Wednesday, July 26, 2006
***** Another Fine Myth & Myth Conceptions by Robert Asprin. Fantasy.
I'd read a couple of later book in this series, Myth-Nomers and Im-Pervections (#6), and Sweet Myth-Tery of Life (#7), a while ago and loved them, so decided to start from the beginning.
Another Fine Myth starts the series and introduces us to apprentice magician Skeeve. He's forcibly ejected from his rather mundane life when his master is assassinated immediately after summoning the demon Aahz, stripping him of his powers as a practical joke.
It's then up to Aahz to explain things to Skeeve, most notably that "demons" are merely denizens of other dimensions, Aahz himself being a Pervect (not a Pervert) from the dimension Perv. Aahz also has to take up Skeeve's training to help Aahz recover his powers, find the killer, and return to his own dimension.
In Myth Conceptions, Aahz still doesn't have his powers, but Skeeve is better trained, and when a messenger arrives from Possiltum saying they're in need of a court magician, Aahz encourages Skeeve to apply for the job.
He does, only to discover that instead of the cushy position they'd expected, the reason Possiltum needs a court magician is that they're being threatened by a huge invading army. They travel to the market at Deveel to assemble a force of their own to counter it with humorous results.
Both stories are laugh-out-loud funny, and full of Asprin's pun-ny humor and dry wit. The characters are entertaining and real (or as real as creatures from various dimensions can be). Skeeve and Aahz as heroes are neither omnipotent nor bumbling, and the rest of the characters, including Skeeve's accidental dragon, are well-drawn enough that you can care about them.
Fortunately, there are, so far, 16 books in the series, so I've got 12 to go until I run out. I've already ordered the next one.
...more
Categories: Books, 5stars, Fantasy
Labels: 5 stars, books, fantasy
