Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #482400 in Books
• Published on: 2002-04-30
• Released on: 2002-04-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Customer Reviews

Silly. Ridiculous, even. Pretty good read
These are silly books. If you want there to be a point, then you are in the wrong place.

These myths are quite funny, and extremely pun-y. If you can enjoy a good pun, a bit of zaniness (actually, make that three dashes of zaniness), and don't care whether the over-arching story is ever fully resolved, then you'll like these.

Each story is self-contained, and yet there is an overarching... plot, if you will... that connects them. At times, it seems as though the overarching plot will never move forward. It does, but only slowly, and clearly not to any intended conclusion.

Each individual plot, on the other hand, wraps itself up in a totally absurd manner in the individual volume.

Oh, go on, buy them. You'll fly right through them, chuckling the whole way. Who cares if there's no point!

I'll meet you at the bazaar. I've been stuck here for so long that I don't remember where I came from. But I've set up a tent. I tend dragons.

Written for teens but great light reading for adults too
I was saddened by Robert Asprin's recent death. So in honor of his accomplishments, I grabbed the first couple of books in his Myth series from my shelf to remember why I'd liked what he had written. Darnit, these books are STILL good.

The premise is almost silly: Skeeve, a magician's apprentice (who originally aimed to be a thief) ends up under the tutelage of Aahz ("no relation"), a demon who lost all his powers. In the first book, the characters try to return Aahz's powers; in the second, Skeeve takes a "piece of cake" job as court magician that turns out to be a bad idea. This is very light fantasy and very easy reading. An adult can read it in an evening.

The story is sweet and funny and -- despite what you might assume from any description of a would-be thief and demon -- full of family values like loyalty, friendship, and remembering to say I'm Sorry.

And I'm not just saying that. I first read these books in the 1980s when they came out, and they were soon borrowed by friends who had a then-11-year-old son who (despite his bookworm parents) hadn't quite gotten into reading. To everyone's delight, Trevor read every book in the series multiple times, and it tipped him over into "read everything" mode. These books don't have the same power as Harry Potter did a generation or two later, in regard to convincing children that Reading Is Good, but it had that effect on *one* boy -- and how can that be bad?

These books are very well suited for a pre-teen. There's no sex or kissing, though there's a little suggestive eye-waggling by a sultry green woman who joins the fray. If you're looking for a fantasy that will attract a youngster to SF/F, this would be a suitable candidate.

But do read it yourself. For an adult, this is cotton-candy SF. It's not deep or filling, but it's a great little interlude.

How did I myth looking into these for so long?
An omnibus of the first two MythAdventures books.

Another Fine Myth
The first book in Robert Asprin's MythAdventures series, Another Fine Myth introduces us to an apprentice wizard Skeeve and his frustrated mentor, Garkin. Skeeve is only half-heartedly studying his lessons as his real desire is to be a thief. Everything changes when Garkin is assassinated while summoning a demon. Now Skeeve and the purple-tongued demon Aahz the Perv must track down Garkin's killer.

Despite the grim sounding synopsis above, Another Fine Myth is a very light-hearted and funny fantasy story that never takes itself too seriously. Filled with narrow escapes, plenty of magic and encounters with strange and interesting characters, Skeeve and Aahz tend to escape using their wits and magic rather than brute force.

I very much enjoyed this first entry to the series. Robert Asprin spins a terrific yarn filled with humor. The universe he has created for this story is interesting. Similar enough to other fantasy stories that it is familiar, but unique enough that you don't feel like you are reading a parody of Tolkien. This is a funny book, but the humor is situational rather than slapstick and obvious. The jokes never seem forced; rather they arise organically from the story.

I very much enjoyed this first MythAdventures and am planning to read the rest of the series.

Myth Conceptions
Myth Conceptions, the follow up to Another Fine Myth finds Aahz talking Skeeve into trying out for a court magician's post in the tiny kingdom of Possiltum. Those civil service jobs are a magicians dream!

As usual there's more than meets the eye and the next thing you know Skeeve is caught up in a power struggle between a general and a chancellor. Did I mention he also has to single-handedly defend Possiltum from an invading roamin' empire?

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.