It's summer, which means family road trip season for this Geek Mom! We've spent an inordinate amount of quality time in the car this past week, which means I've had to find ways to keep my little geeks entertained. We generally love audiobooks, so I decided to dig up one of my old favorites and see if the next generation will enjoy it as much as I did!
| Robert Asprin's Another Fine Myth was first published in 1978, but I read it after a friend recommended it to me in the late 80's. I was immediately entranced by his sarcastic humor and quirky characters, and read as many of the books as I could get my hands on throughout high school and college. Unfortuantely Asprin passed away in 2008, but happily he had begun collaborating with Jodi Lynn Nye in 2002 and she has continued the series since his death. |  |
| The adventure begins in the somewhat boring world of Klah, where magic is sparse and mistrusted, and technology is unheard of. Skeeve is an apprentice magician, and his master Garkin decides to summon a "demon" to impress his young ward - but of course things go horribly wrong, and thus Skeeve's myth-adventures begin. | Meeting these characters again after so many years was like greeting old friends |
If you haven't read these books, I can't recommend them highly enough! I was unsure if Asprin's worlds and words would hold up over time, but meeting these characters again after so many years was like greeting old friends. My kids were absolutely entranced as well, and getting to see Skeeve, Aahz (a scaly green Pervect), Tanda (an olive-skinned Trollop), and Gleep (Skeeve's delightful baby dragon) through their eyes was absolutely charming!
Listening to this book reminded me of how I fell in love with quirky fantasy novels. I can almost see a direct line from my love affair with Asprin's books to my admiration of Terry Pratchett, and later my love of Harry Dresden and other urban fantasy!
Another Fine Myth is not a long audiobook - the unabrigdged version from Audible runs under six hours - but the narration is fantastic, and when it ended my son asked, "When can we get the next one?!" So this was definitely a win, and we'll be enjoying many more adventures with Skeeve and Aahz in the near future!
Listening to this book reminded me of how I fell in love with quirky fantasy novels. I can almost see a direct line from my love affair with Asprin's books to my admiration of Terry Pratchett, and later my love of Harry Dresden and other urban fantasy!
Another Fine Myth is not a long audiobook - the unabrigdged version from Audible runs under six hours - but the narration is fantastic, and when it ended my son asked, "When can we get the next one?!" So this was definitely a win, and we'll be enjoying many more adventures with Skeeve and Aahz in the near future!
