Myth Alliances (Myth Adventures #14)

November 3, 2016January 7, 2023 ~ Bookstooge ~ Leave a comment

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes. blogspot.wordpress.com by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission.

Title: Myth Alliances

Series: Myth Adventures

Author: Jody Nye & Robert Asprin

Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars

Genre: SFF

Pages: 275

Format: Kindle digital scan

Synopsis:

Skeeve is feeling insecure, as usual, and so to prove that he can actually be on his own, takes a job to help some world that has been taken over by a bunch of Pervects.

Of course, Skeeve being the total idiot that he is, gets everything wrong, still solves the problem and makes his former mentor Ahz proud of him. Trophies of Participation for everyone! *gag*

My Thoughts:

I deliberately omitted the “humor” tag because this just wasn’t funny. I think there were places where it was “supposed” to be, but it fell pretty flat. The story was mediocre as well and the characters were so manipulated that it wasn’t well received by this reader at all.

Skeeve has had an on again, off again, potential with both Tananda and Bunny, but here the authors just have him come out and say he couldn’t get involved with either of them because “they were like sisters to him”. Oh for phracks sake. Just introduce another female character for him to fall in love in love with and let the other 2 fade out. Don’t pull manipulative writing to introduce tension. This isn’t the series for it.

Even though I’ve read this far along and there are only 19 books in this series, if the next one isn’t a notch higher, I’ll be done. I can’t stand this much mediocrity packed into only 1 book. And especially after the introduction was practically a love fest for Jody Nye being a new collaborator. I expected more and was sadly disappointed.

Myth-Told Tales (Myth Adventures #13)

August 20, 2016January 7, 2023 ~ Bookstooge ~ Leave a comment

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot. wordpress.anobii.com by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission.

Title: Myth-Told Tales

Series: Myth Adventures

Author: Robert Asprin & Jody Nye

Rating: 3 of 5 Stars

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 254

Format: Kindle digital scan

Synopsis:

Several short stories featuring various members of the Myth Inc. Gang. Most of them seem to be “Bridge” stories for Skeeve having left and what Myth Inc. will be like once the series starts up again.

My Thoughts:

I enjoyed this more than the previous Myth Adventures book, but I’m not upping my rating because this really was just So-so.

It is pretty obvious that Nye is the driving force behind this series taking off again so we’ll see how her humor blends with Asprin’s. I didn’t notice any problems with the stories where I was thinking “Hmmm, THAT doesn’t sound like Asprin” which does bode well for the rest of this.

Light and humorous, not laugh out loud funny.

Something Myth Inc. (Myth Adventures #12)

June 25, 2016January 20, 2019 ~ Bookstooge ~ Leave a comment

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot. wordpress.com & Bookstooge’s Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission.

Title: Something Myth Inc

Series: Myth Adventures

Author: Robert Asprin

Rating: 3 of 5 Stars

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 208

Format: Kindle digital scan

Synopsis:

In the process of getting the kingdom of Possiltum up to snuff, Skeeve had to raise taxes. Now, armed and dangerous groups are consorting how to bring Skeeve down and keep their money.

So the Myth Inc crew spring into action to solve the problem, all while keeping it from Skeeve.

And of course, the “dangerous” groups aren’t and what ensues is yet another story narrated by Guido or Nunzio. I can’t keep those 2 separate in my head.

My Thoughts:

My wife has read up to this point and told me when I started that Skeeve leaves the story at some point. This was the book. Which is good. Because honestly, like I’ve written in other reviews, he’s not a good main character. So him leaving Myth Inc at the end to “go study magic” with Bunny as an assistant made me sigh in relief more than anything.

2 Books ago, Sweet Myth-tery of Life, it ended with Skeeve’s pet dragon Gleep getting shot. Now, a year and a half later, I finally get around to seeing what was behind that and how it resolves. The tension was gone, it was lame and honestly, I simply didn’t care. The humor of the tax revolters was a little bit funny, but I felt like an indulgent adult laughing kindly at some child’s silliness rather than laughing because something was genuinely funny.

We’ll see if Asprin turns this series around now that he can concentrate on other characters, or if it just stays more of the same. I’ve got 5 or 6 more books and I am am hoping to finish this out. Just for the completionist in me.

Myth-ion Improbable (Myth Adventures #11)

April 6, 2016January 19, 2019 ~ Bookstooge ~ Leave a comment

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot. wordpress.leafmarks.com & Bookstooge’s Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission.

Title: Myth-ion Improbable

Series: Myth Adventures

Author: Robert Asprin

Rating: 3 of 5 Stars

Genre: SFF

Pages: 198

Format: Kindle

Synopsis:

Taking place quite a while, chronologically, before the previous book.

Skeeve buys a magic treasure map and with help from Aahz and Tananda pursues it across the dimensions.

Little does he know that vampire cows, a shapeshifter and some serious amounts of gold are all involved.

My Thoughts:

I was pretty confused at first, since when I’d read my latest Myth book back in ’14, Skeeve was practically king of Possiltum.

Overall, this was ok. It wasn’t super funny but it was a good filler read. I don’t have much else to say.

Sweet Myth-tery of Life (Myth Adventures #10)

December 26, 2014September 3, 2018 ~ Bookstooge ~ Leave a comment

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.leafmarks.tumblr.com by express permission of this reviewer.

Title: Sweet Myth-tery of Life

Series: Myth Adventures #10

Author: Robert Asprin

Rating: 3 of 5 Stars

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 136

Synopsis:

Skeeve must decide whether to marry the Queen of Possilton or take over the Kingdom. Goes on several dates to find out about women, brings the kingdom’s finances up to snuff [with Bunny’s help] and is generally very Skeeve-like.

My Thoughts:

Not as amusing as I’d hoped. Skeeve is really an idiot and sometimes that translates into “Hilarious” but other times it translates into “Skeeve is an idiot”.

This was one of those Idiot times.

Skeeve is a great apprentice archetype, but he doesn’t do well as the Leader. It is obvious that Bunny has a thing for him and somewhere in that tiny brain of his it seems that Skeeve has a thing for Bunny. But to drag the series out, nothing gets resolved, of course.

Skeeve keeps getting limited by the choices presented to him. He forgets, doesn’t realize, etc just how powerful he is and that he can make his own mold instead of conforming to the mold others have cast for him. He needs a stiffer backbone and some self-confidence.

Asprin does write a funny story and parts of this were pretty good [the date with a vampire for one] and the whole thing with Gleep is good as long as you don’t mind getting smacked across the chops with a foreshadowing glove [and for the most part, I don’t. Smack away, sir, smack away].

I will be reading the next book very soon, as this one ends with Gleep apparently dead or dying with an arrow in him. Spoilered! [kind of like ‘Arrowed!!!’, for you Homestar Runner fans]

M.Y.T.H. Inc. Link (Myth Adventures #7)

August 27, 2014July 22, 2018 ~ Bookstooge ~ Leave a comment

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.leafmarks.tumblr.com by express permission of this reviewer.

Title: M.Y.T.H. Inc. Link

Series: Myth Adventures #7

Author: Robert Asprin

Rating: 3 of 5 Stars

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 136

Synopsis:

A series of short stories about each of the characters that have collected around Skeeve and who make up Myth Inc.

And an overall story about Skeeve learning he isn’t “all that” but just a guy with a great set of friends.

My Thoughts:

This was slightly humorous and the lack of “funny” was helped out by the fact that Asprin doesn’t seem to do his best work with short stories.

Just an average read.

M.Y.T.H. Inc in Action (Myth Adventures #9)

November 22, 2013May 27, 2018 ~ Bookstooge ~ Leave a comment

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Myth Inc in Action

Myth Adventures #9

Author: Robert Asprin

3.5 Stars of 5

Synopsis

Guido and Nunzio must somehow stop Possiltum’s army from invading everybody. So they join the army to destroy it from within. And hijinks ensue.

My Thoughts

The whole book is written from Guido’s point of view, along with his language. So instead of Skeeve blundering through the narration, we get Guido skillfully informing us of the events.

It was a refreshing change at first, but then started getting a little old after nothing was happening. You can only take so much ‘mob talk’ with loquacious asides for so long. Thankfully, there was a bar fight between the soldiers, the town police, the bar patrons and the military police. I was crying I was laughing so hard. But ymmv.

Overall, I found this a refreshing change from Skeeve’s fake it and make it approach to life, and the bickering between him and Ahzz, I didn’t miss that either. A good addition to the Myth books.

crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.wordpress.blogspot.com

Myth-Nomers and Im-Pervections

June 8, 2013May 19, 2018 ~ Bookstooge ~ Leave a comment

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Myth-Nomers and Im-Pervections

Myth Adventures #8

Robert Lynn Asprin

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Apparently, I skipped the book before this one, M.Y.T.H. Inc. Link, and you know what? It didn’t even seem to matter.

That is one thing I do enjoy about these Myth books. They are a series, but a very loose series where each book can ‘almost’ stand alone. It makes for a fun, enjoyable, no pressure kind of read.

So Skeeve grows up.