Piers Anthony is capable of creative, inventive and engaging storytelling. He's also capable of churning out paint-by-numbers, mindless garbage.

This is as bad as late-era Xanth. ( )

I enjoy Piers Anthony's writing style and characters. This is not my favorite book or series of his but I do still quite enjoy it and I would recommend it. ( )

Not really "guilty pleasures", there are two authors whose styles annoy me, but that I still enjoy reading despite the consistent and pervasive annoyances. One is Clive Cussler, and the other is Piers Anthony. As noted elsewhere, Anthony can be quite imaginative. And he invariably writes as a pre-teen, with liberal pepperig of grade school bawdy humor. This book is as most middle books ina trilogy (originally...), largely a filler. But still fun. ( )

Hmm, as I glanced at some of the reviews I seemed to notice the suggestion that it really is not a stand alone book, but rather a direct continuation of book one (in the same way that the Two Towers is a direct continuation of Fellowship of the Ring) though that is hardly an issue considering the number of series out there that need to be read in order. Fortunately not all serial books are like that (such as The Dresden Files) but many are (in particular the Wheel of Time). I sort of assumed (and I know what they say about assumptions) that the game had finished in the previous book, and Stile was beginning to work out how to operate as a citizen, but that does not seem to be the case.
One thing I didn't mention in the previous book is the female robot that one sees on the cover. Yes, it is female, and yes it is naked, and yes, Stile does have sex with her. She is basically a self-willed robot, though it appears that she masks herself as a serf for some reason or another. To me I find it a little silly that somebody could have an intimate relationship with a robot, though I have noticed that sex robots that can apparently talk have already been developed. My thoughts are simply that humans are so much better, and while some may argue that the technology is still very much in the development stage, I personally would not be interested.
Phaze, as previously mentioned, is a magical planet that is the opposite of Proton. Almost everybody on Proton has a double on Phaze, however I say almost because there are those who do not, and if you are one of those who do not, then you can cross between the two worlds. On Phaze Stile discovers that he is actually an 'Adept', a powerful magician, as well as a member of the ruling class. As such, by crossing over to Phaze, it turns out that Stile, the serf, becomes one of the planets rulers. However, I don't really understand why he wouldn't stay since back on Proton he is little more than a serf, while on Phaze, he is one of the ruling elite.
This is sort of a science-fiction/fantasy/adventure story with Stile discovering who he is and making his way in the world. However there is also somebody out to kill him, and this particular person is also entering the game to become a citizen. It is a little difficult to understand any of the reasoning behind it, particularly since it has been quite a while since I actually read this book. However, I do remember that it did get quite exciting at one stage. Further, I am really not clear on whether I went on to read the second trilogy, and in a way looking at the brief synopsis of the second trilogy, I am a little bit more unsure as to whether I actually read them (though I will add them because in all likelihood I did, it is just that the plots did not turn out to be all that great). ( )

It's not actually worse than Split Infinity, really - it actually moves faster, the stakes are higher, and the many brief Tourney scenes remain entertaining (if slightly irritating once you realize just how implausible Stile's ridiculous breadth and depth of skills is. Seriously, he had a full-time job and he's 35, yet he can run marathons, is a top-ranked martial artist, a serious musician, the best rider on the planet, a competitive gymnast, skilled swordsman, and he can use a sewing machine? Come on.)

It loses a star for the last scene, really, in which he (spoilers ahead, but seriously, none of you will care, the book's thirty years old) defeats his enemy by implying that he's in love with her. See, she's such a rabid lunatic man-hater that this causes her to lose her shit and throw the game they're playing in an attempt to beat his head into a pulp.

This of course is the only possible explanation for why she, as a female, did not fall for his unearthly charm. The only other women in the book who don't are a menopausal woman and a child. (And the child totally harbors a crush on him for the next four books.) Psychopathic man-hater! That must be it! Never mind that this comes totally out of the blue in this scene, unsupported by any of the previous interactions with this character (of which there are quite a few.) And is completely dumb besides. This totally threw me even as an eight-year-old, and as a thirty-something woman, I have no patience left for this kind of bullshit. ( )