No Phule Like an Old Phule

Rating:
Summary: Decent light comedy
Review: "No Phule Like an Old Phule" is an apt summation, because this book, instead of focusing on Willard Phule and his Omega Company, spends far too much time on Phule's corporate raider father. And Phule's father (I can't remember his name) is just not a funny character; he's shallow, vain, narcissistic, and doesn't have enough "oomph," somehow.

Plus, instead of coming up with a brand new plotline, or a brand new planet to play on/with, Mr. Asprin and Mr. Heck decided to set half the book at the casino (book two), bringing back two quasi-villains who now want to go straight (book four), and then have the typical problems with Phule's company of irregulars on the last planet of call (book four). Mixing the plots of books two and four makes for a fun, yet very shallow read; it's like rewarmed macaroni and cheese. Once is good, twice is OK, but after that, throw it out.

And although we're not to the throwing out stage just yet, I highly advise Mr. Asprin and Mr. Heck to come up with a different scene or some different characters for the next book, if indeed there is to be another one.

Three stars.

Barb Caffrey

Rating:
Summary: Decent light comedy
Review: "No Phule Like an Old Phule" is an apt summation, because this book, instead of focusing on Willard Phule and his Omega Company, spends far too much time on Phule's corporate raider father. And Phule's father (I can't remember his name) is just not a funny character; he's shallow, vain, narcissistic, and doesn't have enough "oomph," somehow.

Plus, instead of coming up with a brand new plotline, or a brand new planet to play on/with, Mr. Asprin and Mr. Heck decided to set half the book at the casino (book two), bringing back two quasi-villains who now want to go straight (book four), and then have the typical problems with Phule's company of irregulars on the last planet of call (book four). Mixing the plots of books two and four makes for a fun, yet very shallow read; it's like rewarmed macaroni and cheese. Once is good, twice is OK, but after that, throw it out.

And although we're not to the throwing out stage just yet, I highly advise Mr. Asprin and Mr. Heck to come up with a different scene or some different characters for the next book, if indeed there is to be another one.

Three stars.

Barb Caffrey

Rating:
Summary: Delighful
Review: General Blitzkrieg hates Phule (AKA Captain Jester) and his Omega Company, soldiers who fail to heed any rules except their own. To make Phule's life miserable, Blitzkrieg sends the Alliance Ecological Interplanetary Observation Union (AEIOU) to "join" the Omega Company on Zenobia. The wily General hopes the two groups interact in a manner that will cause aggravation and stress to Phule. Phule anticipates rewards for finding a new alien race on this planet.

Phule copes with AEIOU and renowned genetically enhanced wonder dog Barky while also dealing with hunters desiring to bring home trophy dinosaurs. At the same time, his father Victor tries to work on conning two Grifters into selling the shares of Phule's Casino that they won for a nominal price.

Most military science fiction is serious with a theme of saving the universe, but NO PHULE LIKE AN OLD PHULE is an upbeat lighthearted galaxy romp. The protagonist might ignore bureaucratic regulations and procedures furbished from a central location with no understanding beyond their beltway, but he also runs a tight ship. His crew respects Phule who goes out of their way to ensure they are cared for with proper equipment and supplies and are financially rewarded. Only a fool would myths a Phule's tale.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Delighful
Review: General Blitzkrieg hates Phule (AKA Captain Jester) and his Omega Company, soldiers who fail to heed any rules except their own. To make Phule's life miserable, Blitzkrieg sends the Alliance Ecological Interplanetary Observation Union (AEIOU) to "join" the Omega Company on Zenobia. The wily General hopes the two groups interact in a manner that will cause aggravation and stress to Phule. Phule anticipates rewards for finding a new alien race on this planet.

Phule copes with AEIOU and renowned genetically enhanced wonder dog Barky while also dealing with hunters desiring to bring home trophy dinosaurs. At the same time, his father Victor tries to work on conning two Grifters into selling the shares of Phule's Casino that they won for a nominal price.

Most military science fiction is serious with a theme of saving the universe, but NO PHULE LIKE AN OLD PHULE is an upbeat lighthearted galaxy romp. The protagonist might ignore bureaucratic regulations and procedures furbished from a central location with no understanding beyond their beltway, but he also runs a tight ship. His crew respects Phule who goes out of their way to ensure they are cared for with proper equipment and supplies and are financially rewarded. Only a fool would myths a Phule's tale.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Not up to this series beginings
Review: I admit, I had high expectations of this book. Robert Asprin's work is usually witty, funny, and enthralling. This one reads like a bad TV script. The plot is constantly jumping from thread to thread without any one plot-line getting enough time for you to start caring about it. On top of that, Asprin adds yet more characters to his already impressive cast with the net effect that no one gets any significant character development, including the main character. It's so bad that, in the beginning of the book, we learn that Phule is expecting the official announcement of a promotion from Captain to Major and then it is never mentioned again in the book.

Those of us hoping to see more of the developing romance between Phule and Brandy will be totally disappointed. Those of us wanting to see more of Omega Company functioning as a team to beat unbeatable odds will be sorely disappointed. Those of use expecting Asprin's usual wit and attention to detail will wonder whether Asprin had anything to do with this book other than slap his name on the work of Mr. Heck.

If you're a fan this will seriously disappoint you. If you're new to this series, save your money and skip this one.

Rating:
Summary: Not up to this series beginings
Review: I admit, I had high expectations of this book. Robert Asprin's work is usually witty, funny, and enthralling. This one reads like a bad TV script. The plot is constantly jumping from thread to thread without any one plot-line getting enough time for you to start caring about it. On top of that, Asprin adds yet more characters to his already impressive cast with the net effect that no one gets any significant character development, including the main character. It's so bad that, in the beginning of the book, we learn that Phule is expecting the official announcement of a promotion from Captain to Major and then it is never mentioned again in the book.

Those of us hoping to see more of the developing romance between Phule and Brandy will be totally disappointed. Those of us wanting to see more of Omega Company functioning as a team to beat unbeatable odds will be sorely disappointed. Those of use expecting Asprin's usual wit and attention to detail will wonder whether Asprin had anything to do with this book other than slap his name on the work of Mr. Heck.

If you're a fan this will seriously disappoint you. If you're new to this series, save your money and skip this one.

Rating:
Summary: Only because the rating won't let you choose no stars!
Review: If you enjoyed the 1st 2 books you will *not* enjoy this one. I can't believe that Asprin (assuming it was not actually written by Asprin) would allow his name to be put on this piece of rot. The writer does not seem to have read the original books, destroyed the flavour, mangled the characters and cannot even keep the facts correct. I could not even read a third of it, especially after Willard's (not Wilfred) father's character was completely destroyed. From a man who trusted his son's business sense enough to shell out capital for something completely on spec to an egotistic moron of a businessman who could not grasp the rational of odds and casinos trying to beat the slot machines instead of trying a game that at least required some skill/knowledge from the player. This is the last Phule book I will read unless another writer or Asprin takes over the writing.

Rating:
Summary: Maybe not Asprin's Phinest, but still Good Phun
Review: Maybe I'm just more easily pleased than some readers, but I'm sure that nobody would have rated this book only one or even three stars if it hadn't had Robert Asprin's name on the front. "No Phule Like an Old Phule" may not be up to the very high standard of the early Myth books, but it was still fun to read. It doesn't take a PhD to figure out most of the puns-there's a self-important Texas hunter called "Austin Tay-Shun", for example-but I read Asprin's books for R&R. Let's face it, a story that features a giant Rabbit as hero isn't likely to be Great Literature.

"When a system is set up to deal with misfits and incompetents, the addition to the mix of someone actually capable may cause a greater disturbance than the addition of a weak cog to a functioning organization."

That's the rabbit he's talking about.

Rating:
Summary: TIME TO STOP THIS PHULELISHNESS
Review: NO PHULE LIKE AN OLD PHULE is the fifth in the 'Phule' series and to be honest it's at least one too many. Where the first two, maybe the first three if you're charitable, were at least funny with some discernable plot this one fails on both accounts.

To begin with it's not funny. Just more of the same old jokes we've heard before, and not many of them to boot. It's like watching a sitcom rerun for the tenth time, you begin to forget why you laughed at it the first time.

Plot? There isn't any, just a mishmash of unrelated subplots that wouldn't be particularly interesting even if there were some underlying connection.

Character development? Again none. Hey even in a spoof there must be some character growth to keep the reader interested, there just isn't any here. Part of the problem may be that the story doesn't seem to be able to focus on any one, or even a group of characters, long enough for any of them to achieve any significant development. But that goes back to the noted lack of plot and storyline.

To keep it short and simple this one is dull, uninteresting and unpleasant to try and follow.

NOT RECOMMENDED.

Rating:
Summary: TIME TO STOP THIS PHULELISHNESS
Review: NO PHULE LIKE AN OLD PHULE is the fifth in the `Phule' series and to be honest it's at least one too many. Where the first two, maybe the first three if you're charitable, were at least funny with some discernable plot this one fails on both accounts.

To begin with it's not funny. Just more of the same old jokes we've heard before, and not many of them to boot. It's like watching a sitcom rerun for the tenth time, you begin to forget why you laughed at it the first time.

Plot? There isn't any, just a mishmash of unrelated subplots that wouldn't be particularly interesting even if there were some underlying connection.

Character development? Again none. Hey even in a spoof there must be some character growth to keep the reader interested, there just isn't any here. Part of the problem may be that the story doesn't seem to be able to focus on any one, or even a group of characters, long enough for any of them to achieve any significant development. But that goes back to the noted lack of plot and storyline.

To keep it short and simple this one is dull, uninteresting and unpleasant to try and follow.

NOT RECOMMENDED.