Phule's Company: 01 - Phule's Company (original 1990; udgave 1990)

I was expecting nonsense. I wasn't expecting to care as much as I did about the nonsense. I am a sucker for a rag-tag, found-family team and somehow this just works. ( )

Phule's Company is a book that I've had for (literally) decades and have read several times in the past, although it's been a few years. That being said, you'd think it would be one of my favorite books of all time, wouldn't you?

If you had asked me before I started reading it this time with a more critical eye, I would have agreed with you. But I remember liking it more in the past than I did this time, and I definitely didn't think it would wind up with barely an "It's OK" rating.

My main complaint with Phule's Company is the lack of a plot. The first 207 pages are basically meeting all the characters, seeing them interact, and how the unit becomes stronger. It's basically the DM of your weekly D&D group running a "You all meet at the tavern in town" scene that lasts three months. The characters themselves are very enjoyable and well-done, though; each of them is distinct, both in appearance and in personality, and developed enough that when some of them do something...odd (like three of the women doing basically a Playboy photo shoot), it definitely feels forced and out of character for them...or at least two of them. And the whole Space Legion (as campy as the name sounds) feels like the author put a lot of thought and work into it.

The main plot (at least, I think it was the main plot), when it finally arrived, was well written and had its fair share of Asprin's typical humor. But it wasn't significant enough to pull the rest of the book out of the muck. ( )

young rich wastral reforms space company

More proof that Americans can't write funny fantasy or sci-fi like the British can.

This is just a bunch of pointless bad puns.

I'll take Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, Tom Holt and Robert Rankin over everything USA can do and that includes Harry Harrison and Esther Freisner at their best ( )

Though well written, I didn't enjoy it all that much.I read this because I'm researching the Mil SF humor sub-genre. You see, I'm currently writing my own military science fiction comedy, and even though I did my first draft without any knowledge of this series, there are similarities. I suppose it goes to show you how hard it is to be original. Maybe that's the problem. Coming to this book with my own set of expectations, Asprin's treatment was shockingly different. All of which I can forgive except for one thing: it's not that funny!But...this book was supposed to be humorous. In fact, the cover (I know, I know...don't every judge a book by that!) and "some" readers claimed it was downright hilarious. Sorry, I would have to disagree. In truth, other than the first page, there are few jokes. At best, I would categorize this as a situational comedy. Honestly, I think Asprin could have done more to make this book funnier. The MC is probably the biggest problem. Willard Phule comes off as fool in the first few pages, but as you read on, it's anything but that. The MC proves himself to be not only very intelligent, but hard working and honest to a fault. All of which would be great if this was simply a Mil SF. However, it's positioned as a Mil SF COMEDY.To some things up, this book does not have the right setup for true comedy, but is a very well written. So with the correct expectations in mind, you may enjoy it. Probably more than I did. ( )