Hit or Myth

I was apparently intrigued enough by the description in the Daedalus catalog to order this book when our local library did not have it. Apparently, author Robert Asprin has been writing this humorous fantasy series since the 70's and this is the 4th installment in the "Myth Adventures" series. Skeeve is the "court magician" in the kingdom of Possiltum, whose mentor, Aahz, is a Pervect (not to be confused with pervert). But Aahz gets kidnapped back to his own dimension and so for the first part of the book, Skeeve is on his own when King Rodrick asks him to use his disguising spell and take over the throne for a day. Only it turns out that the king does a runner because he does not want to marry the highly ambitious princess from the neighboring kingdom. And to top it off, the Mob has sent representatives to Possiltum looking for their army that disappeared. But with some quick thinking, Skeeve is able to send the Mob off to another dimension to practice the art of extortion among the merchants at the Deva Bazaar. Friends help Skeeve find the king and put him back on the throne and Aahz rejoins the group in time to head off to Deva and deal with the Mob.
This is billed as a "humorous fantasy series" which draws heavily on word play and would be appropriate for young readers, maybe 9 to 12 years old. Not interesting enough to fully engage me or seek out more, although I did finish this book since I paid for it ;-) I will pass it along to a great niece or nephew.