Tale Of Two Pipers
Reviewed by Tim McCree
May 2004

BOOK: Tale Of Two Pipers

There is an old saying, be careful what you wish for, because you might just get it. Well, in this book, this happens to Piper. As the book opens we see that Piper is very over stressed with the burdens of home and work life. The Manor is being painted, she is trying to book a big fashion show at P3, she is up for an award, etc. All in all, Piper is not happy at the things piling up around her. Through unforeseen circumstances, Piper wishes that there were two of her, and surprise, the wish comes true.

As the book unfolds we see that the two Pipers may look the same, but their personalities are somewhat different. Piper One is responsible, she is worried about home, her sisters, and Leo, while Piper Two is more free spirited, who can just drop everything to go have fun. At first, both Pipers like this new freedom, but soon complications set in. Both Pipers find that their powers seem to be fading and they themselves are becoming weak and sickly.

To add to the mounting problems, the dark lighters are being organized by a Demon named Malagon, who wants the Halliwell’s powers. To get the sisters to cooperate, Malagon has Leo kidnapped and held for ransom. Can the two Pipers, along with Phoebe and Paige, put their head to together long enough to come up with a plan to save Leo and vanquish Malagon?

I really enjoyed this book. It was funny and very well plotted. The sisters came across as believable in their actions. Here they were facing an unknown new Demon threat, but they were having problems keeping the two Pipers in the same room long enough to have a reasonable conversation. The banter between the two Pipers was interesting as we saw two very different aspects of her personality.

In Piper One, there was burden of being the oldest, responsible, sister and in Piper Two, there was the seldom seen, free spirit. This free spirit, once let loose, became a big problem. Several times in the book, Piper Two just took off to have fun somewhere without letting her sisters know where she was. Also, Piper Two didn’t seem to care that Leo was being held hostage, as she flirted with a man named Douglas. In fact, Piper One was very angry at Piper Two for this, Leo is her soul mate after all. The term "not getting along with yourself" takes on a whole new meaning in this book.

As for Piper Two and her flirtations with Douglas, that itself leads into an unexpected plot twist. Of course, Piper Two does not see it coming, due to her free spirited state. At that point, the only thing that mattered was her happiness, everything else be damned.

There are some other points of interest I saw in this book:

1. The events of this book must take place late in Season Five. Cole seems to be gone and Chris has not yet appeared.

2. Speaking of Cole, he is not even mentioned in passing. It’s as if Cole never existed at all. This is one thing that has irritated me about all the books. With the exception of Prue, when a major character dies on the show, said character vanishes from the books and is never even mentioned again (the same thing happened with Andy Trudeau after he died in Season One). Cole was Phoebe’s soul mate, so I think some mention should have been made about him.

3. Daryl is no where to be found in this book. I guess there just wasn’t a part for him in this story.

4. We get to see what possibly happens to white lighters when they die. Early in the book, a female white lighter is sent to warn the Charmed Ones about the new dark lighter threat. Upon arrival at the Manor, the white lighter is fatally wounded by a dark lighter. She manages to pass her message on to the Halliwells, before she dies. Soon after, her body vanishes and some white orbs appear and vanish through the ceiling. This is no doubt the spirit of the young white lighter on her way to either the spirit world or to be reincarnated (I’m not sure which).

All in all, this a very enjoyable book and I give it an 8/10 rating.

  HOME