But enough about the art, this is a novel by Robert Asprin who went on to greater accolades for his Thieves World series (in a similar way that George Martin did Wild Cards long before Game of Thrones.) The series follows the young mage apprentice Skeeve who is being trained by Garkin. Early on Garkin summons a demon to show Skeeve how varied magic is. Trouble is, as he summons it, he is assassinated. Reflexively he lashes out and kills the assassin. But too late.

Skeeve is left stunned as his mentor dies in front of him, the assassin has been burned to ash, and then….. the demon arrives. But the protective circle has been broken. The demon isn’t contained. Luckily for Skeeve it isn’t a demon. Well it is, but only in that demon is a term used to describe any individual who travels across dimensions. The demon who showed up is actually a Pervert named Aahz. Ok, technically he is a Pervect, but his people are mocked by being called perverts. Turns out Aahz is friendly (ish) and he and Garkin have a long running gag of giving each other trouble. But this time Garkin stripped his powers as he summoned Aahz. And the ability to reverse it died with Garkin.

Skeeve and Aahz go on a journey to try and get Aahz back and revenge for Garkin. Along the way Aahz teaches Skeeve magic, and Skeeve learns that Garkin had never really been trying to teach him.

This is a light hearted fantasy series that embraces silliness while still moving a good story forward. I recently started rereading the entire series because I found out there are like 25 now! In Asprin’s later years he took on a cowriter (Jody Lynn Nye) who then carried on after Asprin died.

This book gets a 10 star review from me. The nostalgia factor alone had me up there, but rereading it reminded me that it was genuinely fun. I look forward to refreshing my memory with these as I creep up to the ones that are new to me. So expect more reviews on these books here from me.