Customer Reviews

No Phule Like an Old Phule (Phule's Company)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

If you enjoyed the 1st 2 books you will *not* enjoy this one. I can't believe that Asprin (assuming it was not actually written by Asprin) would allow his name to be put on this piece of rot. The writer does not seem to have read the original books, destroyed the flavour, mangled the characters and cannot even keep the facts correct. I could not even read a third of it, especially after Willard's (not Wilfred) father's character was completely destroyed. From a man who trusted his son's business sense enough to shell out capital for something completely on spec to an egotistic moron of a businessman who could not grasp the rational of odds and casinos trying to beat the slot machines instead of trying a game that at least required some skill/knowledge from the player. This is the last Phule book I will read unless another writer or Asprin takes over the writing.

Three word reveiw: Waste of Money

Longer review:
This book is so poorly written, poorly edited, and poorly thought out, I am suprised Asprin is not suing to get his name removed from the cover.

There are six concurrent plotlines: The environmental agency is coming after Omega Company, a group of big game hunters need to be dealt with, there is a new recruit from a new non-human race, the Rev wants to convert the zenobians to the Church of the King but runs into an existing mythos about L'Viz, Phule sr is trying to discredit the business model of his son's casino, and the mob is trying to kidnap Phule again.

Exactly zero of these six plotlines are well developed.

The book gave up on plot and story for puns and rapid shifts between shallow story threads. The hunters have names like Euston O'Better, his wife Dallas and Austen Tay'Shun. The new recruit is a humanoid rabbit named Thumper. The environmental agency is the AEIOU, and their senior being is a genetically engineered dog named Barky.

Also, none of the characters you knew in the other books are here. The names are the same, but their personalities are almost unrecognizable. Phule is a bumbling fool who is more concerned about a hoped for promotion to major than anything else. Beeker is arrogant, pedantic and sarcastic. He looks down on Phule as an uneducated lout who would never accomplish much if Beeker wasn't there to take care of him. Phule's father is an arrogant, egocentric fool who can't understand the simple arithmatic that explains why casino's are profitable. He beleives the casino is giving away money despite all evidence that it is amazingly profitable (even after looking at all the sets of books). He insists he can prove it and will 'beat the system', and will beat it on slot machines. (The authors feel it vital to point out that slot machines are the game with the lowest payout rates and least player control. While this is true in real life, they feel the need to point it out every single time anyone mentions slot machines.) The list goes on and on.

There are also simple spelling and grammar errors throughout the book, as well as skipped words. For example, at one point Phule's first name is spelled Wilfred (his name is Willard, and is spelled correctly through the rest of the book). The editor over at Ace needs to be soundly chewed out, if not outright fired. This is simple lazyness and incompetance.

IF you have every other Asprin book, AND you can't abide the idea of a gap in your collection, try to find it in a library book sale or garage sale. Paying more than 50 cents for this travesty is a waste of money. I own a copy, but I wish I had read the reveiws before buying it.

This book was disappointing to me. The most glaring issue to me was that the characters (introduced in previous books in the series) acted differently than I remember them in the other books and seemed to not have much depth on the whole.

The primary character, Captain Jester or Phule, comes across as a doubting somewhat incompetent person. In the previous books he is anything but this. In fact, his poise and his balanced relationship with his butler help to make the books. I don?t see that in the current book.

The premise of the book overall just does not fly. That the father of Phule can be a leader of a huge corporation and not understand statistical odds in casinos smacks you in the face as unsound throughout the whole book. Then to add to the mix a storyline that stutters and goes off on tangents for no reasons, and you have a very confused disgruntled reader.

In summary, avoid this book and go buy the previous books if you haven?t already. I don't like criticizing authors I like and enjoy (I own almost all of Asprin?s books), but this book just didn't measure up to previous books.

I wish I had taken the reviews more to heart before I bought the book.

This book was a great disappointment, Captain Jester was either brain damaged by the nano's, on drugs, or replaced by a robot for the entire book. The few times he appears his is agonizing over a promotion and contributing nothing towards the plot or story line. Beeker is meaner, more sarcastic, and instead of being Phules friend he is just a critic. In all I thought all the characters and indeed the entire book was smaller and meaner than the previous installments.

It may be a good read for someone who has not read the previous installments but a fan will not like it.

The first two novels in this series were mental popcorn: fluff, but enjoyable light satire. Unfortunately they've gone downhill. I'm not sure who to blame more - Asprin, who appears to be simply fulfilling a contractual obligation, or Heck, the "co-writer" who is ghostwriting. (Asprin is only marginally better at meeting deadlines than was Douglas Adams.)

As others have noted, adding characters to an increasingly unwieldy cast doesn't improve the universe. It also doesn't fix a slapdash plot.

In addition, there are multiple sloppy continuity errors. The main character is named Willard Phule. His father refers to him as "Wilfred". Then all future references go back to "Willard". The previously Filipino cook inexplicably morphs into a Jamaican homebwah. Phule himself, in previous books disdained paying bribes; here he explicitly says that he doesn't mind bribing and that breaking rules is part of business.

I'm not a rabid fanboy, but obvious errors jump out at me. It makes me realize that I'm reading, as opposed to immersing me in the narrative. It's a sign that either the author doesn't care about his work, the editors don't care enough to actually read carefully - or both.

"No Phule Like an Old Phule" is an apt summation, because this book, instead of focusing on Willard Phule and his Omega Company, spends far too much time on Phule's corporate raider father. And Phule's father (I can't remember his name) is just not a funny character; he's shallow, vain, narcissistic, and doesn't have enough "oomph," somehow.

Plus, instead of coming up with a brand new plotline, or a brand new planet to play on/with, Mr. Asprin and Mr. Heck decided to set half the book at the casino (book two), bringing back two quasi-villains who now want to go straight (book four), and then have the typical problems with Phule's company of irregulars on the last planet of call (book four). Mixing the plots of books two and four makes for a fun, yet very shallow read; it's like rewarmed macaroni and cheese. Once is good, twice is OK, but after that, throw it out.

And although we're not to the throwing out stage just yet, I highly advise Mr. Asprin and Mr. Heck to come up with a different scene or some different characters for the next book, if indeed there is to be another one.

Three stars.

Barb Caffrey

I admit, I had high expectations of this book. Robert Asprin's work is usually witty, funny, and enthralling. This one reads like a bad TV script. The plot is constantly jumping from thread to thread without any one plot-line getting enough time for you to start caring about it. On top of that, Asprin adds yet more characters to his already impressive cast with the net effect that no one gets any significant character development, including the main character. It's so bad that, in the beginning of the book, we learn that Phule is expecting the official announcement of a promotion from Captain to Major and then it is never mentioned again in the book.

Those of us hoping to see more of the developing romance between Phule and Brandy will be totally disappointed. Those of us wanting to see more of Omega Company functioning as a team to beat unbeatable odds will be sorely disappointed. Those of use expecting Asprin's usual wit and attention to detail will wonder whether Asprin had anything to do with this book other than slap his name on the work of Mr. Heck.

If you're a fan this will seriously disappoint you. If you're new to this series, save your money and skip this one.

NO PHULE LIKE AN OLD PHULE is the fifth in the `Phule' series and to be honest it's at least one too many. Where the first two, maybe the first three if you're charitable, were at least funny with some discernable plot this one fails on both accounts.

To begin with it's not funny. Just more of the same old jokes we've heard before, and not many of them to boot. It's like watching a sitcom rerun for the tenth time, you begin to forget why you laughed at it the first time.

Plot? There isn't any, just a mishmash of unrelated subplots that wouldn't be particularly interesting even if there were some underlying connection.

Character development? Again none. Hey even in a spoof there must be some character growth to keep the reader interested, there just isn't any here. Part of the problem may be that the story doesn't seem to be able to focus on any one, or even a group of characters, long enough for any of them to achieve any significant development. But that goes back to the noted lack of plot and storyline.

To keep it short and simple this one is dull, uninteresting and unpleasant to try and follow.

NOT RECOMMENDED.

I have to agree with many of the previous reviewers as the characters of this book had only the names from the characters of the previous books. The plots are disjointed, I found myself skipping and skimming this book instead of reading after time and time of how there was no relation to the characters I fell in love with in book 1 and 2, and had been dying ever since. I confess buying this book to show support for the series and the hope that one day Mr. Aspin comes back to writing it himself instead of just having his name on the book.

New readers may enjoy this, though it does jump around a bit.

No Phule Like an Old Phule (2004) is the fifth novel in the Phule series, following Phule Me Twice. In the previous volume, Omega Company is called upon to protect an Alliance diplomatic mission to Zenobia. General Blitzkrieg separates Phule from the company and replaces him with Major Botchup. The Zenobians are being surveilled by the Nanoids, a race of extremely small creatures living in the desert, and are worried about a possible invasion. Sushi cracks the Nanoid communication codes and Phule's robot double manages to negotiate a cessation of aggressive activities. Phule himself establishes a good relationship with the dinosaur-like head honcho, Chief Potentary Korg. Despite every effort by Blitzkrieg, Omega company completes its mission with distinction.

In this novel, Omega Company is expecting a visit from a group of VIP hunters. When a ship lands in the vicinity of the Omega encampment, Captain Jester welcomes the visitors to the planet, but soons discovers that they are not the expected guests, but rather a trio of environmental inspectors from AEIOU, the Alliance Ecological Interplanetary Observation Union. They have come to do an environmental inspection of Omega Company and the planet itself. Moreover, they have brought Barky, the Environmental Dog, who obviously has not been previously exposed to extraterrestrial aliens since he chases any that he smells.

When the hunters finally land, Omega Company tries to keep them away from the AEIOU inspectors and Barky. The VIPS are hoping to hunt the huge dinosaurs they have heard existed on Zenobia and have brought a variety of large weapons. However, they would like to acquire some local weapons just in case.

The VIP ship also brings a new recruit to the company. Thumper is rather like a rabbit, with large ears, and also runs like one. He is despised by his fellow recruits during boot camp because he is too gung ho and makes them look bad. His fellows get him in trouble with General Blitzkrieg and the general angerly assigns the recruit to Blitzkrieg's least favorite company in the Legion. Now Thumper learns how Omega Company does military training.

In the meantime, the mob catches up with the con artists Lola and Ernie and insist that they finish the kidnap job bungled in Phule's Paradise. Moving back to Lorelei Station, the pair start casing the casino looking for Willard Phule, but instead find Victor. Willard's father is playing the slot machines at five thousand dollars a pull, certain that he has a system that will break the bank. Lola and Ernie can't figure his angle, since everybody knows you can't beat the odds on the slots.

Back at camp, Phule is waiting for a promotion packet from headquarters. The Rev has learned about L'Viz from Lieutenant Qual and gets Sushi to hack into the Zenobian computer net to discover more about this mysterious person. Qual has his men doing maintenance on a large Sklern machine in the middle of the camp, although his explanations of its functions have totally failed to convey any useful information. Mysterious lights appear at night in the desert without any accompanying electromagnetic signals, causing a red alert. The VIPs are shooting off some large sized weapons without regard to whoever might be downrange. Barky chases Thumper around the mess hall and causes a humongous food fight.

This story puts Omega Company directly behind the eight ball, but they wiggle out of the mess in their usual idiosyncratic way. Victor does some male bonding with Ernie and thinks he is a fine fellow. Lola gets drunk with Tullie Bascomb, manager of the Fat Chance Casino, and they are both totally surprised with the deal negotiated by Ernie and Victor.

This story is filled with the usual satire, irony, slapstick, puns and other humorous devices. As usual, Omega Company manages to do the job in a competent yet eccentric manner, as does the management of the Fat Chance Casion. Although this volume was not quite as funny as the previous four, it does have some hilarious moments, as well as a few just plain silly incidents such as "the game's afoot" gag.

Recommended for Asprin & Heck fans and for anyone else who enjoys humorous tales with almost no limits.

-Arthur W. Jordin