I love the Xanth Series, though to begin with I read several of them out of order. While each one is a fine stand alone novel, the more you know the better, and this book helped until I got all caught up. Again, lots of puns and fun stuff, but the best part of this book for regular Xanth readers is the Answer of who the Good Magician is and where he came from. Appearing in every book (i think) he is the director of quests, the all-knowing Oz to whom everyone turns for Answers, and this book give you the when, who and how of his life. Why does he charge a years' service, what's with the challenges, where did the Big Book come from - these are all answered in this fun book, as Humfrey recounts where he's been in order to get where he is going. A great Xanth novel!
