Pet Peeve Piers Anthony Tor, Oct 2005, $24.95, 336 pp. ISBN: 0765304082 When the cursed to be polite and act nice Goody Goblin asked the Good Magician Humfrey to help him get rid of the "Finger", the mage simply takes the objectionable object away. However, being a goody, the Goblin feels he owes Humfrey. She is willing to oblige the Good Magician when he assigns her to deliver the parody. Goody Goblin and his assigned bodyguard the warrior Hannah Barbarian set off on a joint quest to locate a "suitable home" for the hostile foul-mouthed Pet Peeve. The foul fowl is a nasty creature that insults everyone and anything that has the misfortune of being nearby. That would not be so bad to the monster's current carriers except that Pet Peeve exactly imitates the voice of the dummy carrying it. Thus the insulted hold Goody responsible and when that upset individual is a fire exhaling dragon one tend to feel the heat. Whereas Sue Grafton has reached R, Xanth is into the alphabet for the second time with PET PEEVE being the twenty-ninth fantasy parody. The story line contains the usual assortment of puns, adventures and more puns. This time the parody comes from the skills of the Don Rickles of birds as readers will appreciate the insults using the voice of the poor soul (that is if a goblin has a soul) stuck toting it so that anyone else in the area will think the carrier insulted them. Fans of the long running series will appreciate the latest light hearted Xanthian quest that answers "what is ultimate reality?" Harriet Klausner