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Sweet Myth-tery of Life | Rating | |
| B | |||
| Robert Asprin | |||
| Series | Related Books | ||
| MythAdventures | Another Fine Myth, Myth Conceptions, Myth Directions, Hit or Myth, Myth-ing Persons, Little Myth Marker, M.Y.T.H. Inc. Link, Myth-Nomers and Im-Pervections, M.Y.T.H. Inc. In Action, Sweet Myth-tery of Life, Myth-Ion Improbable, Something M.Y.T.H. Inc., Myth-Told Tales, Myth Alliances, Myth-Taken Identity, Class Dis-Mythed, Myth-Gotten Gains | ||
Skeeve has faced invading armies, killer athletes, and an interdimensional Mob. Now he may face his greatest challenge yet: an amorous Queen Hemlock! He's been presented with two choices. He can marry the devilish woman and help her rule Possiltum, or she'll abdicate and let him take on all the stress of ruling. It's a rock and a hard place, and Skeeve is right between the two. And this time, his friends aren't going to be able to get him out of this mess.
The biggest problem with this volume is that, while it has an interesting premise, there really is no plot. Well, Skeeve has to figure out what to do about Hemlock's proposal, of course, but most of the book involves other things, tangential issues that only slightly touch upon the plot's driving force. Straightening out Possletum's finances, going on dates, and a gew other things make for decent diversions from the main attraction, true. But diversions are scenes, not a story. But here, they pretty much have take over.
There are also frequent asides as people explain to Skeve the facts of life. Not about the birds and the bees — this is a kid-friendly book — but women and marriage are definitely fodder for conversation. And other things, as well. When he suggests one girl (well, Djeannie, actually, but whatever) is pretty enough to be a model, he gets a discourse on what a model's life is like. And there are plenty of other little lectures, ranging in topic from finances to friendship. A few of these every now and then are fine — Skeeve is a rather naive chap and could use some of these lessons. But it seems you can't go three chapters — and in places, three pages — without getting a lesson in something or other. After a while, it gets very tiresome indeed.
And let's not overlook all the typos, mostly in the form of dropped letters or punctuation — missing quote marks and the like. This has actually been a problem throughout the series, something I've noticed but ignored because the books remain prefectly readable. And, hey, Asprin's only human, right? Human, yes — or, at least, I hope so! — but it doesn't look very professional. Perhaps there's more of it here than in the past, or maybe I'm only noticing it more because I'm less pleased with this book than the previous ones. I don't know. Whichever it is, this time I'm calling him on it.
Three things might help mitigate these problems, at least to some degree. First is that Sweet Myth-tery of Life is a short, quick read, as usual. The second is that Skeeve continues to grow older and wiser, and his choices and attitude in general show it. This novel also continues the greater story arc Asprin has set up for his characters, which forces readers to choose between this and missing a big chunk of the series' evolution. Problematic as this book may be, reading it isn't really all that much of a hardship.
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