M.Y.T.H. Inc. in Action (Paperback)

by Robert Asprin (Author) "It is indeed a privilege to be included in a war-type council, regardless of what war it is or who in specific is also attendin'..." (more)
Key Phrases: officer sez, disguise spell, Don Bruce, Queen Hemlock, Big Julie (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
A winning story...part science, part spoof, part heart-warmer. -- Publishers Weekly

Plenty of odd characters...fun! -- Locus --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review
Plenty of odd characters...fun! (Locus) A winning story...part science, part spoof, part heart-warmer. (Publishers Weekly) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 245 pages
• Publisher: Ace (June 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 044155282X
• ISBN-13: 978-0441552825
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 3.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,570,873 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More myth-adventures!, March 21, 1999

By A Customer

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.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Two Asprin Gave Me a Headache, January 30, 2003

By	Steve G (Playa del Rey, California United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: M.Y.T.H. Inc. in Action/Sweet Myth-tery of Life 2-in-1 (Myth 2-in-1) (Paperback)

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.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best stories in the series!, June 16, 2006

By	Naor Wallach (Pittsburgh, PA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: M.Y.T.H. Inc. in Action/Sweet Myth-tery of Life 2-in-1 (Myth 2-in-1) (Paperback)

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!!!