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Battle Circle #1-3
Battle Circle
Battle Circle is a trilogy of science fiction novels by Piers Anthony. Originally published separately, the trilogy was later combined into a single volume.[1] The three novels 1. Sos the Rope (1968) 2. Var the Stick (1972) 3. Neq the Sword (1975) The novels take place on a post-apocalyptic Earth. The history is not given in detail, but the landscape is filled with the ruins of the previous civilization, and large areas (referred to as the "badlands") are still deadly because of radiation, presumably from nuclear war. In North America, there are three main the crazies and underworlders, and the nomads who are the main focus of the novels.
537 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1978
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604 people want to read
About the author
Piers Anthony
441 books4,215 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 56 reviews
April 4, 2023
Battle Circle is an omnibus of a trilogy, started in 1968 and the last volume in 1975. There is, however, one overarching story arc and set of characters, so these are by no means standalones. Piers Anthony. I have always had mixed feelings about his work, even back in the day when his paperbacks seemed to flood the SFF shelves in the 70s. I really liked, for example, Macroscope, but he always had a tendency for skeeze, like if Richard Laymon decided to write SFF. Sometimes the skeezy sexism lurks in the background, and sometimes it shines front and center. In Battle Circle, the skeeze factor is mild at first, but much more pronounced in each volume. Perhaps not ironically, the less skeezey, the more I like his work. Consequentially, or perhaps as a result, I did like the first volume here, but I was pretty done with the tale by volume three.
Battle Circle consists of something akin to a sociological survey of Earth, and particularly America, after a nuclear war, taking place a 100 or so years after the "Blast." Advanced civilization has largely vanished, but humanity struggles on. In America, people either live the 'nomadic' way, fighting for honor and such in the battle circle, or they are the 'crazies', who retain some productive capacity and stock the numerous 'hostels' the nomads use. The crazies also provide the 6 standard weapons used by the nomads. Someone, although it is never clear who, must have thought out and planned such a society, and around the world various vestiges of civilization still exist as we discover in the second installment.
The story arc consists of one nomad's quest for empire. Sol wants to bring the various nomad tribes together to challenge the crazies. Why is never quite clear, but so be it. So, Sol, and his head honcho Sos, begin training the warrior nomads out in the 'badlands' (e.g., where radiation still lingers) into an army. The plot is rather thin, however, and what pulls the novel along are the characters and their adventures in the nuclear scarred world. Sos the Rope works as a lite SFF romp, worth 3 stars, but as mentioned, the skeeze really starts to take over and the tale goes down hill.
The nomads can 'marry' a nubile female by offering her their gold armband, but marriage can last as little as one night. Young women hang around the hostels looking for men, wearing specific robes to highlight their availability. Various love tangles move the plot along. At first, the skeeze is rather tangential to the main story, but Anthony just cannot seem to resist adding in a Laymon like lens. For example, in the last installment, a young, nude woman battles a man in a battle circle and the witness cannot help but fixate on her 'young, firm breast playing peekaboo with her hair, bouncing delightfully' as the two go at it. Worse, the most desirable women seem to be 14 or 15, with women reaching 'their peak' at 16 or so. If you can get by the skeeze, this is a decent tale. I like pulp, but Anthony somehow always manages to make me feel a little sleazy after reading his work. 2 skeezy stars!!
Battle Circle consists of something akin to a sociological survey of Earth, and particularly America, after a nuclear war, taking place a 100 or so years after the "Blast." Advanced civilization has largely vanished, but humanity struggles on. In America, people either live the 'nomadic' way, fighting for honor and such in the battle circle, or they are the 'crazies', who retain some productive capacity and stock the numerous 'hostels' the nomads use. The crazies also provide the 6 standard weapons used by the nomads. Someone, although it is never clear who, must have thought out and planned such a society, and around the world various vestiges of civilization still exist as we discover in the second installment.
The story arc consists of one nomad's quest for empire. Sol wants to bring the various nomad tribes together to challenge the crazies. Why is never quite clear, but so be it. So, Sol, and his head honcho Sos, begin training the warrior nomads out in the 'badlands' (e.g., where radiation still lingers) into an army. The plot is rather thin, however, and what pulls the novel along are the characters and their adventures in the nuclear scarred world. Sos the Rope works as a lite SFF romp, worth 3 stars, but as mentioned, the skeeze really starts to take over and the tale goes down hill.
The nomads can 'marry' a nubile female by offering her their gold armband, but marriage can last as little as one night. Young women hang around the hostels looking for men, wearing specific robes to highlight their availability. Various love tangles move the plot along. At first, the skeeze is rather tangential to the main story, but Anthony just cannot seem to resist adding in a Laymon like lens. For example, in the last installment, a young, nude woman battles a man in a battle circle and the witness cannot help but fixate on her 'young, firm breast playing peekaboo with her hair, bouncing delightfully' as the two go at it. Worse, the most desirable women seem to be 14 or 15, with women reaching 'their peak' at 16 or so. If you can get by the skeeze, this is a decent tale. I like pulp, but Anthony somehow always manages to make me feel a little sleazy after reading his work. 2 skeezy stars!!
April 22, 2010
I got this book by trading a stick or a honey bun wrapper or something on swaptree.com.
I then left it in the bathroom and read it there over the course of several weeks. [It's important that you now check out the cover of this book by clicking on it. There are several editions, but the one I have pinned this review to is the one that was sitting on the toilet. Go ahead, click on the cover.:]
Two wonderful things happened because of this:
1. Anyone who visited our house and used the bathroom inevitably came out with a stunned expression on their face and said, "Whoa, what's up with Battle Circle?" Instant conversation!
2. My wife and I adopted the best euphemism ever for voiding: "Yo, I'm heading to the Battle Circle!" AWESOME.
One less wonderful thing happened because of this:
I read Battle Circle. I enjoyed it, but make no mistake, it was dumb.
I then left it in the bathroom and read it there over the course of several weeks. [It's important that you now check out the cover of this book by clicking on it. There are several editions, but the one I have pinned this review to is the one that was sitting on the toilet. Go ahead, click on the cover.:]
Two wonderful things happened because of this:
1. Anyone who visited our house and used the bathroom inevitably came out with a stunned expression on their face and said, "Whoa, what's up with Battle Circle?" Instant conversation!
2. My wife and I adopted the best euphemism ever for voiding: "Yo, I'm heading to the Battle Circle!" AWESOME.
One less wonderful thing happened because of this:
I read Battle Circle. I enjoyed it, but make no mistake, it was dumb.
May 13, 2008
I am not sure what I learned from this book except that I can like a book enough to read it twice cover to cover.
Post apocalyptic Earth where tribes of survivors meet in the "circle" to determine anything from who gets what woman to who gets the top bunk. They only use six different kinds of weapons (Sword, staff, sticks, daggers, club, or morning star) and never fight outside the circle.
Until along comes a warrior that no one can beat. He builds an empire and everything changes.
I read it once in high school and then again in my twenties. Really enjoyed it both times.
Post apocalyptic Earth where tribes of survivors meet in the "circle" to determine anything from who gets what woman to who gets the top bunk. They only use six different kinds of weapons (Sword, staff, sticks, daggers, club, or morning star) and never fight outside the circle.
Until along comes a warrior that no one can beat. He builds an empire and everything changes.
I read it once in high school and then again in my twenties. Really enjoyed it both times.
July 29, 2016
Specifically, I didn't read the entire book, since I'd already finished Sos the Rope. I just picked this up with Var the Stick and trundled on through the rest of the series. Well ... I guess "trundled" is a bit of a loaded word, and one that really belies how much I sped through the last two books. I finished them in three days, and actually felt some eagerness to finish them. Var the Stick actually developed a bit more than I would have expected from Mr. Anthony, based on the sexism of the first book and the Apprentice Adept series, but then he had to descend into the depths of statutory rape and ruin it all. And dammit, up to that point, he had actually been making a case for women as individuals, even in the setting of the novel! So that was a little disappointing.
Neq the Sword is the book of the trilogy that I remember most, because it had a heart-wrenching scene near the start. I remember it devastating me when I first read it; this time around, I recognized it for its pathos, but it didn't have the same sort of effect on me. Maybe I'm more jaded now; maybe my sensibilities for that sort of thing are more mature than they were 27 years ago; or maybe it just wasn't as good as I thought it was. Regardless, it was a bit of a let-down, and a reminder of why you shouldn't revisit the stuff that you treasured when you were younger.
Story-wise, I liked the development of Var the Stick, as the character development felt more sincere, and the plot started to feel more substantial. There was a lot of travel in the book, enough for the characters to go halfway around the world, and it started to feel a little silly when they got to China. There was a rather gratuitous and overly-descriptive section where the characters encountered a group of Amazons (no buxom misses here; no, instead Anthony presents the assertive women as gross in body and sexuality, with a group of mutilated-but-not-castrated men to keep the female bloodline alive), and from there it just kept going downhill. Neq the Sword was too scattered of plot and motive, and I had a hard time finding much satisfaction from the story. By the end, the scattered remnants of the previous society was pulling back together to recreate itself, but by then Anthony was back in his form, where the eight women in that society would be passed among the forty men to keep the population alive. Yawn.
Despite all my complaining, I did find the storytelling gripping and compelling. As I mentioned above, I finished the book over three days, even as I found myself thinking it wasn't going to get much better. It's not the stupidest or worst book I've ever read, but having re-read the entire series, along with the Apprentice Adept series, I find myself having to come to terms with the fact that I've simply outgrown Piers Anthony. I think I had already known that, but now I don't have to wonder about it anymore.
Neq the Sword is the book of the trilogy that I remember most, because it had a heart-wrenching scene near the start. I remember it devastating me when I first read it; this time around, I recognized it for its pathos, but it didn't have the same sort of effect on me. Maybe I'm more jaded now; maybe my sensibilities for that sort of thing are more mature than they were 27 years ago; or maybe it just wasn't as good as I thought it was. Regardless, it was a bit of a let-down, and a reminder of why you shouldn't revisit the stuff that you treasured when you were younger.
Story-wise, I liked the development of Var the Stick, as the character development felt more sincere, and the plot started to feel more substantial. There was a lot of travel in the book, enough for the characters to go halfway around the world, and it started to feel a little silly when they got to China. There was a rather gratuitous and overly-descriptive section where the characters encountered a group of Amazons (no buxom misses here; no, instead Anthony presents the assertive women as gross in body and sexuality, with a group of mutilated-but-not-castrated men to keep the female bloodline alive), and from there it just kept going downhill. Neq the Sword was too scattered of plot and motive, and I had a hard time finding much satisfaction from the story. By the end, the scattered remnants of the previous society was pulling back together to recreate itself, but by then Anthony was back in his form, where the eight women in that society would be passed among the forty men to keep the population alive. Yawn.
Despite all my complaining, I did find the storytelling gripping and compelling. As I mentioned above, I finished the book over three days, even as I found myself thinking it wasn't going to get much better. It's not the stupidest or worst book I've ever read, but having re-read the entire series, along with the Apprentice Adept series, I find myself having to come to terms with the fact that I've simply outgrown Piers Anthony. I think I had already known that, but now I don't have to wonder about it anymore.
December 25, 2008
Xanth fans, be warned. This is not a book full of colorful magic, bosoms, and puns.
If all you've read of Piers Anthony is the Xanth series, you may not know this, but Piers hates his protagonists. He enjoys hurting them, and then hurting them some more, and then hurting the people they love just for good measure. Sometimes it's hard on the reader. Or at least it was on me.
That said, this trilogy is excellent. The titular Battle Circle is the foundation of a postapocalyptic society where victory in the Circle earns you respect, property, and leadership... at least until someone else beats you.
Into this setting are cast three characters, Sos the Rope, Var the Stick, and Neq the Sword. Between them they will change the world- whether for the better or the worse remains to be seen.
Hold on tight, it's a bumpy ride.
If all you've read of Piers Anthony is the Xanth series, you may not know this, but Piers hates his protagonists. He enjoys hurting them, and then hurting them some more, and then hurting the people they love just for good measure. Sometimes it's hard on the reader. Or at least it was on me.
That said, this trilogy is excellent. The titular Battle Circle is the foundation of a postapocalyptic society where victory in the Circle earns you respect, property, and leadership... at least until someone else beats you.
Into this setting are cast three characters, Sos the Rope, Var the Stick, and Neq the Sword. Between them they will change the world- whether for the better or the worse remains to be seen.
Hold on tight, it's a bumpy ride.
July 16, 2008
A friend of mine told me that this was the worst book he had ever read. I decided to read it myself, because I was certain that no book could be as bad as what he had described to me. I was wrong. This book is absolutely terrible. Every Piers Anthony cliche' is here, from the puerile sexuality to the flaccid attempts at social commentary. And the finale' of the book involves the sword-swinging hero replacing his hand with a glockenspiel. Seriously. Simply a wretched book by any measure.
September 29, 2007
I actually really liked this book. It's an interesting post-nuclear-holocaust nomadic society epic. Three books in one that starts out strong, gets really weird in the middle, then recovers nicely. A fairly strong departure from the usual pun-ny xanth crap. Represents good character development and interesting storyline.
January 13, 2008
I really loved the concept of a barbaric culture being supported by a group of intellectuals hiding in a mountain. I've been told by Piers himself that this book is nothing like his other work.
This book lead me to the Conan stories by Robert Howard because I loved the fighting and reading about the barbarian culture.
This book lead me to the Conan stories by Robert Howard because I loved the fighting and reading about the barbarian culture.
October 9, 2007
Really hard to find in libraries, but a great story. A post-apocalyptic world is now a world of nomads, with only the battle circle for social rule. An interesting 3 novels in one. Very entertaining, I would recommend the book to anyone.
April 22, 2010
This was Anthony at his schlockiest and most sexist. (Well, no, he actually gets more sexist than this, believe it or not.) And yet this is another book that could qualify as a guilty pleasure -- completely ridiculous, swords-and-sandals macho silliness, yet fun in its own perverse way.
May 4, 2012
A crazy idea implemented with crazy results. Battle Circle is the story of a post-apoc society split into nomadic tribes and technologist overseers. It is told with Anthony's usual wit and innovation.
December 15, 2012
Another example of things you remember from your youth which are, in reality, a bit crap and you only realise this when you come back to them when older (and perhaps wiser). This book is fantasy/sci-fi pulp from the late 1960s replete with slightly dull characters, unbelievable plot twists (and not in a good way) and uncomfortable sex references (again, not in a good way). Anthony's post-nuclear holocaust world of wandering warriors bound by honour to settle everything in the battle circle, a society perpetuated by pre-holocaust science, is not very convincing to begin with and only becomes less believable as you read as a man named Sol becomes Sos then nameless building an empire of nomadic warriors. The three books follow different stories but all have some common characters so is structurally interesting but my interest waned swiftly as the pages turned. My advice: let the past lie; if you read this in the past, remember it fondly but don't follow that little voice in your head wondering whether or not you recall it properly and seek to re-read it, you'll only be disappointed. If you've not read it, there are plenty of better books out there to try instead.
November 16, 2018
When I was in grade school, someone gave me A Spell For Chameleon, and I thought it was awesome. I proceeded to spend the next couple years reading any Piers Anthony novel that I could get my hands on...including Battle Circle. I thoroughly enjoyed his work back then.
Fast forward 30 years, and I recently came upon a stash of his books that I had packed away. I broke out Battle Circle and a couple others and reread them. I’d say this novel in particular stands up to the test of time for some YA post-apocalyptic novel. It was probably a little ahead of its time back then, so it still is a pretty fresh take on things.
That being said, I’ll never read another Piers Anthony novel again, and I plan on chucking the novels I do have into recycling. Rereading some of these as an adult, I’ve co,e to one conclusion...the dude is a pedophile. I know it’s not just me, because when I googled my thoughts, all kinds of things came up by people who agreed...and I’m not talking about some holy rollers or ultra-conservatives. I’m a pretty liberal guy, and even I was feeling pretty icky reading thru some parts.
So, draw your own conclusions, but this reader is out.
Fast forward 30 years, and I recently came upon a stash of his books that I had packed away. I broke out Battle Circle and a couple others and reread them. I’d say this novel in particular stands up to the test of time for some YA post-apocalyptic novel. It was probably a little ahead of its time back then, so it still is a pretty fresh take on things.
That being said, I’ll never read another Piers Anthony novel again, and I plan on chucking the novels I do have into recycling. Rereading some of these as an adult, I’ve co,e to one conclusion...the dude is a pedophile. I know it’s not just me, because when I googled my thoughts, all kinds of things came up by people who agreed...and I’m not talking about some holy rollers or ultra-conservatives. I’m a pretty liberal guy, and even I was feeling pretty icky reading thru some parts.
So, draw your own conclusions, but this reader is out.
October 25, 2011
When I began reading the Battle Circle series, I knew not to start off with preconceived notions of a Piers Anthony novel. My introduction to Piers Anthony was through his Xanth series as a pre-teen, but since then I had read bits of his Adept series, Firefly, and even the lesser known Pornucopia. That said, I wasn't expecting the style or tone of his post-apocalyptic Battle Circle books.
The series centers around a formal weaponized ritual duel, whether for honor, for women, or for practice. Anthony writes the martial arts action in the series rather well, casual but filled with tension, not bogged down with so much detail that you have to reread a paragraph to imagine what happened. All-in-all, I'd recommend this book people who enjoy a good post-apocalyptic story and possess a perverse or deviant sense of humor and/or people who don't normally read books. Warning to all those who haven't read a Piers Anthony book outside of Xanth: IT GETS WEIRD.
The series centers around a formal weaponized ritual duel, whether for honor, for women, or for practice. Anthony writes the martial arts action in the series rather well, casual but filled with tension, not bogged down with so much detail that you have to reread a paragraph to imagine what happened. All-in-all, I'd recommend this book people who enjoy a good post-apocalyptic story and possess a perverse or deviant sense of humor and/or people who don't normally read books. Warning to all those who haven't read a Piers Anthony book outside of Xanth: IT GETS WEIRD.
October 23, 2014
See the individual books for slightly better reviews. This is one of the few omnibuses where I read both. If you get this, just rip the 3d book, Neq the Sword off the back of the book immediately. Do NOT read it. The other two are excellent, 4 star books as I recall, though.
September 23, 2011
Very different from the stuff Anthony normally produces, these tales are pretty dark and violent, focusing on a small number of barbaric survivors in a post apocalyptic wasteland. This is actually a trilogy of short stories that comprise one full length book. It starts very strong, but the last story is the weakest of them, which diminishes its lasting impact. Entertaining pulp.
December 16, 2013
A guilty pleasure. It's tripe, and never pretends to be otherwise, but it's also hard to put down. I've come back to this book at different times on my life, and while I haven't exactly been educated or bettered by reading it, I was always entertained.
September 8, 2007
I don't read much science fiction, but this book is a great read. I first read it when I was in high school. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a good adventure story.
December 31, 2008
To me, this is the best fantasy Piers Anthony ever did, and far better than the Xanth books.
Read
January 17, 2009Actually loved this trilogy... Loved the post WW3 type story... but he gave up last 1/3 of Neq the Sword... just my opinion...
February 2, 2012
Battle Circle displays a surprisingly cruel Post-Apocalyptic world by the usually light hearted Anthony. I loved it!
September 7, 2024
Battle Circle is a collection of a trilogy of novels set in a post apocaylptic America. The main focus is on the nomads, a warrior culture, who settle differences in gladitorial arenas. The three novels are intertwined, and each one focuses on a different main character, but the main characters make appearances in pretty much each novel.
While the main focus is on the nomads, there are also the "Crazies"-- a group of people who have chosen to mantain some semblance of pre-blast life. The Crazies stock various outposts with food and clothing, even broadcasting television programs (without sound) which the nomads can't even begin to understand. The crazie have a pact with the people of the mountain, who have advance manufacturing abilities, but the mountain is a sealed enclave of which the nomads do not know. When a nomad is exiled, he climbs the mountain and is presumed dead, but really beome part of the undergound society's population.
These three communities are dependant upon one another, but the system begins to break down when Sol, master of all weapons, decides to build an empire like the old Roman empire.
What makes this trilogy interesting is the interpersonal relationships between the characters. The romance, the comardeship, and even the need for vengeance drive each story forward until the stories all come together in the third volume.
While the main focus is on the nomads, there are also the "Crazies"-- a group of people who have chosen to mantain some semblance of pre-blast life. The Crazies stock various outposts with food and clothing, even broadcasting television programs (without sound) which the nomads can't even begin to understand. The crazie have a pact with the people of the mountain, who have advance manufacturing abilities, but the mountain is a sealed enclave of which the nomads do not know. When a nomad is exiled, he climbs the mountain and is presumed dead, but really beome part of the undergound society's population.
These three communities are dependant upon one another, but the system begins to break down when Sol, master of all weapons, decides to build an empire like the old Roman empire.
What makes this trilogy interesting is the interpersonal relationships between the characters. The romance, the comardeship, and even the need for vengeance drive each story forward until the stories all come together in the third volume.
July 21, 2025
Battle Circle is a gritty, imaginative, and deeply philosophical journey through a post-apocalyptic world where strength, honor, and identity are tested in every duel. Across the trilogy—Sos the Rope, Var the Stick, and Neq the Sword—Piers Anthony constructs a society built entirely around combat rituals, yet laced with surprising nuance, cultural depth, and existential inquiry.
What makes the series stand out is how it blends brutal action with quiet introspection. Each protagonist wrestles not just with opponents, but with questions of loyalty, power, and selfhood. The evolution of the battle culture—from rigid codes to political upheaval—serves as a clever allegory for how civilizations rise, fall, and attempt to evolve.
Anthony’s world is both primal and cerebral, filled with characters who are more than warriors—they are symbols of change. Battle Circle isn’t just about who wins the fight; it’s about what’s worth fighting for in a world trying to remember what it means to be human.
What makes the series stand out is how it blends brutal action with quiet introspection. Each protagonist wrestles not just with opponents, but with questions of loyalty, power, and selfhood. The evolution of the battle culture—from rigid codes to political upheaval—serves as a clever allegory for how civilizations rise, fall, and attempt to evolve.
Anthony’s world is both primal and cerebral, filled with characters who are more than warriors—they are symbols of change. Battle Circle isn’t just about who wins the fight; it’s about what’s worth fighting for in a world trying to remember what it means to be human.
February 22, 2020
One of my favorite authors, but I recommend skipping this book series.
Or, maybe reading the first one, being disappointed at the end and stopping.
The latter two were not as good as the first, and even the first went downhill.
There is too much that is wrong with this series for me to want to bother writing what is wrong with it. Others may want to know what is wrong, but just skip it until somebody reworks it in the future. There are better, by Piers and by others.
Or, maybe reading the first one, being disappointed at the end and stopping.
The latter two were not as good as the first, and even the first went downhill.
There is too much that is wrong with this series for me to want to bother writing what is wrong with it. Others may want to know what is wrong, but just skip it until somebody reworks it in the future. There are better, by Piers and by others.
April 25, 2018
As a kid, I really liked this series.
Re-reading it as an adult - all I can say is "what was I *thinking*"
I really regret going back and re-reading this series. I'm bummed, because I went to great effort to track it down this year.
Re-reading it as an adult - all I can say is "what was I *thinking*"
I really regret going back and re-reading this series. I'm bummed, because I went to great effort to track it down this year.
August 21, 2019
It was an interesting post apocalyptic world. For me, Var the Stick was the weakest of the three stories, and it wasn't the best book by Piers Anthony I've read, but still, it was an entertaining book and well worth the time.
July 16, 2019
Read it as a kid want to know we're to get a copy
May 21, 2022
Good battle style book. Three in one.
November 16, 2023
Love it!!!!
April 5, 2025
My all time favorite stand alone book
Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews