Robert Aspirin

Robert Aspirin was a very clever and creative Fantasy/SciFi writer. None of his books were brilliant, but they were mostly entertaining. He is most well known for three series: Myth-adventures, Phule, and Time Scout.


Aspirin consistently starts out each series with great humor, wit and creativity. They are full of quirky characters, pleasant surprises, interesting notions. His characters are mostly dynamic.

Aspirin’s biggest weakness is failure to plan ahead. Invariably, the first three books of a series are clever, creative, humorous. They are worth the read. They are light fun. They are not deep. But when you continue to read any of his series, he obviously begins to confuse himself. It appears he never really thought he would sell more than three books in any given series. He writes himself into a corner every time, in terms of character evolution and plot. As the publishers offer him more contracts to continue these series, we find Aspirin writing convoluted and uncompelling plots to force a story to happen.

My advice in regards to Aspirin: read the first three novels of any of his series, then stop. Expect the entertainment level to be on par with a very good sitcom, like Seinfeld or That 70s Show, but not on par with a philosophical discussion with last year’s valedictorians from half a dozen Ivy-League schools.