Start of the Second Series
Well, now I worked out which is the first book of the second trilogy, not that it really means all that much because I am pretty much over Piers Anthony. Okay, I still have Bio of a Space Tyrant and Unicorn Point to review, but once I have done that I can simply say good bye to Piers Anthony and move on to some more impressive authors (such as Jim Butcher, though I will have to start reading the third book in the Dresden Files before I write anything about it).
Out of Phaze is set sometime after the first trilogy and introduces the children of the heroes from the previous books as the new protagonists. If done well this can be a very good literary technique, and Anthony has done this previously in the Xanth series, though I have noticed that he only jumped generations a couple of times. In this series the jump over the generation occurs between the two trilogies. It is interesting that my friend indicated that he could have written a lot more of this series but chose not to.
Things have changed since the events of the first book. Previously one could physically jump between the worlds of Proton and Phaze, but it is no longer possible to do so. Worlds are no longer connected and the only way to cross is through psychic powers and body swaps. This creates some rather interesting characters (such as the amoeba that is changed into a woman), though it also creates some rather disturbing scenes (such as the previously mentioned lady being toilet trained).
I really cannot remember much of the plot, and in a way I don't really want to either. It is clear that the quality of Anthony's work is beginning to decline, and despite him borrowing concepts from ancient literature, it is not really anything that actually stands out. In the end the book was quite disappointing and after a time so was the author.
