Customer Reviews

M.Y.T.H. Inc.in Action

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

An awesome book, and quite different from the others. It is not told from Skeeve's view, but instead told from Guido's. He and Nunzio enlist in the Possiltum army, and myth-adventures abound.

If you have not read earlier volumes in the MYTH series, this book of two volumes will not be as appealing to you. If you are familiar with the series, then read on!

This book continues the pattern started in the last book of having two volumes in one book that covers two different stories. The first one "M.Y.T.H. inc. In Action" takes the viewpoint of Guido as the story teller. This book is by far the funniest one in this series! The hilarious mis-adventures of Guido and Nunzio, coupled with the complete inanity of the situations that they find themselves in are absolutely top notch!

This story takes place during the time that Skeeve was on Perv trying to find Aahz. The team decides to take care of the Queen Hemlock situation on Klah by themselves! One thing leads to another and the team decides to split up. Guido and Nunzio join the Posilltum army while Tananda, Chumley, Gleep, and Massha get involved in other things. Since this book is told from Guido's point of view, it is not surprising that we do not see much of the other guys. This is a change from the previous M.Y.T.H. Inc. book in which each character essentially told a short story.

Anyway, Guido and Nunzio get involved in a group of recruits who happen to have insect names. They meet Bee, Hyram Flie, Shubert Flie, Spyder, etc. A good example of the kind of humor that is all over these books is that Hyram prefers to be called Hy, while his brother Shubert prefers to be called Shu. So, we have Hy Flie and Shu Flie!!! (groan)

Guido and Nunzio quickly ascertain that they have to make sure the recruits pass through basic training so they can get going with their mission. To do so, they take over the leadership of the group and as a result, get promoted. Since Guido puts on this fake Italo-Gangster type of talk, we aretreated to lots of "situationals" in which their mob past is helpful. Guido actually manages to get promoted at least three times before he quits in disgust!

The descriptions of how this group of misfits tries to screw up the army - which is already screwed up - and how they manage to instead make things altogether better caused immense laughing bouts with this veteran!

All's well that end well and the story has Skeeve, Aahz, and Pookie converge on Queen Hemlock just as the rest of the crew does. And that transitions us to the next book.

The second book "Sweet Myth-tery of Life" is told from Skeeve's viewpoint. He comes back with Aahz and Pookie to Klah and finds his group but also finds himself in trouble. You see, Queen Hemlock has decided that either Skeeve marries her and becomes her consort and produces heirs, or she will abdicate and make him the King. Since he has already had bad experiences in being the King, he rejects that proposal. But then, he has to decide if he wants to become the Queen's consort or not.

Now, Skeeve has had many life-changing experiences, but none of them have prepared him for what to do about all the nubile women throwing themselves at his feet; Queen Hemlock we already discussed, and all readers of the series know that Bunny is tremendously in love with Skeeve; Tananda comes to the realization that she looks at Skeeve more as a younger brother; but we are introduced to Cassandra who happens to be a Vampire as another potential love interest.

Skeeve is completely ignorant of what the women around him want and while he has some normal male human reactions to all these gorgeous ladies, has no idea of what to do about it. The story line continues to twist and turn and Skeeve finds himself in all kinds of trouble but eventually he manages to resolve his feelings for Luanne and gets kicked in the [...] by Hugh Badaxe and finally sorts through what he wants to do. And, finally, he manages to resolve the Queen Hemlock situation.

This happens at the final chapter of the book but then, as he happily walks arouns, the author throws us a plot twist that is so maddening and is so transparent of a hook to get us to come back for more that I practically screamed!

In other words, in addition to the humor, we now have a cliff hanger ending that makes me want to dive into my bookshelf and dig out the next volume!

Highly recommended!!!

M.Y.T.H. Inc. In Action (1990) is the ninth Fantasy novel in the Myth series, following Myth-Nomers and Im-Pervections. In the previous volume, Skeeve hunts through Perv for the missing Aahz. He learns much more about Aahz's history and meets Aahz's mother. He offers a reward for information on his scaly friend, gets drunk in a bar, and invests in the plans of a Pervect street peddler.

In this novel, Skeeve is a Klahd from Klah. He is a magician and the partner of Aahz. Now he is the president of M.Y.T.H. Incorporated with his friends as staff and stockholders.

Aahz is a Pervect from Perv. He had been a master magician until he lost his power from a joke. Now he is Skeeve's partner.

Guido is a senior gangster in the Mob. He is now the personal bodyguard of the Great Skeeve.

Nunzio is Guido's cousin and is also a senior gangster. He is now another personal bodyguard of Skeeve.

Tananda is a Trollop from the Trollia dimension. She has green skin and hair and a very voluptuous body. Tanda is Chumley's little sister and an assassin.

Chumley is a Troll from the Trollia dimension. He is also the big brother of Tananda. He uses his Crunch persona to hide his shyness.

Massha is a mechanic from an unknown dimension. She uses devices to produce her magic. Now she is learning real magic from Skeeve as his apprentice.

Gleep is a very young dragon. He can't talk yet, but he has a mean breath of fire.

Queen Hemlock is the consort of King Rodrick of Possiltum. She has visions of conquest.

Big Julie is a retired general on Klah. He had led a huge army for the Mob, but Skeeve offered him a better deal (see Myth-Conceptions).

In this story, Skeeve's pals go to Klah to check up on Queen Hemlock. First they talk to Big Julie to find out what is going on. They find that King Rodrick is dead and Possiltum is waging a war of conquest. The MI team decides to disrupt the army and arouse the population.

Guido and Nunzio join the army. Naturally, they have to be trained in the army way of doing things. Guido thinks that the training is kind of silly, but he tries to be an inconspicuous recruit.

Unfortunately, Sergeant Smiley appoints him as squad leader of a group of trainees. Guido hates being a leader. As far as he is concerned, leaders have all the responsibilities and none of the fun.

After breaking Smiley's arm and leading the trainees in his place, Guido and his squad are graduated early. Moreover, Guido is promoted to Sergeant and his squad is sent out to take over a supply depot. The whole squad is cooperating in the disruption tactics. Luckily one of his squad is a minor genius at organization.

Meanwhile, Massha visits her friend General Badaxe. Tanda acts like a trollop. And Chumley and Gleep support the team.

This tale takes the MI team into deep frustration. Everything they do turns out to be ineffectual or helpful to the conquering army. Guido is even promoted to Lieutenant.

BTW: The MI team does NOT travel to Perv. The cover of this edition is rather misleading. Skeeve does, but he is not even in the picture.

Then Skeeve returns from Perv to help the team. The next installment is Sweet Myth-tery of Life. Read and enjoy!

Highly recommended for Asprin fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of army logistics, Mob methods, and hilarious consequences. If anyone has not previously read this series, the initial volume is Another Fine Myth.

-Arthur W. Jordin

I have always loved the Myth series since I first read them 7 or 8 years ago. I've read them all at least twice (with the exception of the newest one), and this one is truly the best. You know a writer is really good when in the same series he can write a book in a first person format from different characters that are completely different. Plus, it really takes the character devolpment to a new level. And not only is the writing style wonderful, the story is probably one of the funniest I've ever read.

To begin with, I really like a lot of Robert Asprin's previous works. I've just reread both the Myth and Phule series. I love the quirky characters and humor present in both. I was really looking forward to continuing my voyage into the wonderfully amusing world created by this talented author.

The first of the two stories in this double (M.Y.T.H Inc. in Action) is excellent. It is light, amusing, original, and just generally a good read. If you've enjoyed the previous books in the series, you will certainly like this one.

Unfortunately, the second story (Sweet Myth-tery of Life) is not at all up to the mark. It is heavy, not at all amusing, and all in all just not worth reading.

That said, if you can't find M.Y.T.H. Inc. in Action as a single, it is still worth picking up this double book in order to read it.

I love these books, I first read them when I was about 10 and I didn't even get all the jokes. I re-read them last year (I was 17) and I just loved them.

They were funny and insightful, but mostly just funny. A+

These books are great. If you know someone who does't like to read give them one of these. They will never be the same.

Asprin's Myth series combines traditional fantasy with humor and satire. He gives us multiple characters that are believable and you grow to love very quickly. Many authors couldn't handle juggling this many primary characters (not to mention the whole slew of secondary characters) and this complicated of a series. It's myth-fastic.

This collection of two books by Robert Asprin were a few of my favorites. Without giving the book away, let me tell you that this book doesn't disappoint in comparisson to his earlier books. The characters still deliver the same impact they did in his past books and they keep the same personalities

The plotline twists and weaves and I love how all the books seem to follow the pattern that as soon as one problem is solved, a whole new set of problems emerge. This book promises to be a delightful sequel to the already memorable series of books.

By the time these books had come out, Robert Asprin had stopped making his Myth books self-contained stories. They were, instead unapologetically episodic, with long, meandering storylines in each book ending in a cliff-hanger meant to lure you into the next book. It was a cheap device used to snag the die-hard fans and new readers who might not know any better.

Its hard to think of these books as anything more than a marketting tool, since all the originality and humor present in the first few books of this series had long ago been burned away. Its like Robert Asprin is just noodling around at the keyboard, tossing off ideas to fulfill a contractual obligation. There is no joy in these books at all. At best they present over-used cliches, at worst they are tedious beyond belief.