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Myth Alliances (Myth)
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Customer Reviews
Rating:  - Skeeve is back! - with mods...
Skeeve the Great is back. The Great Magician Skeeve is back in a rip-snorting, lollygagging new adventure and he is as good as he used to be!
This book is the first in the new series of Skeeve books and Robert Asprin has taken on an collaborator (Jody Lynn Nye) to help him write the next installment in this humorous adventure saga that manages to poke fun at mayn sacred institutions. This is the first volume from a new publisher and also the first under this collaborative arrangement which the Editor's Note at the beginning of the book attributes to the stress of writing under timeline pressure. However a quick scan of the internet also yields another possible cause - Robert Jordan's tangles with the IRS.
Neve mind that, this adventure restores Skeeve to his glory as a bumbling adventurer and apprentice mage. The story takes place after the demise of M.Y.T.H. inc. and has Skeeve back in Klahd with Bunny, Gleep, and Buttercup as his sole associates as he tries to come to grips with his own (lack of) growth as a wizard. Then, along comes a sheeplike being from the dimension of Wuhs (yes, all the inhabitants are Wuhses!) who asked Skeeve for help since his dimension has been taken over by the Ten Pervects! This is a company of female Pervects who are ostensibly taking over every dimension they can. Well, that certainly gets Skeeve's attention so he recruits Tananda and off the merry gang go to save the dimensions.
One zany episode after another takes place and the authors poke fun at all kinds of topics, like self-help authors, computer culture, mass marketing, and on and on. At the end a positive resolution takes place as Skeeve sets everyone straight and gets that Wuhses to take control of their dimension.
While it is not possible to see the seamlines of the collaboration directly, I was struck by the differences in approach. In this volume we are treated to a split screen in a sense. Some of the text is written from the point of view of The Ten Pervects which necessarily imparts a whole different viewpoint on the proceedings. I do not recall something like this being done in previous volumes with the notable exception of the Guido-views of M.Y.T.H. but then they were being told from Skeeve's party point of view - not the adversary.
About the only thing I did not like came at the end of the book. Aahz makes a cameo appearance in the first person and claims to have been involved in the epic scene that causes the resolution of all the problems. What really irritated me was the final page or so where the stage is set for the next adventure. There was really no call for that as the Skeeve books will clearly continue. So, I took away one star for that big blooper. Otherwise a very enjoyable read.
Rating:  - I can't believe Asprin wrote this.
I've loved his previous books, but Robert Asprin completely dropped the ball... that is if he even wrote the book. The glaring mistakes in the world he created, as were pointed out by other reviewers, makes me question whether or not he took much of a hand in writing it. Even more suggestive of a limitted role is the vastly different style that this book is written in which is, quite frankly, just NOT funny anymore (not even mildly amusing!). The characters don't even have personalities consistent with the previous books.
Looking at the cover, I wouldn't be surprised if Jody Lynn Nye wrote this since I have trouble believing Asprin could turn out such a painful piece. If that's the case, he needs to drop her as she's turning what was one of the greatest fantasy/humor series into garbage.
I am somewhat surprised that others haven't noticed the disparity in quality between this book and previous ones. Many readers may genuinely like the book, but people: just having "Myth" in the title and Robert Asprin's name on it doesn't make it good. Think.
Rating:  - Did it really need to take 29 chapters?
As a long time MYTH-series lover, I was so excited to have a new MYTH book to read. I was terribly enthusiastic through MYTH-ION Improbable but my reading pace slowed to a crawl through MYTH Alliances. The plot was predictable, the puns came across as merely a substitute for imagination, and I really didn't feel as if I were getting to know the characters any better. You could see where the plot was headed from chapter 1. Three weeks on my desk and 29 chapters later, it went exactly where I thought it would and took an inordinate amount of time to get there. In addition, Asprin and Nye have taken to making Skeeve's character just plain uninteresting. Before he had his faults, but he was still endearing. Now, he's matured into a standard, boring adult. Bring back the orginal creativity and spark!
Rating: - Postmodern Gobley gook
The bad guys aren't really bad; the good guys aren't really good. There is none of the humor, sensibilities, or character of his first three books in the series.
Mr. Asprin can be a fine, funny writer but has a tendency to lose both control and track of his characters. What started out as a fine funny romp in 'Another Fine Myth' has settled down into formulaic nonsense in which the characters don't have character, they have stereotypes. The characters aren't flawed, they are plot points. No exploration of the humor of the human condition, just something else to resolve to extend the text a few pages.
What could be interesting interplay between a not quite mature or worldly boy wizard and a way too worldly Businesswoman Bunny is completely... well... nothing. There is no there there. Tananda has been relegated to a set piece (where is the fiery whimsical assassin who said "Bark at the moon, Istavon"?). The rest of the guys remind me of Michael York's Basil Exposition in the Austin Powers movies. They are simply there to inject or resolve plot points that Rob didn't have the imagination to deal with properly. Also, when did Ahaz become Yoda?
The whole series died somewhere during `Little Myth Marker' and perhaps should have stayed dead.
Let the flames wars begin!
Rating:  - This book does not disappoint
I enjoy humor and I love punny tales. I only started reading this series (after myriad recommendations) earlier this year. Trust me, if you have a funny bone, be sure to have a glass of water at hand, you may very well need it.
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