[Xanth 22] • Zombie Lover

*Zombie Lover* is the tale of Breanna, a beautiful, brassy young girl from the mundane world who comes to Xanth on a Black Wave and gains the gift of seeing in darkness. But when she haplessly naps one night in the Pavilion of Love, King Xeth, the decomposed potentate of Xanth’s Zombies, loses what’s left of his heart to her and determines to make her his queen!

Fleeing Xeth’s unwanted advances, Breanna uses all of her worldly wiles to escape a fate that is literally worse than death. With the help of some colorful companions, including King Dor, Prince Dolph, and a “youthened” Magician Bink—and Justin Tree, who serves as her spirit guide on this oddest of odysseys—Breanna sets out on a perilous quest. Her travels lead from the Region of Madness to the evanescent Isle of Women, which is ruled by voracious vamps, and on to Xanth’s myriad “worlds of maybe” orbiting Queen Ida’s head. And at the end of her unearthly journey she discovers a surprising fulfillment of her fondest desires.