Split Infinity (Apprentice Adept Book 1)

This idea that Piers Anthony gives is great. Two worlds - one magic and one technological - is brilliant. The moment a friend told me about it, I went out and grabbed it. The book was also well written. I just couldn't stand the multiple-page long monologues Stile gives frequently. It seemed that every chapter Stile was giving some speech or another about morality or about how great he was at one thing or another. That's another thing that's not so great. I like having a hero who is really good at a few things, but it seemed that Stile was good at everything -riding horses, fighting, the Game, robots, even magic he picked up quickly. Heroes that are too good wind up too bad.

Book 1 of The Apprentice Adept
I can't really explain why I keep coming back to this book; it really isn't particularly great. Good, yes, but not great. Perhaps it's because Anthony manages to mix two distinct technological and magical milieux in a single story, or because one of the principal characters is an unicorn. I'm not sure, but I still like it. The culture on Proton is pretty bizarre, but understandable and funny once you accept the basic tenets. Anthony certainly does have a way with puns and paradoxes.
Warning: Though this book contains nothing explicit, some of the themes are definitely adult in nature. I'd give this a 'PG' rating.

I'm 29 and male, and I've read quite a bit of science fiction. I wanted to take the time to STRONGLY recommend this book (and Blue Adept and Juxtaposition) as, next to Michael Moorcock's Elric series, as the most engrossing, fascinating, otherworldly books I've ever read. Stile's character has a lot of depth, and his "internal monologue" really puts you into the story. The plot is vivid and fresh, full of creative characters and interesting situations. There are not many books I would give 5 stars to but this one, my long-standing favorite, is definitely tops.

Anthony seems most at home with settings he can completely create from scratch. He is always entertaining, and this book is no exception. The theme is predictable(a normal man, the underdog, discovers hidden powers and becomes the beloved hero). Knowing how things will end gives you no clues about the ride there, however. Anthony's talent for conveying his seemingly boundless imagination to paper is on full display here. This book is absolutely enjoyable. The reader is fully immersed in Anthony's worlds, and is therefore able to completely escape our own for awhile.

This book seemed to me to be too ordinary. It talks about him beating robots but all he is, is an ordinary jockey. He doesn't have special power that lets him beat up robots twice as powerful as him. I do have to admitt that it gets a little better when he goes though the curtain to the world Phaze. Basically what I am trying to say is that the book has the good essentials to be a story but it lacks the final touch ups. The book has no real excitment, I would advise you read books like The Hobbit by JRR Tolien, The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan, The Wizard's First Rule by Tery Goodkind, or books by Robert E. Feist.

Split Infinity is a futuristic story of Stile, a serf/jockey on the planet of Proton, and his discovery of an alternate dimension in which magic is real. It is the first book in the Apprentice Adept trilogy, one of my personal all-time favorites and my strong recommend for any sci-fi/fantasy reader who has not already discovered them.

Piers Anthony has a rare and magical talent that I thoroughly enjoy. Thank goodness Stile travels between Proton and Phase during chapter breaks or I would never have been able to set down the book for lunch, dinner or bathroom breaks.

Beth Durkee, aka Efran Myles, author of Engaging Enchantment (The Legend of Lord Randall Castle Book 1)

Two worlds, one known as Proton and based on science and logic, the other, Phase is based on magic. On Proton lives a master gamesman, Stile, who discovers by accident how to cross between the two worlds. But what should Stile do when he has someone trying to kill him on both worlds? His only means of survival are his skills as a master gamesman, which Stile discovers is how he will work magic. On Proton he has only one friend, a humanoid robot named Sheen. On Phase, Stile has a unicorn and werewolf as his only friends. His fiends on both worlds try to keep him alive as he tries to uncover the identity of his secret assassin as well as keep his lifestyle on the same on both worlds. I think this is an awesome book! It is great for anyone who has ever wanted to believe in magic. A tale of adventure, with unicorns, sorcerores, and robots. This is a great tale for all ages. On a scale of one to ten, I would give it an eleven.

Although I enjoyed this book, I also thought that it seemed to be written on a lower level than some books I've read. It was kinda like the whole idea was good and original, but the way it was written didn't seem very "top quality". It was like the book didn't fit into an age group category.
But I did like it. Very entertaining. I liked how Anthony wrote a book that included sci-fi and fantasy.

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!

This book is a fast read that will make you want to re-read it over and over. I was fist introduced to this book by a friend. Firstly let me point out i am not the reading type, however this book had me hooked i couldn't stop reading it (I've missed quite a few stops on the bus because of this book).
Piers Anthony has created a wonderful world (or worlds should i say) in which Stile (the main character) is a minor inhabitant he is a jocy on a planet called proton until it all goes pear-shaped when there is a threat on his life.
The title 'Split Infinity' makes more sense after you've read the book. Piers has two worlds which are parallel dimentions on is Proton and one is called Phaze. Proton being the futuristic planet barren out side bio-domes, and Phaze being a lush land of magic and mythical creatures.
All in all this book is an amasing read it totaly pulls you in and you won't want to put it down and you be sad to when you've finished.
BTW: Split Infinity is number one in a series to find the others go to the store.com and serch for The Apprentice Adept Series, for a full list; as some of the books are not avalible in the UK or are out of print (however lots of second hand copies on the store.com and .co.uk for that matter)

I was not much of a book reader. I found a copy of Split Infinity at the bus I was on and started reading it. I was wondering why the book cover had a picture of a unicorn and the first few chapters clearly depicted a science fiction (future world) scenario. By the end of the book, I had to get my hands on Blue Adept and Juxtaposition. I have not found a book even remotely similar to the Apprentice Adept series since. The combination and relevance of both sci-fi world and fantasy world had been excellently written and the style of magic that Piers Anthony penned in this book was clearly unique. I will definitely let my kids read this book once they are able. I have been a Fantasy genre reader ever since I found this book.

Split Infinity is the first book I read by Piers Anthony. I bought this book from a very samll bookshop in a small town called Northwood in England. It was the cover that lured me into buying it. Mind you, it was the UK version I bought. There was no unicorn on the cover. Instead, it was a half naked woman robot.
Coming back to the book, I can only say that Piers Anthony is really the game master. You will know what I meant if you read the book.
I enjoy both the science world and the fantasy world. They were so alike and yet so distinct from one another.
I went on to read the entire series. My last 2 books from this series were from the states. i.e. US covers.

Split Infinity is about a small man named Stile, a serf on the planet Proton. Stile's life is soon threatened, but a female robot named Sheen helps to keep him safe. Stile discovers a gateway to another world called Phaze in which magic exists. Stile meets friends there, including a unicorn named Neysa, a werewolf named Kurrelgyre, and many others. He takes the position of Adept (really powerful magician), the Blue Adept. With his new powers, Stile investigates the identity of his enemy. All the while, Stile has to avoid the attacks in both frames, Proton and Phaze, for he traverses between them at times. A fantastic novel! I suggest that all who enjoy Sci-Fi/Fantasy read this book!

Split Infinity starts out with two premises that I find immensely appealing. The first is future worlds of both technology and magic. The second is a sexy loving robot who is as fully developed as an independent character as any human. I'm intrigued by the idea of interspecies romance (human and robot), and the trilogy that starts with this book explores that idea well. What we have is a sexy, fun, science fiction, magic, fantasy, romantic, adventure story with a lot for everyone who is not a prude. For anyone who feels lovingly shared sex with others not quite like yourself, or a world of casual nudity, is offensive I would have to say to stay away from this book. For everyone else, dive in and have fun!

This is one of the most interesting and unique books that I have read and started my life long love of Piers Anthony's books. The juxtaposition of the world of science with the world of magic and the skill it takes the protagonist to move between the two worlds and solve the mystery of who is trying to murder him in both worlds. Interesting character development of other characters too including Sheen.

I am not usually one for sci-fi/fantasy novels. One day I started reading this book out of boredom and recommendation of a friend. And it pulled me in from the beginning. Very descriptive setting, twisting plot and vivid characters. If you don't usually read fantasy novels - this is the book to start with - and you won't be able to stop until you've read the entire story by this wonderful author.

I first read this series 20 years ago, and as I re-read the first book, I was once again captivated by this story. I enjoyed it every bit as much this time as the first time I read it years ago. My paperback copy is falling apart, and I hope it will soon be available for the Kindle, as this is a series I like to revisit.

I have rated this book with 5 stars, and heartily recommend it!

visit for real. This was my first book by Piers that I read. I bought it for the cover. It is so neat the way the people can cross over the "curtain" and how everyone has to have a double. If your other self dies in one world, you can then move between them. I was hooked. I own lots of Piers series. I couldn't put the book down. The first part about the game is a little tricky (it was for me) to follow, but then, it is such a nice story that takes you away from the everyday hum-drum. I highly recommend this book!

Wow!!!!!I'd give this book 100 stars if the Internet let me.I am not embarrased to admit that I almost cried at the end when Stile used his magic to make himself and Neysa oath-friends.Terrific is all I can say about this book that even begins to describe it!!!!!

Piers Anthony captures your imagination as he throws the reader into this, the first of the Aprentice Adept series.
Utterly stupendous realism in both fantasy and science fiction (at the same time).
Explore not one but two worlds of adventure.

I read this series when they first came out. A friend suggested Piers Anthony to me. I thought, "What a peculiar name",but I read Split Infinity and could not put it down! I ran to the store upon completion and snapped up the rest of the series and couldn't put them down either. Such LUSH imagery and inventive scenarios, and characters so well developed, you felt you knew them, and on top of all that, totally unpredictable outcomes. Highly recommended if you can find it. Some adult content.

This was an alll out amazing book. A friend introduced me to the works and talent of Pier Anthony, and now I"ve read quite a few of his books. His ideas are creative and original. Split Infinity was the second book I've read, and I loved it! However there are some very mature sequences in it, and I mean VERY mature. But if one can get past those, then they'll love the book too! Anthony created many comical little puns and connections to our own world.His themes should enlighten anyone who can pick them up and understand. READ SPLIT INFINITY! If you don't like it, fine, but all together I think it was well written.

I read it because it had a unicorn on the cover. Boy, was I in for a great ride (just like he was). I enjoyed it so much, I had to read the entire series again and again. The first of more and better.

I have a reading disability and it was always very challenging to read anything longer than a short story. However, in 1980 the school library got this book. I found it amazing fast paced story that I completed in a day and night. It completely hooked me and I became a voracious reader.

While the book had a slow start, the book continually got better until the great ending that has me hooked. I was doubting whether or not I was going to read the next two books, but now I am for sure. The idea of balancing a book between Sci-Fi and Fantasy is very cool. However, there is too much in the way of sex and sexual innuendos. The author seems, to me, a very disturbed person. Despite this, the book is a great read.

While I am hardly the expert on the science fiction/fantasy genres, I felt compelled to at least offer an opinion on this book before moving on. My experience in this category of books only goes back a few months when I began reading Robert Asprin (worked through Myth, the Phule series, and Time Scout). Meaning: I have no real basis of comparison.

As a standalone work of literature, this book is highly lacking. While I will most likely finish it due to a personal compulsion for completion (yes, I'm only halfway through and writing about it), I doubt I will continue with the series.

I have never witnessed so much hubris from a character who is so obviously NOT multi-faceted enough to express his flaws. There was one stretch of the book where Anthony kept writing how Stile was "interested in this, and naturally talented!" His ability to pick up women, while not as offensive to me as to some other readers (and I am female) was simply pointless and seemed to almost reflect the author's need instead of Stile's. Couldn't he have given Stile a deeper, more intrinsic draw to continue traveling from one world to the other? 'Oh, I can't stay here, I promised this OTHER girl I'd go back...but I'll come back for you too, because well, you love me too!' Some humility would have been refreshing. Maybe this bites him later in the series, but I will have grown sick of him by then and will most likely never see it occur.

But I digress. To summarize, avoid this book unless you're looking for a quick read without the need for intellectual thought. It's fun in it's own right, but maybe more appropriate for a teenager...in the 80s.

I can see how this series would appeal to the average male adolescent. How can you beat a storyline that has every attractive female character just dying to sleep with the hero, who just happens to be talented at everything he tries, not just in one, but in two different worlds?
The characters are flat and one dimensional. They may be attractive, smart and athletic, but there is no personality. The women are particularly shallow. They are never introduced without comments on their sexual features and our hero sleeps with almost every one.
I could not even give this book points for its plot, which, while a creative idea, has holes you could drive a truck through. I do not want to go into details, and I'm sure that people that enjoy this style of writing will be able to justify any of this, but for my money, this is the romance novel in a fantasy setting. If all you want is a mindnumbing read where the "good guy" wins the girl (or two or three....) then this will be right up your ally.

I've been an avid sci-fi/ fantasy reader for as long as I can remember. Just a word to anyone that thinks mages, Orcs, and dragons are somewhere out there, give this series a try. Imaginative, riveting, and just plain cool, these books make you want to start looking for a shield to will yourself through. It's something every self-willed machine dreams for and every 'corn, werewolf, and Adept live for.

Regular readers of my reviews know that I have been going through a phase of re-reading the books of my childhood and deciding which ones I really want to bring with me into the future. Piers Anthony was a huge favorite when I was 13. Re-reading his books, however, pretty hard for me to figure out why.

I am willing to grant that the first few books of Xanth are genuinely entertaining. I also think that elements of his books are very well done. For instance, in Split Infinity, the concept of the game on Proton is really interesting. I wish that he had kept his attention there instead of his rather noxious obsession with nekked people.

Frankly, the female characters in Xanth are bad enough. Eeping nymphs and scolding harpies, pretty much. But this first book in the Phaze series is repellent. The main character, Stile, sleeps with all the non-human women around him, even though he is not in love with them. This is okay, since they are in love with him. So he is, you know, doing them a favor. Despite being loyal, wonderful and gifted with permanently perky breasts, he isn't in love with them because he can't be in love with a woman who isn't traditionally human. He is horribly insecure, yet possessed with a strange charisma that makes all women want to put out-- even if he is honest (which he always is) about the fact that there is no future. Oh yeah, also, he cannot date women taller than he is. You know, that just doesn't work out. *eye roll*

I really feel kind of bad savaging Anthony's books because they reveal the enlightened approach to gender of a caveman. Talk about shooting fish in a barrel. But-- really-- Split Infinity is actually toxic.

Proton/Phaze is an interesting enough idea that it made me wish that authors did rewrites like film directors do remakes. There is some decent stuff in here, but it only makes it more depressing when confronted with the morass of junk that makes up the rest of the book.

I would not give this to a developing adolescent, even if that is just about the right age level for the view of women. If I hadn't loved this as a child, I probably would have given it one star.

To be concise, this book rules. To be otherwise; I thought that this book was a very good piece of science fiction with enough of a twist to easily set it apart from some others of that genre. The characters are great; Sheen would have to be my favorite, though. (Who else felt sorry for the poor 'bot? *sniff*) The Phaze/Photon concept was very interesting, and I liked seeing it explored further in the later books of this series.

There is nothing else like this trilogy. I've kind of moved on to hard-sf, but these books are simply great. It's one of those books with incredibly vivid mental imagery that grabs you for hours on end. As an added bonus, unlike any of his later non-Xanth books, no adult man has sex with a 12 year old girl. (What the heck is up with that, anyway?

Science world or fantasy world, it isn't much fun to be in the lower classes.

This book has all sorts of stuff, and the title is a reference to the two different sorts of universes therein. The main character is a serf, or member of the underclass in the science based universe. He is exceptional in that he is one of the top players of a complicated Game that is a major part of life there, which basically involves navigating through a series of contests.

Apart from that, someone wants to bump him off.

I think I was just entering jr. high when my uncle pulled this off of his sci-fi shelf and handed it to me. It started a run of about 20 Piers Anthony novels that I read one after the other, and created a lifelong reader out of me.

This fantasy novel by Piers Anthony is genuinely outstanding. It is endlessly creative and inventive. The pace of the book is brisk and the plot is extraordinary. This is a very welcome addition to all fantasy collections.

I know there are lots of people out there who read this in the 80s when they were teenagers and have fond memories of it. I'm approaching this book as an adult with no fond, nostalgic memories of this series or any of Piers Anthony's other work, and it doesn't quite hold up to the high opinions and fond memories people seem to have of it.

This reads in part like a wet dream of a man of Piers' generation. I have nothing against a little titillation now and then, but the gratuity and the chauvinism on display here are a little much. This must have been considered quite racy back in the day, but doesn't have enough actual sexual content to be considered anything of the kind today. It's a little like one of those Japanese anime cartoons where you get tons of "fan service" (e.g. short skirts with panties showing, cleavage, contrived events that put the male protagonist in a women's locker room, etc.) but no actual sexual content. There's plenty of sex, but it's left up to the reader's imagination.

There is also a lot of chauvinism in the titillation. For example, we have first a beautiful android woman whose proportions were apparently designed exactly to the taste of our hero whose primary directive is to "protect" the hero with the secondary directive to "love" the hero. Then we have a unicorn who shape shifts by night into a beautiful woman. Of course our hero has to "tame" her first so he can "ride" her. She "doesn't like to talk much", but plays beautiful music for him from her horn. You get the picture. Most of the women on display here are not real, fleshed out characters with their own personalities, but something more like a high school guy's fantasy.

Then there is the author's apparent small man syndrome. He has to remind us on nearly every page that the hero is short and all the *perceived* cons of being short (which of course end up being real pros for our hero). Of course the hero is good at pretty much EVERYTHING, including things that a short man might not be as good at. He uses his quick wits and natural physical talents to overcome his opponents and make up for his short size. I got really tired of hearing how short this guy is. He's practically a superman, but we've got to hear every other page about how he suffers for being small and how people look down on him and belittle him.

Some people say this book is well written, and I would disagree. It may just be a matter of more modern taste, but the author does a lot of things that are considered bad form, at least in modern writing. For example, there are the long, romanticist monologues/daydreams/etc. we have to put up with from the protagonist. These seem to serve the dual purpose of fulfilling the author's desire to spout off his romantic ideals and dumping information on the reader that the author couldn't work into the actual story. Similarly, there are also plenty of "as you know Bob"'s (contrived conversations that give the reader information but would never happen in real life).

The book does SEEM to have an interesting premise, at least from the description. However, the description on the store seems to contain spoilers since I'm about half way through the book and a lot of details of the dual world that are in the book's description haven't even been revealed yet. My guess is that you could condense this trilogy into one book's worth of material pretty easily while keeping all the interesting ideas and the actual plot intact.

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.