This book is a great read. Obviously there's a lot of gratuitous sex, but most sci-fi writers tended to delve into that to some extent. Compared to what we see in the movies these days, it's relatively tame.

One thing that makes this book particularly interesting is that it raises the question of what makes a thing alive. This is a metaphysical question that has been explored many times in Hollywood and on TV (For instance, the movie Short Circuit, and the Star Trek TNG episode "The Measure of a Man"), but I particularly enjoyed the way Anthony approaches it here. Can a person truly love a machine?

Polyamorists and other proponents of free love might find this book of interest. Yes, the main character Stile has a lot of sex, but the author paints a picture of genuine love for each of his partners. Idealistic, perhaps, but not quite as far-fetched as some might be led to believe....

Anthony's depictions of The Games are what really drive this book, and each sequence is quite addictive. Some day I figure someone will put together a similar system in real life, and the whole thing will become some sort of televised, 24-hour reality show. Scary thought.

Anyway, I don't know whether this review will be particularly helpful to anyone, but I found the book interesting on many levels, and entertaining to boot. Plus, even 20 years after the first time I read it, I still count it among my favorites.

This was a great blend of sci fi and fantasy, though I would say it leans more towards the fantasy genre than sci fi. Piers Anthony tells his tales in a classical storybook type of fashion, which I like, although I would say his prose has one glaring defect. I believe that when he comes across a monster in the storyline that he needs to do a more thorough job of describing it. I have a tendency to like to know all the gory details of a mythical monster. Other than that though, Anthony does a fine job with this tale, weaving both plot and character development together expertly.

It will be glaringly obvious to anyone who reads this that Anthony has a profound compassion for horses. I'm not even particularly fond of horses, but he did such a good job building Neysa the unicorn's character up that I have come to attain a newfound respect for them. It would be a crime to keep a man with that much passion about horses away from them- the wonders they must do for his sense of well being readily transcend through to his writing. Great story!

Oh lord, was this an awful book to read through. I was loaned this book to read from a friend who loved horses and thus the unicorns in the book appealed to her, and she thought since I read science fiction, that this fantasy novel might appeal to me as well. It didn't. I suppose it really isn't fair to judge this book for a reader that's outside the genre of this book, which is definitely fantasy. I think most science fiction readers would stay away from this book based just upon it's chintsy cover of someone fencing with the horn of the unicorn. It's a telling cover of the novel itself. I read this book years ago and it felt dated then so who knows what it's like now (the novel was published in 1980). For those that enjoy fantasy this has all the standards of that genre, unicorns, fantastic settings and magic, etc. Anthony, along with Stephen Donaldson and Anne McCaffrey were very popular fantasy writers of that time, and his idea for his other novel On a Pale Horse, where someone who kills Death takes It's place even made it to one of The Simpsons (Halloween?) episodes, which is when one knows they made it to the mainstream. But this novel is no Lord of the Rings. For science fiction readers, there are other books you would probably want to put ahead on your reading list.

As a side note, for those that are fascinated with horses, which are magnificent animals, that would have a horn but alas unicorns do not exist, read about narwhals which are real, live, existing animals (whales) that have a horn, and a spiral one at that.

The book Split Infinity is the first book in the series of Apprentice Adept by Piers Anthony. The book is a about an extremely short serf named Stile. A serf is what the basic person is called on the planet Proton. Proton is located in the same system as Earth. On Proton, there are two types of people, the serf and the citizen. Serfs are hired by citizens to do various thing around the planet, but serfs have limited tenure and when it runs out they are deported to Earth. Citizens are extremely wealthy people that hire serfs and have unlimited tenure. Stile is a normal serf that is very talented at the game, a game that tests all attributes of a human against others. Stile led a normal life until a mysterious robot is sent to protect him and attempts start being made on his life. Once, as he is trying to escape from pursuers, he accidentally crosses a curtain that teleports him to a mysterious world were magic really exists. He then has the ability to cross the curtain from world to world, but attempts at his life are made in the other world to. Stile must now try to find who is trying to kill him on both worlds and why. I would give this book four out of five stars because it keeps you interested and makes you want to read the whole series.

Split Infinity is the first book of the Apprentice Adept series. Piers Anthony is best known for his Xanth series, but I enjoyed the first three novels of this series as much as I did anything else that Piers Anthony wrote. The novel (and series) deals with a dual world. Proton is a science fiction orientated world. The laws of science rule the world. The planet is desolate with the air being unbreatheable. People live in large city sized domes. People are divided into two classes. Citizens are extremely wealthy, are permitted to wear clothing, and are the rulers of Proton. Serfs do the work, are not permitted clothing (though are permitted their own diversions as long as it does not interfere with their work), and have a limited tenure on Proton. After their tenure expires, they must leave the planet (though they do get to collect a large amount of their earnings at the end of tenure). Phaze is a fantasy world where magic exists and the world is still fairly pristine. The powers of Phaze are human magician called Adepts (they are adept in one particular facet of the magic). Dragons, unicorns, and werewolves are real. The features of the Phaze are the same as Proton, except the land hasn't been ruined.

The protagonist of the novel is a man named Stile. Stile is a serf on Proton. He is a jockey for a Citizen, but in the private world of the serfs, he is a master at the Games. The Games are the main entertainment for serfs, and they get to test their skills at various sports/games/arts/activities. A master player can excel in most facets of the Game. Stile is a master player and is two years from the end of his tenure. He meets a female robot named Sheen (get the pun?). Robots on Proton, depending how they are programmed and assembled, can look, sound, feel, and touch exactly like a human. Sheen is such a robot. Sheen warns Stile that someone is trying to kill him. Her job is to protect him. Over the course of the novel, we see attempts on Stile's life and he accidently crosses a "curtain" to the magical world of Phaze. In Phaze, Stile meets a unicorn and a werewolf who will kill him if he uses magic. He is the image of a murdered Adept from Phaze, and he has the abilities of an Adept. Someone is still trying to kill him in Phaze. The novel is the beginnings of his quest to find out whom, and also to discover his own identity in Phaze.

This was one of my favorite fantasy novels when I first started reading in the genre back in high school. My favorite part of the novel was the aspect of the Games on Proton. I thought it was a wonderful idea and it was what hooked me on the books. It has been nearly ten years since I've last read any of this series, and while my taste and somewhat matured and the material is not as fresh as it once was, this is still a wonderful series and is a lot of fun to read. For any fan of Xanth or of Piers Anthony, this one needs to be read.