Customer Reviews

Myth Directions

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
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Myth Directions by Robert Aspirin. There were a lot of interesting things that I liked about this book. One was how the author depicted the features of each of the characters. These characters aren't like your normal everyday people. They are from a fantasy world that exist in you imagination. While Skeeve is your average normal boy, Aahz and Tanada are demons from some other dimension. Another of Aahz's friend is a troll, "While I had never seen a troll before, I knew that this as one.", P.133 and Gus who is a gargoyle.
In this book there are a lot of themes that the author develops. One is that there are a wide variety of adventures and new places to experience. Not just the ordinary day to day things that people expereince. The other is that people can get along with others that are different from them. I agree with each of these messages.
I would definitely recommend this book because it challenges you to think beyond your every day thoughts. This book will fill your mind with new kinds of characters and thoughts that will make you realize this is indeed a world expanded by your growing imagination.

Myth Directions is a Skeeve and Aahz story in the Myth series. Those who know about this series can appreciate that this is a new adventure for the demon and his human apprentice. This time, Skeeve is drafted to assist Tanda (a voluptous female assassin) in searching out a special "something". The "something" turns out to be a gift for Aahz. Tanda and Skeeve endure various adventures as they look through the various dimensions until they get to a special place with a very ugly statue which catches their fancy.

Well, it's not that the statue catches their fancy so much as what it symbolizes. You see, on this planet, there is a contest waged annually in which the winner gets to keep the trophy and by having it are deemed to be the rulers of the planet. This has been their system of government for over five hundred years! This works extremely well since there are only two cities on the planet (Ta-Hoe and Veygas).

In typical Myth fashion, the experienced Tanda and Aahz manage to get into all kinds of scrapes while Skeeve, the apprentice, manages to bail them both out as well as keep the rest of the menagerie intact through his warmth and common sense. The major part of this slim book is devoted to the various misadventures of the crew as they discover how to steal the statue, and then extricate each other from the uncommon messes they manage to get into.

The repartee between Skeeve, the medieval yokel with common sense and a warm heart, and Aahz, the cynical, 20th century sounding demon is funny as usual. Asprin brings back some of the characters we have grown to love in previous books like Gleep, Hugh Battleaxe and Gus; He also resurrects Quigley for a command appearance; and introduces us to some new characters that will likely become regulars. Of particular note is Chumley the troll who is Tanda's big brother. You see, Tanda is a Trollop (of course!!!)

The madcap adventures are completely unbelievable and the situations our heroes find themselves in seem terminal, but all's well that ends well and I put down the book with a satisfied grin on my face.

The only two negative comments I can make is that the cover illustration has nothing whatsoever to do with the story, and that the book is very short (or, is that a comment on how much I liked it?) so that I read the whole thing in what seemed like no time at all.

This is definitely one of the best Myth books out there, along side with Little Myth Marker and Hit or Myth. It's all about the Big Game and Skeeve's trip to Massha's home dimension. A really funny plot and an all around good book.

Myth Directions (1982) is the third Fantasy novel in the Myth series, following Myth Conceptions. In the previous volume, Big Julie decided to become a citizen of Possiltum. Badaxe was happy and so was Grimble. Aahz negotiated a raise for Skeeve.

In this novel, Skeeve is now the Court Magician of Possiltum. He is proficient in illusions and levitation, but wants to learn more magic from Aahz.

Aahz is a Pervect from the Perv dimension. He had been a master magician, but lost his magical powers due to a practical joke. Now he has Skeeve as his apprentice.

Tananda is a Trollop, a native of the Trollia dimension. Tanda is also green, but a lighter shade than Aahz and much prettier. She is an Assassin and has certain powers of her own.

Chumly is a Troll from Trollia. He is the big brother of Tanda. He often assumes the persona of Crunch -- a dumb and deadly Troll -- to fool unwanted nuisances.

Gus is a Gargoyle. He works at the Yellow Crescent Inn between other jobs. Berfert is his salamander friend.

Griffin is a young native of Ta-hoe in the Jahk dimension. He is very loyal to his city.

Quigley is a former demon hunter. Now he is a demon himself and the City Magician of Ta-hoe.

In this story, Aahz is very bored in the palace of Possiltum. Nothing exciting is going on. Skeeve asks again to be taught how to travel between dimensions and Aahz carefully explains why that would not be a good idea.

Then Tanda appears and invites Skeeve to go shopping with her. Of course, she will do the selection and purchase and he will get to carry the boxes. Aahz reluctantly agrees to let him go.

Tanda and Skeeve visit the more distant dimensions and Skeeve gets a refresher in disguise spells. But he can't stomach the food in the stranger dimensions. Tanda takes him to Jahk to get a good tasty meal.

While on Jahk, she sees the Big Game Trophy and decides that it would be the perfect present for Aahz's birthday. They break into the hall to steal the statue and Skeeve finds the ugly thing missing. Then the guards appear and knock out Tanda.

Skeeve uses his D-hopper to return to Klah and tells Aahz everything. After the confession, they hurry back to Jahk and learn from Griffin that Tanda is being held by the local Magician. They visit the Magician and discover that he is Quigley.

In order to get Tanda back, Aazh and the bewildered Skeeve set up a three-sided game with the Ta-hoe and Veygus teams. Then they return to the Great Bazaar to recruit others to join their team. They select Gus and Chumly there and later add Badaxe.

Then they go looking for information on the Big Game. They get help from a Deveel bookie and Big Julie. The game involves a ball and nets and forbids the use of edged weapons. The team soons becomes convinced that they will crush the opposition.

This tale takes Skeeve's team back to Jahk for a super bowl game. Since one member of the team is a rider, Skeeve also brings Gleep as his mount. But the actual game doesn't go quite as they intended.

This novel is full of action and injury. The next installment is Hit or Myth. Read and enjoy!

Highly recommended for Asprin fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of simple magic, unarmed conflict, and a young magician. If anyone has not previously read this series, the initial volume is Another Fine Myth.

-Arthur W. Jordin

not as cool as some of the others in the series but I did like it.

The entire Myth series is very entertaining! I got pulled into this one, and ended up finishing it the same day I started it. The books are a moderately quick read and very easy to enjoy.

Another cool MYTH Inc. story, full of misadventures and machinations by Aahz and the quickly growing-up magician Skeeve. Really like this one!

Each book in this series leaves you wondering how Mr. Asprin keeps coming up with such amusing story lines.

What do you get for a wisearse demon magician?

This is the problem that Skeeve and Tanda the Trollop have to deal with, and of course it involves a whacky tour all over places-that-are-not-there to try and find something that they think is suitable, and actually get to bring it back. I think there might even be a college football satire in this one.

This was the first Myth I ever read, and will forever be my favorite. It conjures up many a strange image of Skeeve astride Gleep. (Gleep is my favorite character.) Please read this one! P.S. I had no idea there were so many Myth-lovers out there!