remembering the past

[januarylilac]

hello, recently i'm trying to remember the title of a book/series i read when i was young. it was probably from the '80s or early '90s.
1. The main character is a young male.
2. he's from the human world but one day he somehow travels to a different world.
3. he's supposedly a human with no magic but later in the series we find out that his father came to the human world therefore he also has magic.
4. they don't know what his powers are at first but later find that his power is counteracting/neutralizing other people's/creature's powers.
5. there is one incident in which he causes a pool of alcohol or blood? to turn into plain water

thanks

 

[Pyan]

I'm afraid I don't recognise this book, januarylilac, but I'm moving your post to the Book Search forum, where it's more likely to be seen by someone who does.

 

[Metryq]

Everything up to item five sounds like the first book of the Xanth series, A Spell for Chameleon. If item five is in there, I've long since forgotten it.

 

[chrispenycate]

While not disagreeing with the Xanth connection (ie. still Piers Anthony) I'd say Dor's talent was not neutralisation; that was Grey in "The man from Mundania". Which also gives you the link to standard Earth (Mundania) and may well have the scene where the Maenads' wine spring was first turned to water, then to blood.

It has been a long time, so I don't remember anything of Grey's father – Ah, googled it, evil magician Murphy, yes, it fits.

 

[Metryq]

I shall have to read a few of the Xanths again. I got as far as book four or five, then ran out of gas. But if I'm remembering correctly, Bink's "power" was to neutralize all magic, right? It's funny what the mind recalls. There was an opening scene where Bink is working on something when the woman he is sweet on steps in and "bounces experimentally." And I remember Bink being "distracted by the bounce." I think the puns are what finally turned me off. Anthony dropped a pun in the third or fourth book that had been brewing since the first volume. That's devious.

 

[Sea Lion Books]

Do you remember anything of the author's name?

 

[jimmaclean]

I recently read the first few Xanth books. Bink's power was that he couldn't be harmed by magic.