Status
Available
Call number
Series
Genres
Publication
New York : Ace, c1986, 1991.
Description
Robert (Lynn) Asprin was born in 1946. While he has written some stand alone novels such as Cold Cash War, Tambu, The Bug Wars and also the Duncan and Mallory Illustrated stories, Bob is best known for his series: The Myth Adventures of Aahz and Skeeve; the Phule novels; and, more recently, the Time Scout novels written with Linda Evans. He also edited the groundbreaking Thieves World anthologies with Lynn Abbey. His most recent collaboration is License Invoked written with Jody Lynn Nye. It is set in the French Quarter, New Orleans where he currently lives.
User reviews
LibraryThing member ragwaine
The saga continues actually overlapping the last book but with different characters. I was probably smiling a lot when I read this but I don't think I laughed out loud once. That's bad for a book I would put in the category of comic or funny fantasy. But it was still fairly entertaining. It is
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interesting how Asprin decided to write some books with Skeeve and and some without but I think it's the combination of Skeeve and the other characters that makes his books good/funny. I did like this one better than the last book. Show Less
LibraryThing member ggslibtech
This is the first book I have read by Robert Asprin, and from the looks of the other review perhaps I should have started at the beginning of the series. It was ok, but it was mostly atmospherics- not much actually happened in the book. Unlike some of my favourite authors I didn't really see many
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deeper themes explored in this, but that may also be because I started in the middle. One or two of the characters seem reasonably amusing - such as the juxtaposition of characteristics in the narrator 'Guido' - but overall this was nothing to get too excited about. Show Less
LibraryThing member lithicbee
This book was told entirely in Guido's voice. I would have expected this book to jump from one character POV to another instead, but it works. Guido is, ahem, linguini-istically challenged, to say the least, and so that makes for a fun read. It helps to remember the cliche when reading these books:
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the point is the journey, not the destination. Once I let go that what the book says it is going to be about, stopping Queen Hemlock, is not really what the book is about at all, I was able to relax and enjoy it more. Now I realize that has been true for most of the books in the series. Show Less
LibraryThing member librisissimo
Substance: The schtick grows weary. I don't like the Mobsters as narrators, although they are Ok as characters.
LibraryThing member isabelx
I've heard of this series of books with the punning Myth titles, but I haven't read any of them. After reading the first two chapters I decided that this book isn't for me.
LibraryThing member AprilBrown
A childhood favorite re-visited.
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? – Most of a day’s
Characters? – Memorable, several characters.
Setting? – Fantasy, alternate dimensions.
Written approximately? – 1990.
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: Aahz, frustrated with the loss of Skeeve’s emotions has skipped town to return home. Skeeve finally sees the error of his ways, and feels he must go and try to make amends with his long time friend and partner. In the meantime, a serious assignment has come up, that he leaves for the rest of the crew. They must return to Possiltum, the kingdom Skeeve originally worked in, to stop the impending war. Problem is, this goes against his contract with the mob (though he likely never thought about it), and everything the team does seems to backfire, and make the army more efficient instead of less so. (This story is actually resolved in the next volume, which I do not currently have.)
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.
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? – Most of a day’s
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read.Characters? – Memorable, several characters.
Setting? – Fantasy, alternate dimensions.
Written approximately? – 1990.
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: Aahz, frustrated with the loss of Skeeve’s emotions has skipped town to return home. Skeeve finally sees the error of his ways, and feels he must go and try to make amends with his long time friend and partner. In the meantime, a serious assignment has come up, that he leaves for the rest of the crew. They must return to Possiltum, the kingdom Skeeve originally worked in, to stop the impending war. Problem is, this goes against his contract with the mob (though he likely never thought about it), and everything the team does seems to backfire, and make the army more efficient instead of less so. (This story is actually resolved in the next volume, which I do not currently have.)
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.
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Subjects
Language
Original publication date
1990-07
Physical description
196 p.; 17 inches
ISBN
044155282X / 9780441552825