Status
Series
Genres
Description
Robert Asprin's classic fantasy seriea, now available in eBook! With cover and interior illustrations by Phil Foglio! A Myth-Adventure in Combat... Having defeated the mad wizard, Isstvan, Skeeve and Aahz have taken over the remote inn that was the enemy's hideout. They're generally safe from visitors, and if not, Skeeve's growing magical abilities allow him to disguise himself and his friends as such repulsive serving staff that potential guests flee, screaming. Skeeve has grown bored of studying magic at the isolated inn, however, and one visitor who does not flee offers him an invitation for employment as court magician in the kingdom of Possiltum. Seeing a chance for easy profit and a little on the job training for his apprentice, Aahz agrees, Skeeve defeats the other applicants in a trial of magic to win the position, and that's when the fun really starts - the pair find out they've actually been hired in lieu of a professional national army or mercenaries to defeat a huge military invasion! They've also been used as pawns in a game of influence between the king's advisors... and General Badaxe is particularly unhappy that he got a magician for the kingdom's money instead of a few thousand soldiers. Even if they win, they'll most likely be killed by one court faction or another. What can a poor apprentice wizard and his demon teacher do? # 1 - Call on some good friends. # 2 - Cheat the odds. # 3 - Do whatever it takes to WIN! Weapons of Myth-Destruction... "Now that we've got a minute," Skeeve said, "would you mind telling me what your plan is? "Well," Aahz explained, "the way I figure it, we aren't going to overpower them. There are only seven of us and thousands of them. So the name of the game is Delay and Demoralize... Right off the bat we've got two big weapons going for us,: "The gargoyle and the dragon?" Skeeve put in helpfully. "Fear and Bureaucracy," Aahz said. "What's Bureaucracy?" Skeeve asked. "The organization to get things done that keeps things from getting done," Aahz continued. "In this case, it's called the chain-of-command. An army the size of the one we're facing has to function like a well-oiled machine or it starts tripping over its own feet. I'm betting that if we toss a couple of handfuls of sand into the gears, they'll spend more time fighting each other than us." For once, Skeeve wished he hadn't asked Aahz for an explanation.… (more)
User reviews
As usual there’s more than meets the eye and the next thing you know Skeeve is caught up in
As in the first book, Robert Asprin gleefully piles the complications on Skeeve and Aahz who solve their troubles with wit and magic rather than brute strength.
I’d say this book is more humorous than the first book. Aahz can always be counted on to throw out a bad pun, usually one with a reference to Earth culture that the other characters don’t get but we do. Old friends return for another go and new guys are introduced. I hope we see more of Gus the gargoyle. But again with all this going on, Asprin doesn’t lose sight of the story. The story never felt like a framework to hang jokes on. I was always interested in what was going to happen next.
Overall, I am very much enjoying this series and plan to read all twelve of the original Asprin books. I hope they are as entertaining as these first two have been.
Didn't get all the quotes in this book.
I know I've read this one before but I've clearly forgotten most of it, it was like reading a book for the first time.
Think they're really clever stories,
Inconsequential but funny and fluffy fantasy. I rather liked the way Asprin hints, without saying it in so many words, that using magic is largely a question of psychology — not unlike Pratchett's witches, in other words.
It`s an easy and enjoyable read. Sometimes farfetched, but isn`t that what fantasy is. This book was hard to put down. I couldn`t wait until I finished it but at the same time, I didn`t want it to end.
Not being
Love it and am looking forward to reading the next book.
Is the story as good as I remember? – Yes
What ages would I recommend it too? – Twelve and up. While ten to twelve might enjoy it, there are many ideas they will not understand. Though, they will certainly get many of the jokes.
Length? – Reasonable for an
Characters? – Memorable, several characters.
Setting? – Fantasy, alternate dimensions.
Written approximately? – 1980.
Does the story leave questions in the readers mind? – Ready to read more.
Any issues the author (or a more recent publisher) should cover? No.
Short storyline: Skeeve and Aahz leave their hideout to work for a kingdom, not realizing the likelihood of death that decision involves. They must visit another dimension in order to recruit help to save the kingdom and themselves. Skeeve’s dragon, Gleep plays an active role as well.
Notes for the reader: In this story, this author takes the emotions of his characters seriously. The characters don’t just race through the story full of action without emotion. The author realized the importance of the reader connecting to the characters by giving us the emotions, and even the reasons behind those sometimes odd emotions for the situation. While the first few times, it is a shock to the system to actually read of a character having an emotion, soon, it just becomes an enhancement to the story. In fact, when the lack of emotions by the main character becomes apparent in a later story, even that is noted by all the characters, until it is resolved.
And Aahz perhaps not as hard-hearted as he affects.
Note: the dates are from most recent re-reading before passing on the books to grandchildren.