Myth-Fits really reminded me of Jasper Fford’s YA series about a magic-user employment agency (The Last Dragon Slayer), although I don’t know which one was actually published first. The other big thing I noticed was that jumping into a series not in order (again- although this time, I was already aware before I started) is not terribly problematic. There are certainly references and nuances I know I didn’t understand, but overall I could follow things pretty well. The only thing I don’t know is what the original author’s books are like in comparison. According to a note in the book, Robert Asprin passed away 8-ish years ago, and this continuation is a solo continuation of a collaborator’s, Jody Lynn Nye. I will have to look into this series further, as it appears there are at least 13 books in the series before this one.
In many ways, Myth-Fits is pretty conventional. The main character, at least in this book, seems to be Skeeve, the occasionally competent magician who does not understand figures of speech (this gets old). His friend/mentor (I think) is Aahz, from Pervect (the Perv-ert jokes get old), his boss Bunny who has a family connection to the Mob (there’s definitely backstory I don’t know here), the Trollians Tananda and Chumley who are smarter than most people think trolls are, Gleep the dragon who can talk a little (this seems a little weird), there’s an assassin, Markie (it took a while but I finally noticed the pun in the name), and quite a few others. None of these characters are unique in themselves, but put together, there’s something entertaining.
The plot is also fairly standard. The agency seems to be struggling but they get a job that could promise a sizeable payout, and all they need to do is go to the resort dimension Winslow and find the magical Loving Cup. Naturally, this proves more difficult than it seems, and the team encounters a mysterious competitor for the Cup, strangeness in the magic and the dimension, and several other challenges. It’s not all problems of course, as everyone also makes some new friends and-or enjoy themselves a little (this is a resort world after all). It turns out there’s an evil magician behind everything, and there’s a final confrontation that doesn’t seem very difficult (it’s the final boss which should be challenging, right?), and the promise of a bright future for most everyone.
In spite of the general predictability, there’s something about this that I liked. It wasn’t great or especially interesting, but it was enjoyable. Like I said before, I think it’s the result of the group together that adds up to harmless amusement. I’m pretty sure I’d have gotten bored if the focus was more on one character or another, but with the group overall, things seem to work.
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