Night Mare
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| Cover of Night Mare. | |
| Author | Piers Anthony |
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| Cover Artist | Darrell K. Sweet |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy |
| Publisher | Del Rey |
| Released | January 1983 |
| Media Type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 307 (paperback 16th printing) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-345-35493-1 |
| Preceded by | Ogre, Ogre |
| Followed by | Dragon on a Pedestal |
Night Mare is the sixth book of the Xanth series by Piers Anthony.
[edit] Plot introduction
Xanth has to fend off a nextwave army, being sure not to fall prey to their malice like Xanth has done so many times in the past. But now they have the advantage of a former Night Mare (Mare Imbri) with the simple message "beware the horseman."
[edit] Plot summary
The book Night Mare starts with Mare Imbri being banished from the gourd netherworld since she has just gained her half soul, with the message "beware the horseman". The saying did not make much sense like many prophecies, because if it were more exact it would become void. Soon afterward Dor and Irene get eloped. The mundane Nextwave, which is composed of Punics, attacks the land of Xanth. The horseman who is second in command to Hasbinbad enscrolls many of the Xanthian kings and they become temporarily, but harmlessly, out of commission. The chain of kings went in this order from first to last: King Trent,King Dor, King Zombie Master, King Humfrey,King Bink, King Arnolde the centaur, King Iris, King Irene, King Chameleon, and last but not least king King Mare Imbri. It is not until later that we find out that the day horse is actually the horsemen due to his magical transformation ability. Mare Imbri becomes king after King Chameleon, and King Irene. They trap the mundane horsemen and Mare Imbri tried to get him to release the 9 kings and break the chain, but she ends up killing him by accident even though she fancies his equine, stallion aspects. But the most powerful weapon, Pandora's box gave her hope and this turned out to be the most important factor in the whole Nextwave invasion. Afterwards all the kings are restored and they learned many new things, after Imbri had to destroy the metal bracelet that gave the horsemen his magic ability (but in doing so she is killed by the void), and Imbri got to see a rainbow in the end (even though she was in spirit form and was now on day-dream duty) because it rained in the end, like it was glad to see the mundanes beaten.
| Characters of Night Mare |
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| Primary character | Imbri |
| Major characters | Chameleon Humfrey Nextwave Kings |
