Ogre, Ogre

Smash the half-ogre (offspring of Crunch the ogre and a human Curse Fiend acting like an ogre) goes to see the Good Magician Humfrey to get his question answered, although he doesn't know what his question is. The magician's answer: Travel to the Ancestral Ogres to find what you seek. His payment is to guard Tandy, a half-nymph, for one year.

They travel about the magical land of Xanth, and Smash acquires other young women who travel with him and whom he protects. Along the way, he is infected with the Eye Queue vine, which makes him intelligent (although actually invoking his human half) making him distressed, since ogres are not supposed to be smart in any way. As he tries to find an antidote to his intelligence, he undergoes several adventures; saving Tandy from the dream realm in a plant called a hypnogourd and smashing the Gap Dragon. Soon he finds matches and finds solutions for all of the women, who leave one by one.

Piers Anthony's first novel set in Xanth, A Spell for Chameleon, was published by Ballantine Books/Del Rey Books in 1977.^[1] The book proved popular, and the sequel, The Source of Magic was released in 1979, followed by Castle Roogna (1979), Centaur Aisle (1981), and Ogre, Ogre, published by Del Rey Books in 1982. Ogre, Ogre is believed to be the first fantasy paperback to make it onto the New York Times Bestseller List.^[2]

As of 2025, Anthony has written 48 books in the Xanth series.^[3]