License Invoked

Rating:
Summary: Almost magic
Review: Fionna Kenmare, lead singer of the Irish acid-folk rock band, Green Fire, is sure someone is trying to kill her. But the only person who sees or hears the attacks is Fiona herself, which convinces her that they are magical in nature so when the band gets ready to tour the United States, her father calls in some favors to get her a bodyguard. Liz Mayfield, with the British Government Office of Occult and Paranormal Sightings Investigation, is assigned to protect her. Liz is probably the only person in her department who actually believes in good and evil, for the rest it is just a cushy job. And with that idea Robert Asprin and Jody Lynn Nye set the stage for a hilarious romp through New Orleans in their latest, License Invoked. With help of her American counterpart from the FBI, Boo-Boo, who appears to know everyone in New Orleans, Liz must battle the most fearsome magical onslaught of her life, all the while trying to convince everyone that it is real but at the same time, keep the press from finding out so that both governments are embarrassed. With the help and hindrance of a whole cast of odd and off-beat characters, Liz must work to defeat not only the minions of Satan, who wish to kill Fionna because she is a good influence on our children, but the non-believers who would try to assign a rational explanation to the events around them. Definitely a great twist on the good v evil theme. Not as good as Asprin's Thieves World series, but still a good read.

Rating:
Summary: Not a successful collaboration
Review: Having been a fan of Robert Asprin for a number of years, and having been impressed with prior collaborations of Jody Lynn Nye, I found "License Invoked" a disappointment. Little about this book has the ring of truth necessary for a good fantasy. The characters have an unpleasant, one-dimensional feel to them: a perpetually annoyed, insecure, English government agent; an upper-class Englishwoman masquerading as an Irish 'acid-folk' singer; a French Quarter denizen on the government payroll. Combined with goverment agencies specialising in the paranormal (X-Files anyone), a Satanic version of tele-evangelism, and you are left with a mixture that doesn't jell. There is a certain disconnected air to the story, as if neither Asprin or Nye had any real interest in the tale.

Rating:
Summary: Not a successful collaboration
Review: Having been a fan of Robert Asprin for a number of years, and having been impressed with prior collaborations of Jody Lynn Nye, I found "License Invoked" a disappointment. Little about this book has the ring of truth necessary for a good fantasy. The characters have an unpleasant, one-dimensional feel to them: a perpetually annoyed, insecure, English government agent; an upper-class Englishwoman masquerading as an Irish 'acid-folk' singer; a French Quarter denizen on the government payroll. Combined with goverment agencies specialising in the paranormal (X-Files anyone), a Satanic version of tele-evangelism, and you are left with a mixture that doesn't jell. There is a certain disconnected air to the story, as if neither Asprin or Nye had any real interest in the tale.

Rating:
Summary: Least from one of the best.
Review: I read about the first 30 pages and could go no further. The Myth series and the Phule series are both excellent, and hopefully Mr. Asprin's next book will be equal to his past works. Unfortunately "License Invoked" falls far short of expectations.

Rating:
Summary: Least from one of the best.
Review: I read about the first 30 pages and could go no further. The Myth series and the Phule series are both excellent, and hopefully Mr. Asprin's next book will be equal to his past works. Unfortunately "License Invoked" falls far short of expectations.

Rating:
Summary: Minus 1 star for a mixed beginning
Review: I'm glad to see Asprin back to writing on a regular schedule.

These two authors 'invoke' a good story with personable chemistry between the protagonists. So why only two stars?

The beginning, so important to hooking a reader, is a jumble of mixed messages, and doesn't do justice to the plot or characters assembled.

Never confuse a reader as to whether you are going to "romp" or deliver careful characters. When the material starts out slyly poking fun with odd government agencies like "O.O.P.S.I.E.", you expect you are going to read "screwball comedy", which is a place the authors have creative gifts.

But this is actually a murder and black magic story -- a pretty good one.

If you can roll past the first thirty pages of mixed signals, you might find a nice story here.