Crewel Lye: A Caustic Yarn

Xanth #8

by Piers Anthony

Jordan was a ghost in Castle Roogna now. Although once he had been the most valorus of knights--that is, until he was betrayed by two wily magicians and the woman he loves. Now, if he only can remember how he was killed, he'll be able to reassemble his body. And he is getting impatient....

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Humor, Science Fiction Fantasy, Young Adult, Magic, Ebooks

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 12, 1984

About the author

Though 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.

Reviews

[J Austill · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is likely the best of the Xanth novels, in my opinion, as it spends the most time in that position. Though, depending on day, I've been known to favour A Spell for Chameleon.

A lot of series are difficult to decide a reading order for. That isn't true of Xanth as the published order IS the chronological order. That couldn't be more apparent with Crewel Lye.

This book answers a question which many readers posed after reading Book 3, Castle Roogna. In that book, the plot centers around Dor using magic to bring Millie the Ghost back to life. But there are other ghosts of Castle Roogna which nobody has bothered to bring back to life. Apparently the reason why is that nobody cared to bother.

But here, a couple of the Xanth kids decide to employ magic to bring back Jordan, and while they are waiting for the magic to work he tells them the story of his life. This is why the book occurs between books 7 and 9 when most of the plot place it well before book 1.

Although I commended Book 5 for changing up the formula by having a non-human protagonist, I am also going to commend book 8, here, of having the typical fantasy hero. This is because, like in Book 1 with Bink, Jordan is exactly what you would expect of a fantasy hero - strong, handsome, charismatic. He'd be the captain of the football team in high school, yet he is a misfit in Xanth.

Unlike standard sword swinging fantasy heroes, Jordan always gets his ass handed to him. This is because, although he is a dashing hero in every sense, he has a purely defensive magical talent. Like Wolverine in the X-men comics, his talent is to heal. As such, he is constantly being defeated and even killed, but then heals from it - waking up a while later rather embarrassed.

Which begs the question which is the central mystery of this tale. How is it that the man who can't be killed is a ghost? As well as who did it and why?

The answers to those questions as well as the romance plot (or rather anti-romance plot?) make this the best of the Xanth novels.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once again, more Xanth!
Still the pun filled adventures you expect, but I found this one just a bit odd. We leave the modern Xanth setting we've been with for awhile to travel 400 years into the past and learn about a background ghost character. Only Ivy from previous books is around, and only as the vignette to his story in the first and last chapter. I didn't mind it much, but it made it feel a bit isolated from the broader Xanth stories. Even when that kid and his spider went back in time it felt more tied in. Although, where they time traveled through a tapestry, Jordan the ghost is narrating the story the moving tapestry is showing us. I can't remember how a lot of the story telling in old books went, but it took me a minute to get into this first person story telling. The narration of past events felt a little strange at times.

But I liked Jordan the ghost, or Jordan the Barbarian. He seemed single minded enough to me, but the way Anthony and Jordan kept reminding us that "that's how barbarians do" really made me think they were leading up to telling us that he wasn't actually a Barbarian. Anyway, romance ensues and its fine, par for the course. The adventure was fun, but Xanth always throws me when the first blood flies, it's always so gruesome lol.

As always the secondary characters are the best, Pook the Ghost Horse was great and I hope he comes back soon.

[M.J. Lau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perhaps my favorite Xanth book -- funny, clever, and suspenseful!

[Kenny Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A happy ending to a cruel lie.

One of my favs!! Still puts a smile on my face after all these years! Highly recommend! You won't be disappointed!

[Lel · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you know Piers Anthony, this is nothing new, nothing ground breaking. But it is a nice easy, funny read.

[Marc Norris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Re-read of the first fantasy novel I read as a child. Good nostalgic read

[Swankivy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ah, punny titles. I wonder if he thinks of the titles first and then writes a book to match? Seems like it.

This book features Princess Ivy again. I like Princess Ivy. Partly because she's a female character whose talent isn't somehow related to sex or appearance, thanks. (Though that would have been creepy since her first appearance as a protagonist was at three years old.) But she is mostly not the focus of this one; she watches the story of Jordan the Barbarian through a magic tapestry.

I kinda liked that the narration style was a little different here--Anthony rendered much of it in first person. Overall one of the concepts bugged me--ghosts only exist in Xanth if they have unresolved issues to tie up, and it seems like at SOME point within the last four hundred years somebody might have asked this poor Jordan fellow what they could do to help him, right? It takes a curious five-year-old to find out what's keeping Jordan the Ghost from being released from ghosthood. In a flashback, we hear all about Jordan's unfortunate life: Jordan's talent of being able to heal from any injury allowed Anthony to write about him getting hacked apart a LOT, which was really disgusting--don't read this if you're squeamish. Jordan went on a quest to escort a girl to her marriage; Jordan found out the girl didn't WANT to be married to her intended (and she expressed this by trying to kill Jordan); Jordan rebounded from this only to fall in love with the girl. (That's what girls are for in fantasy. Unless they're ugly.) Anyway, old Threnody is eventually shown to supposedly betray Jordan by burying all the pieces of his body too far apart from each other for him to regenerate. That's what has him hanging around. But of course little Princess Ivy hears the story and figures out how to help.

Don't you wish you had a precocious five-year-old on the solving team for every four-hundred-year-old mystery?

But here's something about the book that really bothered me. At one point, because of an exchange spell, Jordan the Barbarian ends up accidentally switching bodies with Threnody. Two big problems popped up for me because of it.

One: Jordan gets a taste of being a hot woman. And Piers Anthony basically writes a lot of the feminine experience as if it automatically comes with the body. For instance, at one point he gets a compliment and he's mentally pissed off about it, but his body just can't help but flush with "feminine" pleasure. So chicks are hard-wired to physically react in appreciation of compliments? Okay, Piers. No. And I know as a Barbarian he's sort of supposed to be something of a lout, but . . . he only starts feeling sort of sympathetic to Threnody's situation--where she's being forced to marry against her will--when he's worried it might be him? 'Kay. Anthony has Jordan narrating how women are forced to take "mincing" steps because their pelvises aren't formed correctly for "full-size" steps, and how the weak arms and "ungainly" shape of a woman--which is, of course (and I quote) a "more-decorative-than-functional body"--was surely such a liability that it was "no wonder women tended to be jealous of men!" Really? REALLY? The rest of Jordan's time in Threnody's body is peppered with references to him being forced to use--and I quote--"subversive wiles" like batting eyelashes, "feminine touch," singing, and false praise to trick men. Because women have no other defenses. Yep. I understand that Jordan is a Barbarian and he is supposed to be kind of a lunkhead, and he might very well think some of these things about the female form when forced to live in it, but considering the way women are described and treated in the rest of this series before and after this book, I see no evidence that this is an isolated attitude.

Two: The exchanged consciousnesses also result in exchanged magical powers. Threnody's power is to transform any part of her body or her whole body however she wants, but the transformation takes exactly one full hour. And while Jordan is in her body, HE figures out how to use her talent so it won't take a full hour; for instance, if he wants his arm to become four feet long, he can AIM for it to become multiple times that length, but just stop when it gets to his desired length. Threnody, despite a lifetime of using her talent, just plain never thought of that. It seems ludicrous, honestly. Especially since magical talents are discovered, not handed down written out with their limitations spelled out. Surely she, or someone else around her, might have figured this out before someone else had to steal her body to teach it to her.

[Ryan]

Crewel Lye: A Caustic Yarn in another Xanth book by Piers Anthony. In it a young girl named Ivy helps one of the ghosts haunting her castle to clean up the magic tapestry that shows the history of the world. This helps the ghost, Jordan the Barbarian, remember his own story, and the book is primarily the retelling of his adventure. I just recently finished reading the novel that comes before this one, Dragon on a Pedestal, and I quite enjoyed that one. This book has an interesting premise, but I have to admit, I had a hard time getting past Anthony’s casual misogyny in this one.

There are a lot of good things to be said about these, the world of Xanth, and Anthony’s writing style. They are imaginative and they can be charming. They are filled with interesting, creative renditions of fantasy creatures, with centaurs, harpies, goblins, gnomes, dragons, ogres, as well as really inspired concepts for spells and magical talents, without worrying about getting too serious about all the ramifications. They feel like fantasy in an older sense, like these are stories you’d sit around and tell to friends, but they’re well structured. There is even something to be said about some of the cute concepts around sex in the world of Xanth, like how parents “signal” the stork to deliver babies, but those details are part of the “Adult Conspiracy” which cannot be divulged to children.

Jordan’s magic talent is that he can heal after almost any injury, rather like Wolverine from the Marvel comics universe. He makes a formidable adventurer, taming the mighty ghost horse Pook as a steed, and embarking on a quest for the wizards Yin and Yang to determine which of them would become the next king of Xath. He finds himself the subject of a betrayal at the hands of a woman. He becomes fixed on this, and it is the central pun of the book; his “Cruel Lie.” A nice inversion to this is that he, himself, lied to the woman he loved in his home village in order to set out adventuring, and it only got him killed. That’s a wonderful thing about this book – it takes the entire book for Jordan to eventually realize the cruel lie was actually his own.

The problem I keep running into is a constant stream of conversation that Anthony has through the main characters about the nature of men vs women, a constant fixation on physical attributes of female characters and creatures, and some darker subtexts about submission, deception, jealously, and “female logic.” At the same time, there are moments when it seems like Anthony might be learning something about women, but those moments get buried under a lot of other problematic stuff. I think it’s wonderful that sex is such a part of Xanth, because its one of those topics people can, and should, have a lot of fun with. That’s what Xanth is – it’s supposed to be light and fun. At the same time, the directions taken by those characters in sexual situations are often not positive ones, and I think that’s a shame.

In Dragon on a Pedestal there was certainly some of that, but because the focus was primarily on the little girl Ivy, there was less (but still some) fixation with gender roles. In this story, Jordan the Barbarian is the main character, and there is a constant dialogue about the nature of women, sexual or erotic encounters, and so on. It gets to be a bit much, and I guess I’m disappointed because I like so much else about the book. My problem isn’t that the characters are perverts, not is it that there is so much sex, sexual encounters, erotic thoughts, or anything like that. It’s the stuff that gets stated like it’s fact about men and women, and how women perceive the world and are perceived by it. You can also have characters with varying viewpoints of their own, and those viewpoints don’t have to be the authors. I suppose I see enough of the same kinds of strains of troublesome lines of reasoning spread across multiple character’s internal dialogues that it seems more like the author’s line of reasoning. Men and women go through puberty and deal with a lot of sexually awkward stuff, and when the sexual content of Xanth is good or interesting, I’m reminded of some of my own puberty filled with sexual fantasies and awkward experiences. Again, there is good stuff in Xanth. There is also a lot of problematic stuff.

To be honest, I thought Grundy goes through a good character arc here, but it takes a couple of books to appreciate. Grundy is a character who doesn’t consider himself brave because he’s afraid all the time, and this book is an opportunity to remind the reader that doing the right thing is heroic, no matter on what scale. Grundy certainly performs in this book like a classical hero suffering to complete his quest, but he never considers himself brave or noble because he’s scared or tempted all the time. Unfortunately, the woman he falls in love with, Rapunzel, is a half-elf maiden who, to all appearances, loves him because he is the first male she ever met. Furthermore, she can be any size, so she is comfortable being the same size as him. She feels a lot like a “hero’s reward” kind of female character, and I think that’s unfortunate.

There continue to be a lot of pun-based magic concepts in this book I find intriguing, especially the magically-powerful swarm of B’s from the B-Have, who inflict their victims with B-related magical infections like B-hind, B-lieve, and B-hold. I also love the sea monster who tells the story about how humans in Mundanea, the name for our world on Earth, misunderstand him as having an appetite for damsels in distress when, in fact, he always tries to rescue them.

Uncomplimentary views on women continue to be a problem in these books, and they manifest themselves… consistently. The best parts of this book occur when either characters are being coy with each other or when sexual attraction is not part of the narrative at all. The writing of Xanth is charming, and I find myself continuing to be pulled into these books and find myself marveling at the seemingly simplicity of some of the fun concepts fleshed out into magical paradigms. It’s just something an aware reader needs to be aware of, and something an aware reader can’t help but notice.

[Joan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was another fun Xanth story. This time the focus is on Jordan the Ghost. This isn't one of his best but still plenty of fun.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars

Crewel Lye is the eighth book in the Xanth series by Piers Anthony. Jordan had once been a valiant knight- but now wanders the castle Roogna in his ghost form. He suffered a serious blow when he was betrayed in the worst possible way. Now he just needs to remember exactly what happened, if he's got any chance of figuring things out.
The Xanth Series is quite a really long series that has spanned many decades. I remember reading the first few books back in the very early 1980’s and was totally captivated by the epic fantasy that unfolded before my eyes. I collected all the books as each new one was released and have revisited them a few times over the years. Recently I had been reorganising my bookshelves, because eight book cases have become insufficient to house all my books (#bookwhoredilemma)- and it came to the point where I was going to have to get rid of some of my older books/series in order to make way for new favourites. I looked at all the larger/longer series first and this is one of the larger series that I have, it came under scrutiny. I decided to reread all the books I was considering getting rid of first- before making a final decision. I can honestly say that although I these books didn’t blow me away as they once did- I still really enjoyed all the adventure, magic, swords & sorcery like epic fantasy that Mr. Anthony is renowned for. He has imbued his stories with plenty of humour, a playfulness, lots of fun, action, some history, conspiracies, secrets, surprising developments, and much, much more. We meet so many varied and original characters along the way- the books are full of wonderful fictional beasts and paranormal creatures/beasts. From centaurs, to demons, dragons, fauns, gargoyles, goblins, golems, harpies, merfolk, elves, nymphs, ogres, zombies, and curse fiends- and a few more I am sure I have missed.
The world of Xanth is wonderfully rich and vividly descriptive. It is really well written and is so easy to imagine, it came to life before my eyes. Each ‘person’ in Xanth is born with their own unique magical ability, which is called a ‘talent’. We follow along on many epic adventures and explore the world as the story unfolds.
I have many fond memories of reading this book/series- and in the end I can’t cull any of my collection. So I decided to just purchase a couple of extra bookcases instead. #myprecious
A series worth exploring- especially for any epic fantasy lover who loves some fun and humour served with their adventure.

Thank you, Mr. Anthony!

[Athimar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm happy to report that Crewel Lye is much improved over the previous book in the series, Dragon on a Pedestal. It is, once again, loaded with pun after pun, but given the influence of his editors - as is evident from the author's notes following the novel - he spaced them out much better.

With the exception of a few chapters to the beginning and end of the novel, the main character of this story is Jordan the ghost... long before he became a ghost. After Princess Ivy cleans the tapestry of history hanging in Castle Roogna with some crewel lye, Jordan describes for her his past as the two of them watch it unfold.

Jordan's character is a hoot. He continually refers to himself as this backward barbarian who isn't altogether bright while at the same time utilizing a vocabulary that would put to shame the greatest of English professors at many a college. It is an irony utilized through the novel yet never called out - making it perfect! I mean... It's obvious that this was Mr. Anthony's intent from the start - but if he referred to the fact even once, it would be ruined. And he didn't ruin it.

Also introduced in this novel is the adult conspiracy. Any time a child character, from this point on, tries to understand how parents summon the stork to leave a baby under a cabbage leave in their gardens, he or she becomes stymied. Considering how breeding was openly discussed in from of Princess Ivy all last novel, this change is significant - and makes for exceptional fun throughout the rest of the series.

This shows that, by this novel, Mr. Anthony was fully bought into continuing with Xanth in a new, long term way - likely, at first, at the request of his agent and his fans. Though he was setting up future novels even back in Dragon, it's obvious that he has a plan for several future novels in the series from the hints he drops in this one.

I award Crewel Lye 4 out of 5 stars. Thanks for the novel Piers!

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book starts out with Ivy in trouble again. She is mad because after her mom, Queen Irene put on weight, she went out into the garden and found a baby under a cabbage leaf and told Ivy she now has a baby brother named Dolph. She felt that they should have asked her first if she wanted one, which she didn't and even worse, everyone was spending time with him and not her.
Being grounded, she's spending time watching the tapestry in her room when Jordan, one of the castle ghosts comes in to watch it with her because it's showing the time that he was alive about 400 years ago. He doesn't remember much about that time except that it was a cruel lie that caused his death.
So Ivy and Jordan decide to clean up the tapestry so they can see it better and then they can watch Jordan's life and figure out what the cruel lie was and who told it and caused his death. Especially when he remembers his magical talent was he couldn't be killed.

[Wayland Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

The pun-filled world of Xanth gets another chapter (ok, several chapter, it's a book after all). Bookended by chapters about a very precocious magic princess called Ivy, the book is about a barbarian warrior named Jordan. Since he starts telling his tale as a ghost, we know it's not going to be the happiest story.

Jordan leaves his home village in search of adventure, and soon gets caught up in a quest about the succession of royalty, who will rule Castle Roogna, and a ghost-horse, among other things. Puns abound, and some of them are a bit dated by this point (how many current readers know hand grenades used to be called pineapples?).

It's a goofy adventure with all sorts of magical creatures, action, adventure, and romance. I could have done without the Ivy sections, but it was an enjoyable story.

[Bil]

I came across this book when I was 9 or 10 years old, I don't remember how exactly, but it made a permanent stamp on my young brain. It was the first "big" book I had ever read, and I distinctly remember sitting in the window seat of my bedroom as I finished it, and then being rewarded with a trip to Jenny's Ice Cream for making it to the end. I even named my hamsters after characters in this book. I think I read about 20 more Piers Anthony books after this one, and once I wrote him a letter which he graciously responded to.

I probably should have left all those memories right there in the gauzy haze of childhood, because re-reading this novel on a whim at age 39 made me realize how terrible the writing is in this book.

[D.A. Cairns · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't read any other Xanth novels, but I am a Piers Anthony fan, especially of his fantasy novels. Crewel Lye is a parody and a really clever and funny one. Littered with sharp, snappy social commentary and outrageously bad puns it is essentially a story of a hero whose special talent is the ability to heal himself even from death who gets tangled up in a deceptive quest involving a half demon seductress and a wicked magician who wants to be king. The story is typical fantasy fare but the satire and humour is brilliant and sets Crewel Lye apart from your run of the mill of the mill fantasy novel. Wonderful writing. Packed with action, intrigue, humour and unexpected twists. I loved it.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of the Xanth novels I've read so far, this is my favourite. It's adventurous, clever, and fun. It also has less sexism/mysogeny than the previous books, which rendered previous Xanth novels unpalatable. Jordan is a fun protagonist whose ability to heal (and companions) saves him from a lot of otherwise incredibly deadly situations. Like other Xanth books, the plethora of puns lends a playful element to the magic. Overall, I actually enjoyed this book, though it's still not a keeper in my collection.

[Kate H · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Xanth books by Piers Anthony were some of the first SciFi/Fantasy books I ever read. I love puns so I have always enjoyed them. Upon re-reading them I can see that they have some weaknesses but overall they stand the test of time. They are a fun and fast read that keeps me amused without any deep thinking required.

[Alayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first Piers Anthony book that I have read, and I have to say, it is probably the weirdest book that I have read! I found it hard going at times, as the ridiculousness (is that a word?) got too much for me. However, I did finish it and found that I enjoyed it, much to my surprise. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who doesn't like punning.

[Shane · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was enjoying this book a lot - it's mostly dumb big-adventure fun. Unfortunately, in the last third of the book it takes a real misogynistic turn, and it's hard to empathise with the main character when he's being such a shithead and hard to like the book when it's clear the author agrees with him.

[Lily Ragen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun and adventurous novel that has always been one of my favorite books in this series starring a barbarian named Jordan on a search for adventure that ultimately leads to his death. An absolute must for those who love puns and magic as well as a delightful foray into a world where nothing is quite as it seems.

[MR MICHAEL · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story of a barbarian with a task to complete, despite magical curses as he travels across Xanth with a woman who is half demon, a woman who falls in love with him and who betrays and kills him. But the story of course has a happy ending.

[Amir Roth · Rating 5 out of 5]

O. M. F. G. It was worth dragging myself through Night Mare to get to this one. The best of the Xanth books that I've read. And it's not close. Even knowing the premise of Xanth, I wasn't ready for this book. I still remember many of the details, almost 30 years later.

[Al "Tank" · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fun yarn from Piers Anthony's Xanth world.

A barbarian ghost tells his story to Ivy. It's a story full of conflict and death (the hero dies and resurrects several times). There's a ghost horse, a sexy 1/2 demon, and other denizens of Xanth.

Worth your time. It was worth mine.

[Caitlan Meyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this installment. It very much reminded me of the first book. Everything felt fresh and unknown. It was nice getting all new characters who we really knew little about. The couple twists thrown in actually surprised me as well.

[James]

Jordan had a talent for recovering from almost any injury if enough of his body could be assembled to grow together, but this time he was dead and his bones were scattered. Could he find enough of them to bring himself back to life?.

[Maha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think i really enjoyed this one. Although they are all quite similar, I think I enjoyed this one more than the others I've read so far.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a completionist, but I don't know if I can make it through the whole series.

[Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was another pun-filled adventure in Xanth.

[Annette McIntyre · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jordan is a barbarian and is wandering the depths of Xanth when he finds Pook the ghost horse. This book follows Jordan as he finds the love of his life.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than some of the others. Not so formula.