The Xanth books by Piers Anthony were one of the first SciFi/Fantasy series 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. ( )

Breanna, a beautiful young newcomer to the enchanted land of Xanth, must deal with a distressing dilemma. She has unwittingly attracted the affections of King Xeth, ruler of Xanth’s Zombies, who yearns to make her queen of the undead! Her quest to preserve her innocence, and find her destiny, takes her on an exhilarating excursion packed with perils, puzzles, and piles of puns. Zombie Lover will provide a profusion of macabre merriment.

I was given this book as part of a "Blind Date with a Book" promotion at the library at the college where I work.
If this book had been a real blind date, I’m ashamed to say that in the middle of dinner I excused myself to the restroom then promptly climbed out the window and ran far, far away.
I only made it through page 49.
When I first unwrapped the book, I was happy to see it was a Piers Anthony novel, as I had enjoyed his Incarnations of Immortality and Bio of a Space Tyrant series when I was in high school.
I had some misgivings when I discovered Zombie Lover is book #22 of the Xanth series, a series I had never tried before. My short time with this book gave me the impression that Xanth is an homage to L. Frank Baum’s Oz books – a nonsensical fantasy world full of magic and absurd plot twists. I’m not a fan of that sort of fiction.
The book’s sexism really bugged me too. The 15-year-old heroine is being romantically pursued by a twenty-something zombie who doesn’t take no for an answer. One female character alternates between two forms: she’s either really smart and ugly or really dumb and pretty. Maybe this makes sense in context of the previous 21 books, but it just comes off as awful here.
What finally did me in was the parade of dozens of characters who I’m sure would be familiar and welcome to longtime readers but just left me bored with their labored quirkiness and long expository scenes about plot developments from the previous books. ( )

#22-- Only in Xanth will you see a love affair with a zombie!!!

"Breanna, a beautiful young newcomer to the enchanted land of Xanth, must deal with a distressing dilemma. She has unwittingly attracted the affections of King Xeth, ruler of Xanth's Zombies, who yearns to make her Queen of the Undead!" ( )

http://bookchronicle.wordpress.com/2008/07/28/revisted-reviews-zombie-lover-by-p... ( )