial. The concept is that if the WTO makes a ruling, and the country ignores it, then they are forced to pay a fine that is ongoing, and very expensive. The only way to get out of the fine is to drop the law or the treaty. If you do not then you could also find yourself on the wrong end of a trade embargo. However, Australia has some very tight quarantine laws, that would be considered a barrier to trade, but has been allowed to keep them. Yet, with a treaty such as this, I am surprised it has not been challenged. However, any matters that go to the WTO are in the strictest confidence, which means that pretty much nobody hears about it, and nobody knows the results of the decision (nor can they put their view points in as well).
That sort of went away from this book, but then again, I really don't care. I did enjoy these books when I did read them, however it was a long time ago, and much of the content I really cannot remember. I will probably consider writing about the next trilogy, though the problem is I really cannot remember the content, and am unsure if I actually read them. No, I think I won't write about them, because it is more likely than not that I did not read them, simply because Anthony decided to move to a second generation in these stories, though in a way I sort of do remember this. No, I'll write about them shortly (though I think I will interpose them with other books).
2 March 2012
This is the final book in the first trilogy of the Apprentice Adept series and is where the battle between the Blue Adept (Style) and the Red Adept comes to a conclusion. The final parts of the book are very action orientated as the battle rages across two interconnected worlds. Personally I have no idea why the Red Adept was so intent on killing Style, but it is a conflict, and it is a requirement of most literature that there be a conflict that needs to be resolved.
Both the Red and Blue Adepts are similar in that in Phase they are powerful entities that form a part of the magicians that rule the planet, while on Proton they are both serfs who are competing in the game to become citizens. I believe that it is in this book that Style wins the game and becomes a citizen, and despite now being allowed to clothe himself, discovers that despite being a citizen, he still sits at the bottom of the ladder and now faces new challenges to increase his status in the world.
This, and the first book, seem to work on the principle of sex-sells. Both of these books have a naked woman on the cover, though the first has a robot, and this one has a stone statue. I suspect in some places these versions of the books were banned, however I notice that it was these covers under which the Australian version was sold, so I suspect that this was also the British version. The reason I say this is because there was, and I believe still is, a restrictive trade deal between Australia and Britain. This deal pretty much says that Australia is only permitted to source its books from Britain, not America, which means that it makes books in Australia somewhat more expensive.
There has been a long running dispute regarding this, which once again surprises me since it could easily have been solved by the World Trade Organisation. Despite it being a very opaque organisation that seeks to strike down any treaty or law that restricts trade, in some cases it is beneficial. The concept is that if the WTO makes a ruling, and the country ignores it, then they are forced to pay a fine that is ongoing, and very expensive. The only way to get out of the fine is to drop the law or the treaty. If you do not then you could also find yourself on the wrong end of a trade embargo. However, Australia has some very tight quarantine laws, that would be considered a barrier to trade, but has been allowed to keep them. Yet, with a treaty such as this, I am surprised it has not been challenged. However, any matters that go to the WTO are in the strictest confidence, which means that pretty much nobody hears about it, and nobody knows the results of the decision (nor can they put their view points in as well).
That sort of went away from this book, but then again, I really don't care. I did enjoy these books when I did read them, however it was a long time ago, and much of the content I really cannot remember. I will probably consider writing about the next trilogy, though the problem is I really cannot remember the content, and am unsure if I actually read them. No, I think I won't write about them, because it is more likely than not that I did not read them, simply because Anthony decided to move to a second generation in these stories, though in a way I sort of do remember this. No, I'll write about them shortly (though I think I will interpose them with other books).
October 2, 2019
I read Piers Anthony's books first when I was a young teenager. When I had to go to the bookstore in the mall and have them look up the missing volumes in a big book and send me a postcard when they came in so I could go pick them up. I think that was the only time to enjoy them.
I really did like them then. Until I grew up, and the Xanth books became too bloated with puns.
Now, with my youngest older than I was when I started, I thought I'd revisit these. Times have changed, and so have I, and these books did not age well. I've read plenty of older books which were a product of their time and the views now seem so antiquated and often extremely wrong. The sad thing is, the time of these books wasn't *that* long ago, and I cringe to think that I missed all the misogeny at the time. (I recently read an article about a reread of a Spell for Chameleon which made up my mind to never open that one again).
Definitely a lot of points for an interesting world and a story that kept me reading until then end. But it's still hard to read this now. The male protagonist who can do no wrong, skilled at everything, and every female of every species just throws herself at him. Gag. And he can sleep with and then cast aside (but stay best friends with!) the women who throw themselves at him. Until he meets his soul mate. Which he knows upon first glance because... She's pretty? Oh, and most of the people in one world are slaves and have to be naked all the time, because... Well, just because, okay?
Yeah. If you've read this before and loved it, you might want to let it stay in the past. If not, it's an interesting relic, but I'd probably move on to something else.
I really did like them then. Until I grew up, and the Xanth books became too bloated with puns.
Now, with my youngest older than I was when I started, I thought I'd revisit these. Times have changed, and so have I, and these books did not age well. I've read plenty of older books which were a product of their time and the views now seem so antiquated and often extremely wrong. The sad thing is, the time of these books wasn't *that* long ago, and I cringe to think that I missed all the misogeny at the time. (I recently read an article about a reread of a Spell for Chameleon which made up my mind to never open that one again).
Definitely a lot of points for an interesting world and a story that kept me reading until then end. But it's still hard to read this now. The male protagonist who can do no wrong, skilled at everything, and every female of every species just throws herself at him. Gag. And he can sleep with and then cast aside (but stay best friends with!) the women who throw themselves at him. Until he meets his soul mate. Which he knows upon first glance because... She's pretty? Oh, and most of the people in one world are slaves and have to be naked all the time, because... Well, just because, okay?
Yeah. If you've read this before and loved it, you might want to let it stay in the past. If not, it's an interesting relic, but I'd probably move on to something else.
July 30, 2012
On the planet Proton, science works and magic doesn't, but juxtaposed with this world is another frame, that of Phaze, where magic works, but science doesn't. This is powered by a mineral called Protonite or Phazite depending on which frame you are in, and the Protonite mining of it is endangering the balance of both frames. Stile has been prophesied to ameliorate this destruction, but many powerful people in both frames are out to stop him, denying the destabilization and wanting to maintain their present status. What Stile must accomplish, jumping back and forth between frames, is enough work for ten men. How he manages it all will keep the reader on the edge of his or her seat throughout.
Anthony is not content to state a premise of this complexity without asking the difficult questions. Many authors would rely on a statement like "magic works" without feeling it necessary to explain. Anthony's world, and it's backstory, contain logical explanations for the fantastic occurrences therein. World-building does not come at the expense of characters, either. Stile's honor, incorruptibility, and personal development have converged to make him uniquely qualified for his task. Sheen the self-aware robot struggles with her inability to be "real" and her desire to be loved. Even more secondary characters such as Clef, Merle, and Trool have their own internal conflicts and personal evolving to do.
I really can't recommend this series enough, particularly if you can't decide whether you prefer science fiction to fantasy. There is quite enough of both to satisfy you.
Anthony is not content to state a premise of this complexity without asking the difficult questions. Many authors would rely on a statement like "magic works" without feeling it necessary to explain. Anthony's world, and it's backstory, contain logical explanations for the fantastic occurrences therein. World-building does not come at the expense of characters, either. Stile's honor, incorruptibility, and personal development have converged to make him uniquely qualified for his task. Sheen the self-aware robot struggles with her inability to be "real" and her desire to be loved. Even more secondary characters such as Clef, Merle, and Trool have their own internal conflicts and personal evolving to do.
I really can't recommend this series enough, particularly if you can't decide whether you prefer science fiction to fantasy. There is quite enough of both to satisfy you.
September 21, 2007
I strongly encourage this be read as the entire series. The last books go in a very different direction than the first few.
At first, this seems a rather typical fantasy type book. Toward the end, well, the comparison to our own world is inevitable and powerful.
Why can't we all just get along?
I'm giving the series a rating of 4. Some of the books in the series are better than others. As a whole, I think it's worthy of a 4.
At first, this seems a rather typical fantasy type book. Toward the end, well, the comparison to our own world is inevitable and powerful.
Why can't we all just get along?
I'm giving the series a rating of 4. Some of the books in the series are better than others. As a whole, I think it's worthy of a 4.
November 2, 2016
The weakest of the Apprentice Adept trilogy.
The old characters are moved about like chess pieces.
The new characters are uni-dimensional and just plot devices.
The whole book is really a plot device to get the first two books to lie down and be quiet.
If you have put your effort into the first 500+ pp and need to see that it all comes out all right, by all means go ahead, but not Anthony's best
The old characters are moved about like chess pieces.
The new characters are uni-dimensional and just plot devices.
The whole book is really a plot device to get the first two books to lie down and be quiet.
If you have put your effort into the first 500+ pp and need to see that it all comes out all right, by all means go ahead, but not Anthony's best
December 23, 2017
Misogyny and sexism play major roles in this book. It’s kind of sad. Every woman is objectified, her body described and rated for attractiveness. Stile is horrified that he gets beaten by a woman in a contest. And on and on. The storyline is enjoyable. But I had to edit the demeaning portions out as I read it to my kids.
February 2, 2010
This book taught me a very important thing, the meaning of the word Juxtaposition. I used it incessantly after and discovered that professors really like it in essays.
September 22, 2024
This should have been 250 pages, tops, and that's being generous.
Besides how meandering the whole work was, framing the final confrontation, with dystopian stakes, as a, literal, game, speaks volumes to the unlikeability of the character.He's so good at everything, saving the world is something he can just gamble everything on.
Besides how meandering the whole work was, framing the final confrontation, with dystopian stakes, as a, literal, game, speaks volumes to the unlikeability of the character.He's so good at everything, saving the world is something he can just gamble everything on.
January 7, 2025
Shockingly, this series has improved book by book. This one was the more enjoyable so far.
July 23, 2025
I enjoyed this series. I thought Piers Anthony wrote an imaginative trilogy that combined Sci-Fi and Fantasy. The ending was pretty exciting as the world of science (Proton) and the world of magic (Phaze) became unbalanced and faced destruction.
November 20, 2025
(Listened to Audiobook)
The best of the trilogy. I enjoy the overarching plot. Even the sexism has become rarer, although this is just a symptom of a very densely packed story. If it weren't the third book in a trilogy, I'd advise skipping the first two and just reading this. Then again, nothing is lost when one decides to skip this series.
The best of the trilogy. I enjoy the overarching plot. Even the sexism has become rarer, although this is just a symptom of a very densely packed story. If it weren't the third book in a trilogy, I'd advise skipping the first two and just reading this. Then again, nothing is lost when one decides to skip this series.
May 11, 2017
2/1/2013
May 25, 2018
While I love the series as a whole, and I do like this book quite a bit it has a number of problems. The first is the opening which is a clumsily executed mechanism, never explained, that has Stile suddenly dreaming lucid true dreams about what is happening in Phaze. This was his way of keeping the whole book in Stile's perspective while showing us what was going on with other people I guess, but it felt contrived and awkward.
Stile still in the Game, still competition to win citizenship. This is the ultimate prize be all citizens start off wealthy with a hefty share of the planet's chief export Protonite. A mineral used to power starships. With the power of citizenship behind him he'll be able to move back and forth between worlds without fear and all those resources can help him finally sort out the mysteries surrounding the attacks on his life.
The last book ended with him winning a challenge against the murderer of his other self but he still needs to find out what set everything in motion. He has three more challenges to go, and he has to win all of them to become citizen. The problem is after two books worth of build up we move through those challenged really fast in about 30 pages (out of 360) and are presented with Stile as a citizen. I'm really torn on this because it made it so anticlimactic and I feel like it would have been better to make that the end of the last book. It feels like a pacing issue, but the rest of the book is still good.
Stile is now a citizen but it's not what he thought, and he soon learns that just being a citizen isn't enough. Sure he's fabulously wealthy but he's one of the poorest of that category so he has no power over the other citizens. He's set the task of increasing his estate by an impossible amount in 6 months because he'll need that power to save Proton and Phaze from an event coming soon.
His dream of becoming citizen and then hoping back over to Phaze to enjoy his new wife without a care in the world disappears like a puff of smoke because he's got a whole new set of challenges. The book moves beyond those two early issues and is a wonderful read up until the satisfying conclusion. The end wraps up so nicely most people think the series is over, and there is a chance that he had originally planned to end it there but changed his mind and continued because the series does go on.
Stile still in the Game, still competition to win citizenship. This is the ultimate prize be all citizens start off wealthy with a hefty share of the planet's chief export Protonite. A mineral used to power starships. With the power of citizenship behind him he'll be able to move back and forth between worlds without fear and all those resources can help him finally sort out the mysteries surrounding the attacks on his life.
The last book ended with him winning a challenge against the murderer of his other self but he still needs to find out what set everything in motion. He has three more challenges to go, and he has to win all of them to become citizen. The problem is after two books worth of build up we move through those challenged really fast in about 30 pages (out of 360) and are presented with Stile as a citizen. I'm really torn on this because it made it so anticlimactic and I feel like it would have been better to make that the end of the last book. It feels like a pacing issue, but the rest of the book is still good.
Stile is now a citizen but it's not what he thought, and he soon learns that just being a citizen isn't enough. Sure he's fabulously wealthy but he's one of the poorest of that category so he has no power over the other citizens. He's set the task of increasing his estate by an impossible amount in 6 months because he'll need that power to save Proton and Phaze from an event coming soon.
His dream of becoming citizen and then hoping back over to Phaze to enjoy his new wife without a care in the world disappears like a puff of smoke because he's got a whole new set of challenges. The book moves beyond those two early issues and is a wonderful read up until the satisfying conclusion. The end wraps up so nicely most people think the series is over, and there is a chance that he had originally planned to end it there but changed his mind and continued because the series does go on.
June 19, 2017
This is probably the worse Piers Anthony book I've ever read and it is still okay. This is partly due to the fact that he wrote himself into a corner. The prior two books in this series set up the "Game" finale and a mystery about who was manipulating/trying to kill the main character, Stile. Having drug all this out for three books it was pretty clear what was going to happen here. So the Game comes to a very anti-climatic conclusion since the final contest was a poetry competition which was never enthralling enough to pull attention away from the fact that hero was going win or the book would be much shorter than it was. The author did manage a nice twist with the poetry contest that gave added relevance to the rest of the story, but that was all.
The big mystery was revealed- the oracle has an agenda. The alternate realities of Proton and Phaze are about to permanently separate. If they can be brought into greater alignment that separation will be much less traumatic. After Stile discovers this he is told that it is his job to move a large amount of "phazite" from Phaze to Proton to make that happen. All the rich and powerful oppose him because they choose not to believe the separation is happening.
So, in short, Juxtaposition is the wrap up of the Game and mystery story lines from prior books with the added challenge of moving "phazite" from Phaze to Proton. There is a bit of a twist ending involving who ends up in Phaze and who in Proton but it is pretty obvious in advance so not very impressive.
Bottom line: story is fairly predictable but well written and better than a lot of other fantasy books out there.
The big mystery was revealed- the oracle has an agenda. The alternate realities of Proton and Phaze are about to permanently separate. If they can be brought into greater alignment that separation will be much less traumatic. After Stile discovers this he is told that it is his job to move a large amount of "phazite" from Phaze to Proton to make that happen. All the rich and powerful oppose him because they choose not to believe the separation is happening.
So, in short, Juxtaposition is the wrap up of the Game and mystery story lines from prior books with the added challenge of moving "phazite" from Phaze to Proton. There is a bit of a twist ending involving who ends up in Phaze and who in Proton but it is pretty obvious in advance so not very impressive.
Bottom line: story is fairly predictable but well written and better than a lot of other fantasy books out there.
March 14, 2025
When I was 13, I read a lot of Piers Anthony, and when I say “a lot,” I mean a lot. The guy was pretty much all I read, from the Xanth series to the Incarnations of Immortality series, and even the Battle Circle and Bio of a Space Tyrant series, but my favorite of his books from that time would have to be the Apprentice Adept series. I read them again in my late 20s and thought they held up pretty well, so when I got on a bit of a nostalgia kick recently, I thought I’d give these another go, just to see if they were still pretty good. And the verdict is … well, mixed.
When I was 13, I realized that most of Piers’ books had a lot of sex in them (that may have been a reason I liked them as much as I did); what I didn’t realize was how much sexism they contained. As I was re-reading this series, I started finding some questionable quotes from them, of which these are some choice selections:
“She evinced the confidence normally associated with a larger person, though of course height was less important to a woman.”
“Stile could not pick among women; he had to have one shorter than he. Not because he demanded it but because society did; if he appeared among serfs with a girl who outmassed him, others would laugh, and that would destroy the relationship.”
“‘You have a Tourney to win,’ she reminded him, aptly changing the subject in the manner of her sex.”
“She smiled brilliantly and bobbed her cleavage about, enjoying her youthful form as only an old hag could.”
“…no one feared age like a middle-aged woman!”
“Yet she was a consummate actress, as so many women seemed to be.”
And perhaps the most egregious, from when he and one of his many paramours are running from the threat of death, hiding inside a hollow wall, and he attempts to get frisky with her but she speaks encouragement, but ultimately denies him:
“To speak readiness while withdrawing — that was often woman’s way.”
I mean, this stuff bypasses plain old sexism and start to take a walk in the land of misogyny. It’s really insulting.
It would be one thing to have these passages written from the perspective of the characters, to indicate their own motivations and feelings. There was another quote I thought to include — “What is a bitch, compared to oath-friendship?” — but in the context of the speaker and the culture (a werewolf, with a pack mentality similar to standard wolves), it fit the moment. But the other quotes were buried in the narrative, indicating that they represented more a philosophy of the author himself. It makes me realize that, much like with Dave Sim and Cerebus, it’s impossible to separate the author’s work from his own questionable philosophies. In the end, Anthony’s portrayal of women wasn’t just offensive, but it was also condescending and arrogant, as if this was just the way it was supposed to be.
The generalizations are insulting, as is the way Anthony writes the women characters to be servile to the men, more so because Anthony writes the women characters to be strong and speak their minds. That would suggest that the characters are independent, but it’s hard to call them such, since ultimately they’re all pawns to the male character. The only independent female characters out of the trilogy appears in the second book, and you can see her over there on the cover of Blue Adept. She’s strong-willed, fierce, and independent … but she’s also a man-hater who gets written out of the story by the end of the book. It’s almost like the only way a woman couldn’t be somehow used to Stile’s needs is if she couldn’t stand men at all, and it was even more insulting and demeaning. The theme mirrors the same theme from Sos the Rope, and I imagine that I’ll find that same sort of thing in the last two volumes of that series.
The weird thing about the series is that I knew from the first couple of chapters of Split Infinity that the story was going to keep going down that road, where Anthony developed his male characters and used the women as objects for them to use in one way or another (if they weren’t sleeping with Stile, they wanted to, and found other ways to be servile to him), but I still felt pretty compelled to read through the stories. Part of it was morbid curiosity, just to see how bad it would get, and to see if my memory of the stories had somehow betrayed me, but I can’t deny that the stories were interesting and compelling by themselves, either. Shoot, I re-read them all in the span of about a week, so regardless of his feelings about women, Anthony clearly knows how to tell a good story.
Something else that bugged me about the trilogy was the overbearing sense of arrogance, conceit, and condescension of the narrative. Stile, the main character, is basically an example of male perfection (enough so that I started to wonder if Stile is just a Mary Sue character), and while there’s some justification for this — he’s supposed to be a top player in the Game, which requires skill in several areas of sport and art — the way he speaks to other characters is irritating. Lots of “of course”s, “obviously”s, “always”s and “clearly”s are used in the way he communicates, none of them ironically, and after a while it becomes pretty grating. He’s self-confident (of course) and self-assured (obviously), and the few times that he’s not the best at what he does, he’s at least second-best (clearly), so it’s somewhat understandable, but he lacks empathy toward anyone else who doesn’t meet his own standards (always).
So, I re-read the series, and plan to finish off the Battle Circle series (I already picked up the rest of the books in the series), but I think after these, I’ll be done with Piers Anthony for good. I have some fond memories of the Incarnations of Immortality series, too, but I also remember all the women characters being patsies of men, even when they were the protaginists. And the less spoken of the Xanth series, I think, the better. Even when I was 13, I felt like those were a lot more juvenile than the stuff my friends were reading.
When I was 13, I realized that most of Piers’ books had a lot of sex in them (that may have been a reason I liked them as much as I did); what I didn’t realize was how much sexism they contained. As I was re-reading this series, I started finding some questionable quotes from them, of which these are some choice selections:
“She evinced the confidence normally associated with a larger person, though of course height was less important to a woman.”
“Stile could not pick among women; he had to have one shorter than he. Not because he demanded it but because society did; if he appeared among serfs with a girl who outmassed him, others would laugh, and that would destroy the relationship.”
“‘You have a Tourney to win,’ she reminded him, aptly changing the subject in the manner of her sex.”
“She smiled brilliantly and bobbed her cleavage about, enjoying her youthful form as only an old hag could.”
“…no one feared age like a middle-aged woman!”
“Yet she was a consummate actress, as so many women seemed to be.”
And perhaps the most egregious, from when he and one of his many paramours are running from the threat of death, hiding inside a hollow wall, and he attempts to get frisky with her but she speaks encouragement, but ultimately denies him:
“To speak readiness while withdrawing — that was often woman’s way.”
I mean, this stuff bypasses plain old sexism and start to take a walk in the land of misogyny. It’s really insulting.
It would be one thing to have these passages written from the perspective of the characters, to indicate their own motivations and feelings. There was another quote I thought to include — “What is a bitch, compared to oath-friendship?” — but in the context of the speaker and the culture (a werewolf, with a pack mentality similar to standard wolves), it fit the moment. But the other quotes were buried in the narrative, indicating that they represented more a philosophy of the author himself. It makes me realize that, much like with Dave Sim and Cerebus, it’s impossible to separate the author’s work from his own questionable philosophies. In the end, Anthony’s portrayal of women wasn’t just offensive, but it was also condescending and arrogant, as if this was just the way it was supposed to be.
The generalizations are insulting, as is the way Anthony writes the women characters to be servile to the men, more so because Anthony writes the women characters to be strong and speak their minds. That would suggest that the characters are independent, but it’s hard to call them such, since ultimately they’re all pawns to the male character. The only independent female characters out of the trilogy appears in the second book, and you can see her over there on the cover of Blue Adept. She’s strong-willed, fierce, and independent … but she’s also a man-hater who gets written out of the story by the end of the book. It’s almost like the only way a woman couldn’t be somehow used to Stile’s needs is if she couldn’t stand men at all, and it was even more insulting and demeaning. The theme mirrors the same theme from Sos the Rope, and I imagine that I’ll find that same sort of thing in the last two volumes of that series.
The weird thing about the series is that I knew from the first couple of chapters of Split Infinity that the story was going to keep going down that road, where Anthony developed his male characters and used the women as objects for them to use in one way or another (if they weren’t sleeping with Stile, they wanted to, and found other ways to be servile to him), but I still felt pretty compelled to read through the stories. Part of it was morbid curiosity, just to see how bad it would get, and to see if my memory of the stories had somehow betrayed me, but I can’t deny that the stories were interesting and compelling by themselves, either. Shoot, I re-read them all in the span of about a week, so regardless of his feelings about women, Anthony clearly knows how to tell a good story.
Something else that bugged me about the trilogy was the overbearing sense of arrogance, conceit, and condescension of the narrative. Stile, the main character, is basically an example of male perfection (enough so that I started to wonder if Stile is just a Mary Sue character), and while there’s some justification for this — he’s supposed to be a top player in the Game, which requires skill in several areas of sport and art — the way he speaks to other characters is irritating. Lots of “of course”s, “obviously”s, “always”s and “clearly”s are used in the way he communicates, none of them ironically, and after a while it becomes pretty grating. He’s self-confident (of course) and self-assured (obviously), and the few times that he’s not the best at what he does, he’s at least second-best (clearly), so it’s somewhat understandable, but he lacks empathy toward anyone else who doesn’t meet his own standards (always).
So, I re-read the series, and plan to finish off the Battle Circle series (I already picked up the rest of the books in the series), but I think after these, I’ll be done with Piers Anthony for good. I have some fond memories of the Incarnations of Immortality series, too, but I also remember all the women characters being patsies of men, even when they were the protaginists. And the less spoken of the Xanth series, I think, the better. Even when I was 13, I felt like those were a lot more juvenile than the stuff my friends were reading.
October 15, 2019
I think I remember getting this book on YP Day (July 17) or so 1990 (or give or take a few years? 1987? see below) while visiting Boston with the Hampshire College Summer Studies in Mathematics (as an alum) (that weekend anyway but again, I may have the year wrong), at either the MIT or Harvard Co-op (it's -been- awhile) - then once back at the dorm staying up all night reading it.
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March 9, 2020A journey coming to a bittersweet end
A true masterpiece of both the Sci-fi and fantasy genres. Anthony expertly handles the nuances of both worlds making for a truly epic storyline, with ups and downs, and the everlasting presence of chance incorporated into the main character's otherwise fated path. Every interaction and twist feels alive and original, and there is never a good place to put down this phenomenal book (and trilogy as a whole). The author manages to conclude the story with a swift yet open ending. Although there are no more books in this series, one can happily imagine adventures to continue for the protagonists. It only became apparent at the very end that nothing is quite as it seems, and the two seemingly separate concepts of fate and chance were in fact one and the same.
A true masterpiece of both the Sci-fi and fantasy genres. Anthony expertly handles the nuances of both worlds making for a truly epic storyline, with ups and downs, and the everlasting presence of chance incorporated into the main character's otherwise fated path. Every interaction and twist feels alive and original, and there is never a good place to put down this phenomenal book (and trilogy as a whole). The author manages to conclude the story with a swift yet open ending. Although there are no more books in this series, one can happily imagine adventures to continue for the protagonists. It only became apparent at the very end that nothing is quite as it seems, and the two seemingly separate concepts of fate and chance were in fact one and the same.
July 27, 2022
As you know must happen, the conclusion of the story brings the parallel universes together. The concepts are good, but the execution is often lacking, frequently falling back to gun and physical battles instead of the clever conflicts in the first two books. (A similar thing can be said about most Marvel movies - why have superpowers if you're just going to brawl!)
Again, tighter writing might have helped. But if you look for the underlying ideas, they are still fun, as are highlights like a goblin general and a sculptor troll.
My biggest complaint is the sidelining of several main female characters in this book. Just because a woman is pregnant, doesnt mean she had to withdraw and be protected. That's offensive.
Again, tighter writing might have helped. But if you look for the underlying ideas, they are still fun, as are highlights like a goblin general and a sculptor troll.
My biggest complaint is the sidelining of several main female characters in this book. Just because a woman is pregnant, doesnt mean she had to withdraw and be protected. That's offensive.
July 19, 2024
A true masterpiece of both the Sci-fi and fantasy genres. Anthony expertly handles the nuances of both worlds making for a truly epic storyline, with ups and downs, and the everlasting presence of chance incorporated into the main character's otherwise fated path. Every interaction and twist feels alive and original, and there is never a good place to put down this phenomenal book (and trilogy as a whole). The author manages to conclude the story with a swift yet open ending. Although there are no more books in this series, one can happily imagine adventures to continue for the protagonists. It only became apparent at the very end that nothing is quite as it seems, and the two seemingly separate concepts of fate and chance were in fact one and the same.
October 25, 2024
Juxtaposition by Piers Anthony (Apprentice adept #3)
Stile, a man torn between Proton, the world of science as a serf gamesman and Phaze, the world of magic as the Blue Adept.
Stile finally gains his goals of becoming a citizen in the world of Proton but this brings more dangers and challenges rather than a life of imagined ease. He learns that the mysterious, all-knowing Oracle is involved in a conspiracy against him, which leads to a collision between the two worlds.
The story started out well enough but became drawn out and a little tedious for the middle third of the book. It does get a little faster paced towards the end without feeling too rushed but it takes a long time to really have anything happen. Overall not bad but not as good as the previous books in the series.
Stile, a man torn between Proton, the world of science as a serf gamesman and Phaze, the world of magic as the Blue Adept.
Stile finally gains his goals of becoming a citizen in the world of Proton but this brings more dangers and challenges rather than a life of imagined ease. He learns that the mysterious, all-knowing Oracle is involved in a conspiracy against him, which leads to a collision between the two worlds.
The story started out well enough but became drawn out and a little tedious for the middle third of the book. It does get a little faster paced towards the end without feeling too rushed but it takes a long time to really have anything happen. Overall not bad but not as good as the previous books in the series.
November 14, 2024
The worlds of Phase and Proton are set to converge. Stile must transfer a mass of the element, Phasite across the curtain. There the source of magic will turn into Protonite, a fantastic source of energy to drive advanced technology.
This transfer will disrupt the existing order of both worlds and the most powerful members of both societies stand against him. But if he fails, both worlds will collapse after they separate.
This is the most complex book of the trilogy. It is sweet and earnest, even if it continues to delve into softcore objectification of its female characters. The action flows quickly with many fun twists and turns. The climax unintentionally delves into silliness. Even the final resolution, excessively telegraphed, has its own fun surprise.
This transfer will disrupt the existing order of both worlds and the most powerful members of both societies stand against him. But if he fails, both worlds will collapse after they separate.
This is the most complex book of the trilogy. It is sweet and earnest, even if it continues to delve into softcore objectification of its female characters. The action flows quickly with many fun twists and turns. The climax unintentionally delves into silliness. Even the final resolution, excessively telegraphed, has its own fun surprise.
July 9, 2025
Tahle kniha je téměř utrpení číst. Ty předchozí knihy byly tak trochu nuda, ale tohle je nuda na steroidech. Opravdu nenávidím dokonalého hlavního hrdinu. Pokud jde o jeho vztahy se ženami, obočí mi už nemá kam stoupat, ale ok, přeju mu to (a nezávidím). Zápletka meandruje, napětí skoro žádné a jediný důvod, proč ještě čtu, je, abych se dozvěděl, kdo byl tím padouchem v pozadí z předchozích knih.
Navykl jsem si přeskakovat verše v překladu, protože kdyby na kvalitě veršů závisela kvalita Stylovy magie, tak nevytáhne ani králíka z klobouku.
Onikání mi leze krkem tak mocně, že mám sto chutí knihu zahodit.
Nevím, jeslti jsem i tenhle díl četl jako teenager: jestli ne, pak by to vysvětlovalo, proč mám na tu sérii tak dobré vzpomínky.
Navykl jsem si přeskakovat verše v překladu, protože kdyby na kvalitě veršů závisela kvalita Stylovy magie, tak nevytáhne ani králíka z klobouku.
Onikání mi leze krkem tak mocně, že mám sto chutí knihu zahodit.
Nevím, jeslti jsem i tenhle díl četl jako teenager: jestli ne, pak by to vysvětlovalo, proč mám na tu sérii tak dobré vzpomínky.
February 10, 2022
Excellent. If at times I lost track of exactly what was happening I was no worse off than the characters involved. But they would not share my confusion as the pages in my left hand increased and those in my right dwindled. Everything was clearly rushing to the defining end of the Proton/Phaze story, but from my first reading of the series when it came out in the early ’80s I had thought there were more volumes than three. I turned the last page—clearly I’d remembered wrong. All loose ends tied up, everyone where they should be, And They All Lived Happily Ever After clearly implied. Then I checked. Four more books to go! And I have not a clue what could possibly be coming up…
September 8, 2023
I will hand it to Anthony for this one; it speaks to some of the fundamental, uh, fantasies explored in fantasy and myth. To live in a just universe where integrity is rewarded both materially and with camaraderie. Stile's faith in all - from the horrible troll to the precocious wizard child and even to the honorable enemy commander - is proven justified. It remains a lousy romance and Anthony is too serious, refusing to get down in the dirt and enjoy the pulp nonsense of goblins with laser pistols fighting cyborgs riding unicorns. But, you know what? I'm giving this one the coveted "not bad" award.
July 23, 2019
A very compelling semi-conclusion to the trilogy.
The women in this at long last display some agency though it is still quite sexist.
There was a lot of deus ex machina here, Stile/Blue actually was simply reacting to what was going on around him rather than making plays based on his own interests. The oracle seems to have been the key player here. Oh well.
I've had enough of this series for the time being. I'll probably come back to it at a later time. There is only so much sexist sci-fantasy you can consume at a time.
The women in this at long last display some agency though it is still quite sexist.
There was a lot of deus ex machina here, Stile/Blue actually was simply reacting to what was going on around him rather than making plays based on his own interests. The oracle seems to have been the key player here. Oh well.
I've had enough of this series for the time being. I'll probably come back to it at a later time. There is only so much sexist sci-fantasy you can consume at a time.
November 25, 2021
3.5 stars actually, with bonus 0.5 stars for nostalgia. As the final book in the original trilogy (which got expanded into 7 books later on), this ties up all the loose ends and provides a satisfactory ending. It might be the effect of my many times re-reading this book and knowing what happens next, but some parts seem to be draggy with expositions (although this has been cut-down tremendously from the first book) while the final segment seems to be rushing towards the conclusion. Still, it's a good read and good ending to the trilogy!
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