Customer Reviews

Phule's Paradise (Phule's Company)

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is the second book of Phule's Company Series. Phule's Company gets a new assignment of guarding a casino. It seems a sweet duty in paradise, but Phule smells a rat at the smirk of the general who hates him.

This book describes Phule's Company's full-blown activity in real operation (rather espionage than combat, though). It is much more exciting than Book 1, "Phule's Company". But that is founded on Book 1, so please read Book 1 first.

In this book, the characters display their personality and/or ability more freely. Beeker is especially nice; long-winded and cynical, but a priceless adviser for Phule. And Lieutenant Rembrandt, the relatively obscure vice-commander, plays a superb role in this book.

This book ends rather cliff-hangingly, but I can't decide whether to read Book 3, "A Phule and His Money". Because it seems that Asprin wouldn't or couldn't write the sequel and that the Book 3 was written by another writer, and its reputation is very very very bad.

This book is a great, but very different, follow up to "Phule's company". In this book the troops of Omega company get their first real assignment under their new commander - to guard a casino from hostile takover in "paradise".

The "guarding" does not turn out to be simple however, as a take over of a casino can take many forms and the troops need to learn new skills and take on new "members".

This is a fun book and it continues with the theme's of leadership which was really the heart of the first book. This was actually a quite new idea and I've never read another SF book with this plot (or anything like it before). Here's hoping the quality can continue in the 3rd book.

Like its predecessor, "Phule's Company," this book is a light, fun read. The only thing I really didn't like about it was the very end. If Asprin had left out the last page and a half, I'd have been very happy. However, he added that last bit to provide a hook to later books. I just don't think he needed that and it detracted from the ending of this book. Other than that, though, I recommend this book for anyone looking for some light reading.

Much of Phule's Company is devoted to introducing the reader to the main characters. Now that that is done, Phule's Company finally gets off the ground in a full-blown adventure. They find themselves assigned to "easy duty" as security guards at a casino at a resort space station called Lorelei. The casino is threatened by a hostile takeover from the mob. Suspicious from the beginning, Phule assigns part of his company to go undercover at the casino, hiring actors to replace them. But when the team arrives on Lorelei, they realize that much of the hostile takeover is already underway, and Phule has to out-manuever a ruthless crime boss. Things turn nasty, and the company has to come together to save their commander.

This book carries the lovable, laughable characters into a new world of fun. I was impressed with the fun, intrigue and keeping true to the original book.

Another side-spliting romp with Phule and his rag-tag crew. But, this time they are casino guards.

Robert Asprin strikes again with this charming missive about what many of us dreamed the military to REALLY be.
Although it will become instantly clear to anyone who has ever served in the armed forces that this story is total fiction, it will be perfectly clear to all readers that this is a tongue in cheek glimpse of life in the "Perfect" world.
His mix of characters ranges from the totally believable to the out of this world.
He shows us what it can be like to work together, while following the leadership of one who believes in himself absolutely, and at the same time developing relationships with beings from different backgrounds... In other words; life in ANY medium to large city in the world!
The humor is refreshing and light.
His characters are believable without being too far out...
Mr. Asprin uses the fact that we do not actually KNOW whether there are other sentient races in the universe, and raises the possibility of "What If...?" for our perusal.
I think that if you are in the market for a truly entertaining romp through the make believe world of the Space Legion, then it will be well worth your while to take time out to check out this story.

Happy Reading
:)

I read this book, and it was every bit as good as the first one. I read this one over and over too--it's becoming a bit dog-eared. I wish Asprin would write another--this is his best series, and definitely better than the "Myth" books. The worst thing about this series is that there's only two of them--and that's a really bad thing.

I first was introduced to the Phule books and got hooked. But after the second book that was the end. Mr. Asprin, if you read the reviews PLEASE listen to all of our pleas and write more of the Phule books, A faithful reader

I've found that I enjoy reading books by Asprin. This is the third book I've read by him and I've enjoyed every single one of them. With Phule's Paradise the legion is moved off Haskin's Planet in order to protect the interests of a casino from organized crime. At first it seems a little thin, not sure whether the story can hold up enough to make for an interesting story. In the end Asprin was successful in not only making a believable storyline but in entertaining as well.

You always have to take Asprin with a grain of salt. The storyline is always predictable, not in the sense of doing something obvious to the reader, but in the sense that when Beeker, the narrator, sets out the situation he summarizes what is happening, which invariably leads to the implied outcome. This doesn't in any way detract from the story because Asprin's strengths have always been in how he tells the story as opposed to what he was writing about.

While Asprin's stories are never serious and will never be counted among the greats of science fiction and fantasy (which is why 4 stars instead of 5), he will certainly be held up as an entertaining story teller, an author capable of weaving a story together that has you laughing and cheering at the same time. Thoroughly entertained, I would definitely recommend for a quick and entertaining read.

4 stars.