A ‘Did Not Finish’… ‘Myth Conceptions’ – Robert Asprin (Legend)


Because sometimes, life is just far too much to be spending time on books that aren’t doing it for you. Unless they’re schoolbooks of course but sometimes, even then… 😉

School is a long way back in my past now (thank goodness for that…) so if I’m really not enjoying a book now, I get to put the damn thing down and never go back to it again. Books like Robert Asprin’s ‘Myth Conceptions’. Way, way back in the day, I was too busy working my way through (nearly) all the Terry Pratchett books to pay much attention to Robert Asprin’s ‘Myth’ series, time well spent to be fair 😉 And then, a few weeks ago now, I came across a copy of ‘Myth Conceptions’ in a charity shop and it was finally time to give Asprin a go.

Well, at least I can say I gave him a go now. I don’t think I’ll bother with any more though…

The Scenario…

Skeeve, the apprentice masquerading as a court magician in Possiltum.

Aahz, a clapped-out demon.

Gleep, a dragon of very little brain.

The Problem…

One invading army marching steadily on Possiltum.

The Probable Outcome…

Either Skeeve, whose magic isn’t up to much, won’t be able to stop it. Result, instant death.

Or Aahz will pull a rabbit out of the hat and repel the hairy invader. Result, instant execution…

Sometimes, it really isn’t the book’s fault. It’s what you bring to the book that ultimately determines whether it gets finished or goes back to the charity shop. From what I read (which wasn’t an awful lot, admittedly), ‘Myth Conceptions’ isn’t a badly written book by any means and it certainly seems to be a book that has a plan for it’s story as well, no hanging about here. Everything seemed to be in order except for one thing. I was after a book to make me laugh and the blurb for this book described itself as ‘hilarious’ so I thought I was onto a winner here. Right? Wrong. I didn’t even smile, let alone laugh.

Now I can’t blame a book for not making me laugh. I mean, what are the odds of any book tapping into my sense of humour first time? Pratchett managed it but hardly any other books do so ‘Myth Conceptions’ gets a pass on that front. Having said that though, ‘Myth Conceptions’ still didn’t make me laugh, and that’s kind of the point of reading humour books, and the story wasn’t quite enough to make up for that. So, it swiftly became a ‘Did Not Finish’ for me, I’ll dig out one of my old Terry Pratchett books instead. I only spent 2p on it (and that went to charity) so no great loss.

If it’s your thing though, you can have the book if you drop me an email. Fancy a free read…?

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