The Apprentice Adept series is a seven-book fantasy and science fiction series by
Piers Anthony. The series takes place on two worlds occupying the same space in two different dimensional planes: Phaze - a
Magical Land in
Medieval Stasis and
more or less ruled by the Adepts, the strongest magic users, each specilizing in a separate aspect, and Proton, a barren mining planet of high technology, ruled by the Plutocratic Citizens (who control the immense wealth of the Protonite mines). The worlds are divided by The Curtain, an energy field only visible to those capable of crossing it (someone without a doppleganger on the other side)
The first trilogy (
Split Infinity,
Blue Adept, and
Juxtaposition) starred Stile, a Proton serf who, after an mysterious assassination attempt, becomes the central figure in an ancient prophecy to
Save Both Worlds from destruction, or ensure said destruction.
The second trilogy (
Out of Phaze,
Robot Adept, and
Unicorn Point) featured Bane and Mach, the sons of Stile and Stile's opposite number, Blue, and their efforts to keep the previous impending doom from happening all over again.
The seventh and final book,
Phaze Doubt the newly-merged worlds dealing with an alien invasion, and the
Xanatos Gambit meant to deal with it and prevent future ones.
This title contains examples of:
- AI Is A Crapshoot: In this case, it's an Anti Villain for the first two-and-a-half books, and indirectly responsible for most of the crap Stile goes through.
- All Of The Other Reindeer — the unicorn Neysa is an outcast because of her small size and horse-normal coloration.
- All Your Powers Combined — Anyone with the Book Of Magic gains the ability to use every school of Phaze magic.
- Blessed With Suck — Al - a half-vampire who's allergic to blood.
- Bizarre Alien Biology — The Amoebans are gelatinous masses who eat through their skin in their normal forms.
- Book Of Shadows — The Book Of Magic
- Color Coded Wizardry
- Cool Horse — The Unicorns
- Depraved Bisexual — Tania, in the second trilogy (at first), a good chunk of Photon's decadent Citizen class
- Does Not Like Men — the Red Adept
- Freaky Friday — Mach and Bane's accidental swap which sets off the events of the second trilogy.
- Fusion Dance — Happens at the end of Unicorn Point, in a BIG way.
- Good Is Dumb
- Green Rocks — Phazite, used to power the various spells.
- Which, when taken to Photon, becomes the energy bearing Photonite.
- Happiness In Slavery — Many Proton Serfs will do anything they can to stay on Proton.
- Her Heart Will Go On — Subverted. A prophecy foretells that Lady Blue will give birth to Stile's child, so he puts off romancing her until after the big battle to ensure his safety.
- Heroic Sacrifice — Stile's other self, Blue, though we don't know it until much later.
- Hoist By His Own Petard — Tan and Purple's power grab (after their side had basically won) gave the good guys the opening to play their trump card.
- Honor Before Reason — Comes up so regularly, the bad guys start to count on it.
- Inevitable Tournament — nearly every major conflict is settled, once and for all, via the Great Game (or a variant, in Phaze).
- It Only Works Once — Any specific Adept spell can only be used once, then variations have to be used.
- Lawful Stupid
- Literal Genie
- Living Lie Detector — unicorns can test the truth of a person's words by spearing them with their horns. If the person spoke truly, they are left unharmed.
- Magical Incantation — Stile's magic.
- Magic A Is Magic A — Phazian magic has some very specific rules.
- Magic Music — Stile's magic must be invoked via rhyme and is strengthened by the use of music.
- Magic Versus Science — Only magic works in Phaze; only technology in Proton.
- Meaningful Rename — Several characters choose their names from events and objects of personal importance (Stile, Rifleman, Clef)
- Mix And Match Critters — A unicorn can take up to three forms (unicorn, human, and a third of their choosing, usually a bird or some sort of predator). Some native Phazites also have animal heads on human bodies.
- Morph Weapon — The Platinum Flute
- No Name Given — The real/birth names of most of the human cast are never revealed. Also, serfs are required by Proton law to call Citizens "Sir", unless given explicit permission for other forms of address.
- One Judge To Rule Them All — How Stile won his harmonica duel against Clef, despite being clearly outplayed.
- Plot Armor — Stile uses other people's Oracle prophecies to ensure his own survival.
- Psychic Link — Mach and Bane, Flach and Nepe (Stile and Blue presumably can do the same but choose not to find out)
- Ret Con — The third generation protagonists get their nature and power level changed radically between when they were background and major characters.
- Ridiculously Human Robots — intentionally so.
- Rhymes On A Dime — How Style's magic works
- Sex As Rite Of Passage — A werewolf gains adult status only after a ritual First Mating.
- Serious Business — In a world where losing a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors can mean getting booted off the planet, everything possibly included in the Great Game is treated as Serious Business. Also, oaths on Phaze (which are magically enforced).
- Smug Snake — the Purple Adept
- Soul Jar — Stile's harmonica
- The Ace — Rifleman, from Juxtaposition
- The Big Guy — Hulk
- The Man Behind The Curtain — Brown, in her first appearance.
- The Promise — Several, made via oaths or the Splash of Truth
- The Red Sonja — Brown (though it's only a crush), Merle, Neysa, Tania
- The Scottish Trope — The "Triple Thee" (a binding and powerful love-oath in Phaze)
- The Vamp — Merle, Yellow (after a youth potion)
- Took A Level In Badass — Chip (from exiled male in Juxtaposition to Herd Stallion in Out Of Phaze)
- Tournament Arc — Most of Blue Adept and part of Juxtaposition involves Stile's journey through the Great Game.
- Truth Serum — when someone swears something's true in Phaze, and they really mean it, a wave of rainbow light radiates from them.
- Tyke Bomb — Flach and Nepe
- Unobtainium — Phazite/Photonite
- Unknown Assailant: The Red Adept
- Voluntary Shapeshifting
- What Kind Of Lame Poweris Heart Anyway - Tan's Evil Eye grants absolute mind control; nifty but it's something several other Adepts can do, along side a million other things.
- What Measure Is A Non Human — The unicorns, werewolves, and other shifters on Phaze, the self-aware machines on Photon
- Wise Beyond Their Years: Flach and Nepe
- Word Of God — That Red wasn't a Psycho Lesbian, but an asexual Psycho Misandrist.
- Xanatos Gambit — Would probably count as a Xanatos Roulette, except that one of the principals actually could see the future.
