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Title: M.Y.T.H. Inc. in Action/Sweet Myth-tery of Life 2-in-1 Author: Robert Asprin Rating: Not available Avg. Score: 4 Submit Comment Hits: 79

Review of M.Y.T.H. Inc. in Action/Sweet Myth-tery of Life 2-in-1 (Myth 2-in-1)

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Comments for M.Y.T.H. Inc. in Action/Sweet Myth-tery of Life 2-in-1

• Posted on 2006-06-17
  One of the best stories in the series!
  
  If you have not read earlier volumes in the MYTH series, this book of two volumes will not be as appealing to you. If you are familiar with the series, then read on!
  
  This book continues the pattern started in the last book of having two volumes in one book that covers two different stories. The first one "M.Y.T.H. inc. In Action" takes the viewpoint of Guido as the story teller. This book is by far the funniest one in this series! The hilarious mis-adventures of Guido and Nunzio, coupled with the complete inanity of the situations that they find themselves in are absolutely top notch!
  
  This story takes place during the time that Skeeve was on Perv trying to find Aahz. The team decides to take care of the Queen Hemlock situation on Klah by themselves! One thing leads to another and the team decides to split up. Guido and Nunzio join the Posilltum army while Tananda, Chumley, Gleep, and Massha get involved in other things. Since this book is told from Guido's point of view, it is not surprising that we do not see much of the other guys. This is a change from the previous M.Y.T.H. Inc. book in which each character essentially told a short story.
  
  Anyway, Guido and Nunzio get involved in a group of recruits who happen to have insect names. They meet Bee, Hyram Flie, Shubert Flie, Spyder, etc. A good example of the kind of humor that is all over these books is that Hyram prefers to be called Hy, while his brother Shubert prefers to be called Shu. So, we have Hy Flie and Shu Flie!!! (groan)
  
  Guido and Nunzio quickly ascertain that they have to make sure the recruits pass through basic training so they can get going with their mission. To do so, they take over the leadership of the group and as a result, get promoted. Since Guido puts on this fake Italo-Gangster type of talk, we aretreated to lots of "situationals" in which their mob past is helpful. Guido actually manages to get promoted at least three times before he quits in disgust!
  
  The descriptions of how this group of misfits tries to screw up the army - which is already screwed up - and how they manage to instead make things altogether better caused immense laughing bouts with this veteran!
  
  All's well that end well and the story has Skeeve, Aahz, and Pookie converge on Queen Hemlock just as the rest of the crew does. And that transitions us to the next book.
  
  The second book "Sweet Myth-tery of Life" is told from Skeeve's viewpoint. He comes back with Aahz and Pookie to Klah and finds his group but also finds himself in trouble. You see, Queen Hemlock has decided that either Skeeve marries her and becomes her consort and produces heirs, or she will abdicate and make him the King. Since he has already had bad experiences in being the King, he rejects that proposal. But then, he has to decide if he wants to become the Queen's consort or not.
  
  Now, Skeeve has had many life-changing experiences, but none of them have prepared him for what to do about all the nubile women throwing themselves at his feet; Queen Hemlock we already discussed, and all readers of the series know that Bunny is tremendously in love with Skeeve; Tananda comes to the realization that she looks at Skeeve more as a younger brother; but we are introduced to Cassandra who happens to be a Vampire as another potential love interest.
  
  Skeeve is completely ignorant of what the women around him want and while he has some normal male human reactions to all these gorgeous ladies, has no idea of what to do about it. The story line continues to twist and turn and Skeeve finds himself in all kinds of trouble but eventually he manages to resolve his feelings for Luanne and gets kicked in the [...] by Hugh Badaxe and finally sorts through what he wants to do. And, finally, he manages to resolve the Queen Hemlock situation.
  
  This happens at the final chapter of the book but then, as he happily walks arouns, the author throws us a plot twist that is so maddening and is so transparent of a hook to get us to come back for more that I practically screamed!
  
  In other words, in addition to the humor, we now have a cliff hanger ending that makes me want to dive into my bookshelf and dig out the next volume!
  
  Highly recommended!!!
  Score: 5
• Posted on 2005-11-12
  Avoid At All Costs
  
  By the time these books had come out, Robert Asprin had stopped making his Myth books self-contained stories. They were, instead unapologetically episodic, with long, meandering storylines in each book ending in a cliff-hanger meant to lure you into the next book. It was a cheap device used to snag the die-hard fans and new readers who might not know any better.
  
  Its hard to think of these books as anything more than a marketting tool, since all the originality and humor present in the first few books of this series had long ago been burned away. Its like Robert Asprin is just noodling around at the keyboard, tossing off ideas to fulfill a contractual obligation. There is no joy in these books at all. At best they present over-used cliches, at worst they are tedious beyond belief.
  Score: 1
• Posted on 2003-12-20
  two great myth books in one
  
  Asprin's Myth series combines traditional fantasy with humor and satire. He gives us multiple characters that are believable and you grow to love very quickly. Many authors couldn't handle juggling this many primary characters (not to mention the whole slew of secondary characters) and this complicated of a series. It's myth-fastic.
  Score: 5
• Posted on 2003-05-14
  Two epic tales - with a twist
  
  This collection of two books by Robert Asprin were a few of my favorites. Without giving the book away, let me tell you that this book doesn't disappoint in comparisson to his earlier books. The characters still deliver the same impact they did in his past books and they keep the same personalities

  The plotline twists and weaves and I love how all the books seem to follow the pattern that as soon as one problem is solved, a whole new set of problems emerge. This book promises to be a delightful sequel to the already memorable series of books.
  Score: 5

• Posted on 2003-01-31
  Two Asprin Gave Me a Headache
  
  To begin with, I really like a lot of Robert Asprin's previous works. I've just reread both the Myth and Phule series. I love the quirky characters and humor present in both. I was really looking forward to continuing my voyage into the wonderfully amusing world created by this talented author.

  The first of the two stories in this double (M.Y.T.H Inc. in Action) is excellent. It is light, amusing, original, and just generally a good read. If you've enjoyed the previous books in the series, you will certainly like this one.

  Unfortunately, the second story (Sweet Myth-tery of Life) is not at all up to the mark. It is heavy, not at all amusing, and all in all just not worth reading.

  That said, if you can't find M.Y.T.H. Inc. in Action as a single, it is still worth picking up this double book in order to read it.
  Score: 3