Myth-taken Identity

Aahz must clear Skeeve’s name after an impostor racks up massive debts in his name. Aahz, along with Chumley and Massha, investigates a magical mall, discovering a plot involving stolen, reality-warping Master-Cards used for large-scale, fraudulent, and destructive shopping sprees.

Skeeve makes no actual appearance in this adventure, but there are plenty of Skeeve impostors running around. Bunny makes a cameo appearance. Aahz, Massha, and Chumley share the spotlight. They're taking on the modern scourges of credit cards and identity theft with nods to mall behavior and the Lord of the Rings. The humor was gentle compared to other series I enjoy, but it was still enjoyable. I liked the interactions among the main characters and the progression from their earlier selves shown in Aahz and Massha. Because I watched Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales when I was a child, think it was a little unfair to have a sort of humanoid walrus character in the same story as a troll character named Chumley. I got Chumley and Cire show more confused during a big scene.

If you're curious about Skeeve's physical description, it's given in this book.

Walter Velez is the artist for the cover that two Pervects showing a portrait of Skeeve to a Djinn. Chumley stands by the Djinn. Is the female Pervect meant to be Massha? If the male Pervect is Aahz, why the red beard and eyebrows? The background does not appear to be the inside of an enormous mall.

Myth-Taken Identity is a pleasantly amusing book with which to while away some time. show less

Substance: As usual, the morals of the story are positive (believe in your friends, support the home team, don't judge by appearances, and others), but the story itself is thin. The puns are OK but not outstanding. The personalities are fading to bland, and the social interchanges are even more than usually pat and trite. Derivative and depressingly juvenile, as opposed to fresh and junior-reader-friendly. (Most long running series have this problem in the later stages, even aside from the author's personal considerations.)
Style: If not part of a popular series, it wouldn't make a ripple, even if it could get published.

The world created by Robert Asprin is fascinating and amusing. But the writing... it really could be better.

Everything you'd expect from a "MYTH" book: an evening's mindless entertainment; nothing more, nothing less. [2005-10-13]