BOOK REVIEW: "Sweet MYTH-tery of Life" by Robert Asprin

In an effort to breathe new life into old books, here is a series of book reviews I wrote in the 1990's. Robert Asprin has written numerous stand alone novels but is best known for his series, most notably his MYTH series. (Editor's note: I wrote this under the pseudonym of Anson Edwards. "Sweet MYTH-tery Of Life" can be found in many used books stores or online at Amazon, eBay or other online used book dealers. Click here to find out more about Mr. Asprin and the MYTH series. His newest MYTH novel is due out February 2008.)

He's ba-a-ack! No, lunkheads, I'm not talking about Jason or Freddy or any other demented fright freak. I'm talking about Robert Asprin and Skeeve. For those of you unfamiliar with this series . . . okay, so it's more like a soap opera. Like the early seventies show "Soap . . . Anyway, it's about a boy, his pervert . . . er, Pervect (from the dimension of Perv, you know) and their hapless adventures across said dimensions (which makes them Demons, sort of). It's the continuing tale about a company of strangers (and I do mean strange) who form the magical troubleshooters MYTH, Inc. It's about Skeeve's friends, the troll and trollop (brother and sister), the overly large Masha, the assorted mob members, kings and queens and Deevels, and a wide assortment of minor players. And the MYTH Adventure series is also humor to the Nth degree.

It's been a couple of years since the Asprin-Foglio team (that would be Phil Foglio, the artist) has put out a MYTH novel, but Sweet MYTH-tery of Life is worth the wait. This tenth volume in an ever increasing collection of memoirs about the MYTH, Inc team is hilariously funny. It makes you wonder whether Mr. Asprin really had writer's block after all. (I mean, hey, he's had great success recently with his Phule's Company books. Right?) Maybe he was just saving this up so we could salivate when we saw the title. Then, of course, we would rush out and buy it. Well, no matter, this is an elephant cage, more thrills than biking across the Alps, more . . .aw, you get the picture.

Okay, okay, "so what's the catch?" you want to know. Anyone who's ever heard me expound on anything knows I can't let go with just one-sided remarks. So here it is. It's great, but . . . Skeeve comes off a little more naïve about women here than in previous novels. True, he's no Don Juan or Cassanova, but here he seems to bungle along misinterpreting things for the sheer yuks in the book.

On the other hand, it works. The book is very funny. Someone compared the MYTH Adventures series to the Xanth novels. WRONG! Yes they are both funny, both fantasy, both pun filled. But where Xanth tends to knock you on the head with puns, MYTH wants you to roll them around like a fine wine. (Alright, a "sweet" fine wine.)

The bottom line is . . . go read it. It's great fun. Later, dudes and dudettes. (Must be PC about this, you know.)

Trade Paperback
Publisher: Donning Co.
Date Published: 1994
ISBN-13: 9780898658583
ISBN: 0898658586