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A Phule and His Money | Rating | |
| C | |||
| Robert Asprin with Peter J. Heck | |||
| Series | Related Books | ||
| Phule's Company | Phule's Company, Phule's Paradise, A Phule and His Money, Phule Me Twice | ||
Phule's Company has new orders. They are to ship off of Lorelei, the casino-based space station, and go to Landoor. There, they are to act as peacekeeping forces, making sure the civil war that ended recently doesn't flare up again. Of course, with General Blitzkrieg giving the orders, you know there's a catch. Simply put, that is the very war the treaty signing of which was strafed by one Willard Phule. Needless to say, they don't like him much. But he still is going to bring peace to the planet, for both sides, by helping build their economy - even if the government tries to regulate him out of existence.
But Phule has a few things to wrap up on Lorelei, first. He can't just pull out and leave the casino unprotected - especially since his company is now majority shareholders! And there's the Yakuza to deal with, who have finally confronted Sushi about his posing as a member. And the Outlaws have found Chocolate Harry. And the IRS is looking into Phule's books very, very closely. And...
All in all, it's not until over half the book is gone that Phule's Company ships out. Still, that's not neccessarily bad, since he spends the time dealing with some of these problems. What is bad is that there are a few consistency errors at the start of the book. Most notably, Blitzkrieg's aide de camp seems to have undergone an abrupt gender switch, along with a slight attitude readjustment; and she is not just some new aide, as it states that she's been there for three years.
More annoyingly is the fact that at end of book two it was announced that a shipment of new recriuts would be shipping in shortly. But several times Phule needs reminding of certain specifics about who would be coming along. Given how much time elapsed since the last book (not much) it seemed out of place. Why not just have him remember? We still get introduced to the characters, after all.
On a more substantial note, the authors serveral times get to planning some aspect, or even just chatting, and the scene ends. It's the old, "Now here's what I want to do. [whisper whisper...]," type of thing. This is a good way to build up suspence - the reader has to keep going to find out what's planned. But it's an entirely artificial means of raising suspense, and so should be done sparingly lest it becomes obvious and annoying. Needless to say, it is not used sparingly. Indeed, in the first hundred or so pages it is used at least three times, and there are a few other instances sprinkled throughout the novel. And at least one of those time there was no real point to breaking away, as listing in would have merely told the reader some information about one of the alien races.
And lastly, on a personal note, we are introduced to the Church of the King, a group of Elvis worshippers. Personally, I can't stand Elvis, so this got a big black mark in my book. Of course, that might not be true for others, but for me, the immediate reaction was, "Ugh!"
After those first hundred pages, things pick up a bit. This is especially true after they reach Landoor. But the first third to half the book made me grimace over and over, which kind of kills the comedy value of a book like this, and it just never really recovers. Frankly, this book isn't as much fun.
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