Robert Asprin introduces some loveable characters in a humorous fantasy series (Myth Adventures #1)
Written: Aug 02 '01 (Updated Aug 02 '01)
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Pros: Funny! Some good wordplay. Amusing characters. Great way to relax.
Cons: Not very profound, but never claimed to be. Series still hasn't ended 23 years later
The Bottom Line: A fun way to pass a couple of hours. Asprin allegedly modeled Aahz's swindling manner on the old Bob Hope/Bing Crosby "Road To" movies.
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| lorendiac's Full Review: Robert Asprin, Kelly Freas, Polly Freas - Another ... |
"If you don't mind my asking, why don't you act like a demon?"
The demon shot me a disgusted look, then turned his head heavenward in a gesture of martyrdom.
"Everybody's a critic. Tell ya' what, kid, would you be happier if I tore your throat out with my teeth?"
"Well, no, but . . . "
The narrator, Skeeve, appears to be a fairly typical teenage boy in a medieval society who ran away from the farm because he saw no future in plowing the fields for the rest of his life. His intention was to become a master thief instead, but that didn't quite work out. Somehow he ended up as an apprentice to the wizard Garkin, four years prior to the first chapter of this book.
In the first chapter, Garkin tests Skeeve's magical abilities (which still seem minuscule at this point) and then they get into an argument over Skeeve's future career plans. (Skeeve still thinks thieving looks like a more promising profession, given that Garkin is not wealthy and lives in a little hut in an obscure backwoods area.) In an effort to show Skeeve that magic can take you far once you get the hang of it, Garkin declares he will now summon up a demon!
Just as he is finishing the spell, an assassin enters the hut. He fires a crossbow at Garkin and Garkin blasts him with a fiery spell, and both of them end up dead on the floor. Garkin's fall snuffs out the candle at one point of the pentagram he was using in his demon-summoning, and Skeeve suddenly realizes that this makes it possible for the demon to get out of the pentagram and cause trouble. The demon, who must have popped in from wherever he lives just as Garkin died, is short but broad and muscular, covered with dark green scales and showing lots of sharp teeth.
The demon does not immediately try to kill Skeeve; instead he laughs at Skeeve's terrified expression and then strikes up a conversation. Part of it was quoted above, then the demon finally began explaining what "demon" really means.
It turns out that "demon" is simply verbal shorthand for the word "dimension," as in "dimension traveler." As this one puts it, "In my world, you'd be a demon, but at the current moment I'm in yours, so I'm a demon." It takes Skeeve a while to really grasp the concept that "demon" has nothing to do with one's moral/theological situation.
We learn that this demon's name is Aahz. Skeeve tries to repeat that aloud to make sure he got it. "Oz?" Aahz says firmly, "No relation." (The reference, of course, is to the Wizard of Oz.)
It turns out that Aahz is a master wizard back home in his native dimension of Perv. Some people call his species the Perverts, but he firmly insists that the correct word for him is "Pervect." (Perfect with one letter changed, obviously.) He and Garkin had a friendship that went way back, and occasionally one of them would summon up the other, billed as a ferocious bloodthirsty demon, in order to terrify his own apprentices. After chatting with Skeeve for a couple of pages to try to find out who killed Garkin (Skeeve heard the assassin mention the name "Isstvan" just before he died), Aahz tries to use his own magic to jump back to his home dimension. Nothing happens.
Oops. Aahz suddenly remembers that he and Garkin had a proud history of playing practical jokes on one another, and apparently Garkin had worked a spell to bring Aahz from Perv to Klah (the local world) without bringing along the use of his own magical powers! He's been reduced to a mere mortal, so to speak. And Skeeve has no idea how to restore his powers or send him back home. Aahz eventually negotiates a deal: he will take Skeeve as his apprentice and see if he can help the lad develop his magical strengths a lot faster than old Garkin had managed in these last four years, and in exchange Skeeve will do as Aahz says, with the specific goal of foiling the fell plans of the evil wizard Isstvan, who is apparently trying to amass sufficient power to take over this dimensional world of Klah, followed in due time by all the others. This sets up the premise for many volumes to come in this series: Aahz is the mentor figure who has vast experience in working magic (and many other fields of endeavor), but can no longer cast a spell no matter how hard he tries. Skeeve has considerable latent talent, but in practical terms his repertoire is extremely limited.
Fortunately one of Aahz's talents is a remarkable gift for telling intricate and convincing lies at the drop of a hat. (Also very, very entertaining lies, from our point of view, since we usually know what the truth is and can see how he tailors each lie to suit the prejudices of his target audience). This is another key aspect of the series: swindles, bluffs, deceptions, impersonations, and other uplifting forms of endeavor. When I first read the book, I was particularly impressed by Chapters 8 and 9 (one scene - Asprin writes short chapters), where Aahz and Skeeve are suddenly accosted by two other assassins (Imps, since they come from the dimension Imper). The conversation starts out with both of them pointing crossbows at Aahz and Skeeve and expressing extreme displeasure. (Skeeve is disguised as their buddy Throckwoddle, the Imp assassin who killed Garkin. It's a long story.) Yet by the time the conversation ends, Aahz has persuaded both of these professional killers that he is their natural ally, that their employer Isstvan has gone nuts and is turning against them, and that his brilliant plan for dealing with the treacherous Isstvan will require that he have as much money as possible for recruiting sorcerous help from another "demon" he knows of; hence the two assassins should turn over their purses to him for the mutual benefit of all concerned!
They grumble and gripe, but they fall for it. When a conversation begins with the other guy pointing a deadly weapon at you and ends with his handing over all his cash, you've got a rare gift for persuasion. And Robert Asprin has a rare gift for writing humorous fantasy where the outrageous can be made to seen plausible while you're reading it. "Suspension of disbelief," and all that.
By the end of the book, Skeeve has somehow acquired a pet unicorn, a pet dragon, a new friend named Tananda who happens to be a beautiful green-haired female who is also a trained assassin herself (no, she doesn't become his girlfriend if that's what you were thinking), has survived the cheerful experience of being lynched, and has seen Isstvan thoroughly defeated, at least for the next hundred years or so (barring unforeseen developments).
Note: In the cover illustration, from left to right, we see Tananda, Aahz, Skeeve, and Gleep (his newly acquired dragon). Just so you know.
A few warnings about the series:
1. In these books, Asprin spells "magic" as "magik." I made no effort to copy him in my review, however.
2. Each chapter starts with a humorous "quotation" which is usually (possibly always) invented from scratch by Asprin but attributed to a famous fictional or historical figure. For instance, Chapter 4 of this book starts with the words "Careful planning is the key to safe and swift travel," attributed to Ulysses. (In the Odyssey, Odysseus - called Ulysses by the later Romans - took about ten years to get home from Troy to Ithaka. Obviously a seasoned and fast-moving traveler!)
3. Every book's title involves the use of the word Myth in a pun. This book's title is derived from an old quotation in the comic routines of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy: "This is another fine mess you've gotten me into!" The next three titles, to give you an idea, are Myth Conceptions, Myth Directions, and Hit or Myth. If you have a low tolerance for puns, don't say I didn't warn you!
4. Asprin eventually revealed in the introduction to one of these things that he intended to have the series go to twelve volumes and then conclude. There's a problem here, however. Let me share with you the dates of publication for the ten volumes which have hit the shelves so far. 1978, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1994 . . . see the problem? #10 came out seven years ago! During that time I believe he has written or co-written at least six or seven other novels, but as far as these "Myth Adventures" go he seems to have hit a snag. Fortunately he makes some effort to have each book be its own short novel instead of just a slice taken out of a much larger single story. That is particularly true with the first five or six books; then he started ending on cliffhangers (but the cliffhanger usually set up the idea for the next book now that a real problem had been confronted and solved in the current one, so it wasn't too painful).
So if you start reading these things, be warned that there's no knowing and no telling when the last two volumes will come out, showing us the final fate of Skeeve, Aahz, and the many loveable characters they have rubbed shoulders with as the series progresses. As of #10, Skeeve is not yet married nor even particularly close to it (despite one or two near escapes), but I have a fairly good idea who the lucky girl will be. Granted, I've been wrong before!
I gave this book five stars for humor and originality, but most of the sequels will probably only get four, if and when I get around to them. As is often the case, the first story about new characters in a new universe made the biggest impression because I had no preconceptions of what was or wasn't likely to happen. As time went past, I got somewhat better at predicting Asprin's intentions and the characters became more familiar . . . which isn't to say that I won't buy #11 and #12 when they come out in paperback, of course! But if they are issued in hardback or trade paperback format, I'll just bide my time. They are fun reading, but not worth that much money. (#10 came out in TPB and I checked it out from the library, then waited for the mass-market pb before squandering any cash.)
Recommended:
Yes
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lorendiac
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Location: Indianapolis
Reviews written: 148
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"Politicians should read science fiction, not westerns and detective stories." (Arthur C. Clarke)
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