''Golem in the Gears'' is a

fantasy novel Fantasy literature is literature set in an imaginary universe, often but not always without any locations, events, or people from the real world. Magic, the supernatural and magical creatures are common in many of these imaginary worlds. Fa ...

by American writer

Piers Anthony Piers Anthony Dillingham Jacob (born 6 August 1934) is an American author in the science fiction and Fantasy (genre), fantasy genres, publishing under the name Piers Anthony. He is best known for his :Xanth books, long-running novel series set in ...

, the ninth book of the

Xanth Xanth ( ) is a series of novels by author Piers Anthony, also known as ''The Magic of Xanth''. Anthony originally intended for Xanth to be a trilogy, but a devoted fan base persuaded the author to continue writing the series, which is now open-en ...

series.

Plot introduction

Grundy, a man only a few inches high, is desperate to prove himself and gain respect. He volunteers to ride the Monster Under The Bed to find his friend Ivy's long lost dragon, Stanley Steamer. After many adventures, he rescues Rapunzel from the villainous Sea Hag. It seems too good to be true that she could become any size she wanted! A perfect match, seemingly. But that would have to wait until they shook off the pursuing Sea Hag...and Stanley still needed to be found!

Characters

*Grundy *Rapunzel *

Sea Hag The Sea Hag is a fictional character owned by King Features Syndicate. She is a tall, masculine-looking witch featured in comics/cartoons as a nemesis to the character Popeye. The Sea Hag was created by Elzie Crisler Segar in 1929 as part of t ...

* Snortimer

Reception

Dave Langford David Rowland Langford (born 10 April 1953) is a British author, editor, and critic, largely active within the science fiction field. He publishes the science fiction fanzine and newsletter ''Ansible'', and holds the all-time record for mos ...

reviewed ''Golem in the Gears'' for ''

White Dwarf A white dwarf is a stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very dense: its mass is comparable to the Sun's, while its volume is comparable to the Earth's. A white dwarf's faint luminosity comes fro ...

'' #86, and stated that "Like some legendary D&D campaigns, Xanth is so full of whimsy and casual magic that no situation can threaten for long: the storyline lurches drunkenly from pun to banal pun."

Reviews

*Review by Bob Collins (1985) in ''

Fantasy Review ''Fantasy Newsletter'' was a major fantasy fanzine founded by Paul C. Allen and later issued by Robert A. Collins. Frequent contributors included Fritz Leiber and Gene Wolfe. Publication history The first issue appeared in June 1978, and Allen c ...

'', December 1985 *Review by Don D'Ammassa (1986) in ''

Science Fiction Chronicle DNA Publications was an American publishing company that existed from 1993 to 2007 and was run by the husband-and-wife team of Warren Lapine and Angela Kessler. Initially based in Massachusetts, DNA Publications relocated to Radford, Virginia. A ...

'', #82 July 1986 *Review by Andy Sawyer (1987) in ''Paperback Inferno'', #64 *Review by Ken Brown (1987) in '' Interzone'', #20 Summer 1987

References

American fantasy novels 09 1986 American novels Del Rey books {{1980s-fantasy-novel-stub