Cube Route

Plot summary

Cube Route contains a crossover to Phaze, a world in Anthony's seven-book Apprentice Adept series.

Summary

In the magical land of Xanth, wishes are far more than mere words. So when a Plain Jane called Cube whispers a wistful wish to be beautiful, she finds herself leading a company of colorful companions on a search for the mysterious Cube Route—a perilous path that leads to danger, adventure, and perhaps her heart's desire as well.

This curious quest takes them all over Xanth, into the mythical realm of Phaze, and even to our own world, where Cube rescues a beautiful human woman from a very ugly situation, ending at last in a mysterious Counter-Xanth where things can be transformed into their opposites in the wink of an eye.

End of the first trilogy

The title and theme of this novel plays upon the common joke that Anthony had originally intended only a trilogy of novels, but as they kept appearing, kept calling it an "extended trilogy." This book concludes the "first trilogy" as it is twenty-seventh (three cubed) novel. He has now started on his "second trilogy."

Pangrammatic window

The shortest known published pangrammatic window, a stretch of naturally occurring text that contains all the letters in the alphabet, is found on page 98 of the 2004 First Mass Market Edition. The passage, which is 42 letters long, reads: "We are all from Xanth," Cube said quickly. "Just visiting Phaze. We just want to find the dragon."