Phule’s Company

Phule’s Company (1990) by Robert Aspirin is a pleasant three hours of mental escape. It’s better for your brain than drugs, and easier on your liver than alcohol. Set well into the undetermined future, Phule is a self-made billionaire and a military officer failure. The races are predominantly human, but like any respectable science fiction look into the future (i.e. that which does not contradict the principles of Star Trek), we have mutli-planetary federation.

Captain Phule commands the Omega Crew of the Space Legion. All of the soldiers under his command are failures, too. This story is about his recovery from failure. This is about how Phule leads the men and women under his command, and how he inspires them. It is his leadership that brings them all back from the role of failure. Phule is a commendable character. He has his weaknesses and foibles, but don’t we all.

One can’t make a blanket statement about Aspirin’s character development. The primary characters are dynamic, complex and imperfect, which is of course, what we want. But his secondary characters trend towards stocks and stereotypes. I guess you cant have it all, and Phule has such a large cast of characters, it would have to be a much deeper and thicker book if everyone were well developed. He is also good at setting up a story for laughs; humor from situations, from quirky characters. Phule’s Company is compelling enough to keep you reading, although the plot is somewhat predictable and drags on now and then.

With the caveat that this is brain candy, I'll give Phule's Company a 96. Losing points for the weaknesses in plot and secondary characters, it is a fun read, and I reccommend it in spite of minor flaws.