perelgut@utai.UUCP (Stephen Perelgut) (12/24/85)
Myth-ing Persons Little Myth Marker Robert Asprin Robert Asprin The Donning Company, 1984 The Donning Company, 1985 (trade paperback) (trade paperback) These are the 5th and 6th books in the Myth series, starring the demon (dimension traveller) Aahz (from the dimension Perv. call him a Pervect, not a pervert), and Skeeve from the dimension Klah (as in Klahd). Aahz lost his magical powers due to a practical joke by Skeeve's teacher, who proceeded to die. Skeeve is a second-rate magician with a good heart and a lucky streak. Then there's Don Bruce, the Mob's fairy godfather (complete with lavender clothing and limp wrist); Chumley, an erudite troll who works under the name Crunch; Tananda, an incredibly beautiful trollop (sister of a troll) who is a top assassin; Maasha; Gleep' etc. That's enough background. These books are really just there to justify 175-200 pages of some of the worst puns you'd ever want to read. They're worth it just for that. Phil Foglio's illustrations are accurate and yet humourous. These are the first illustrated trade-format paperbacks I've owned where the illustration is worth it. Myth-ing Persons deals with Skeeve's journey to Limbo to rescue Aahz who's been arrested for murder. The best laughs come from the description of the jailbreak. Blurb for Chapter VIII: "First, let's decide who's leading and who's following / F. Astaire". Little Myth Marker deals with Skeeve sudden growing up as a thinking adult sorta. Also, there's Markie, the little girl he wins in a game of Dragon Poker; the description of the Tuesday evening version of Dragon Poker with 2 players, where Skeeve is sitting in the South seat, and .....; and there's Bunny, Skeeve's "moll" (all successful Mob leaders have a moll. If Skeeve refuses, he isn't successful, therefore they'll rub him out), she's also Don Bruce's niece; and finally, the Ax, a Character Assassin paid to ruin Skeeve's reputation. On my scale of -4 to +4 I'd give Myth-ing Persons a +3 for humour and innovation. Little Myth Marker isn't quite as much fun and Skeeve is too intelligent too suddenly. So it gets a +2. Or maybe a +3 (Chapter X lead-in: "A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down! / L. Borgia"). They're both well worth the $10-11 cost of trade paperbacks. -- Stephen Perelgut Computer Systems Research Institute, University of Toronto