''Vale of the Vole'' 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 tenth 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. It begins a trilogy including ''

Heaven Cent ''Heaven Cent'' is a fantasy novel by American writer Piers Anthony, the eleventh book of the Xanth series. It is the second book of a trilogy beginning with ''Vale of the Vole'' and ending with ''Man from Mundania.'' Plot introduction The prot ...

'' and ''

Man from Mundania ''Man from Mundania'' is a fantasy novel by American writer Piers Anthony. The twelfth book of the Xanth series, it concludes the trilogy of ''Vale of the Vole'' and ''Heaven Cent''. Plot introduction The protagonist of ''Man from Mundania'' is ...

''. The novel was written as a satirical jab at the canalization of the

Kissimmee River The Kissimmee River is a river in south-central Florida, United States that forms the north part of the Everglades wetlands area. The river begins at East Lake Tohopekaliga south of Orlando, flowing south through Lake Kissimmee into the large, sh ...

in Anthony's native state of Florida as a result of the effects of the

1947 Atlantic hurricane season The 1947 Atlantic hurricane season was the first Atlantic hurricane season to have tropical storms labeled by the United States Air Force. The season officially began on June 16, 1947, and ended on November 1, 1947. These dates conven ...

. The

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

of this story is Eskil "Esk" Ogre, only son of Tandy Nymph and Smash Ogre. His talent is to protest; when Esk says "No!" he really means it. Those he directs this talent at literally stop what they have intended to do. Esk goes to ask Good Magician Humfrey how to get rid of the Demoness Metria, who has seemingly threatened his family. Unfortunately, Humphrey has gone missing.

Plot summary

On his way to the Good Magician's castle, Esk meets Chex, the winged centaur daughter of Xap Hippogryph and Chem Centaur. Despite having wings, Chex is unable to fly due to her solid equine weight; she is going to ask Humfrey how she can fly. Later, the two of them meet up with Volney Vole, who always replaces S's with V's during speech. Volney has a demon problem of his own, as his home by the Kiss-Me River has become unbearably infested with bugs ever since the demons decided to straighten out the river's undulating curves. When they discover the Good Magician is missing, they decide to look for him. On the way, they go through a Hypnogourd, where bad dreams are manufactured. Esk meets Bria Brassie, a heavy brass woman, and they fall in love. The team discovers that Chex can make items temporarily light when she flicks them with her tail, which provides a solution to her problem of how to fly.

Characters

*Eskil * Volney *Chex *Bria *Metria

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vale Of The Vole 10 1987 American novels