Magic Realms

Xanth is a series of books written by Piers Anthony. The Xanth series are full of amusing puns and sweetish romances. The characters have to confront problems that must be solved without the aid of magic that almost everyone has in plenty. Anthony's imagination is vivid and he populates the land of Xanth with mythic creatures like dragons, griffins, ogres, and other terrifying monsters, and with such creatures goblins and harpies (who have been at war for centuries!). It is also the home of more civilized communities of centaurs, elves, merfolk, humans and the like, and it is primarily these more civilized residents who's lives we get to hear about in Piers Anthony's novels.