Phule's Company

Phule's Company, Book 1

By: Robert Asprin

Narrated by: Noah Michael Levine

Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

After being court-martialed by the Space Legion for ordering the strafing of a treaty-signing ceremony, multimillionaire Willard Phule receives his punishment: He must command the misfit Omega Company on Haskin's Planet, a mining settlement on the edge of settled space. At his duty station, he leverages his personal money and a knack for managing people to get the company to come together as a unit. Phule convinces the governor to leave the contract for an honorary duty up for competition between the Space Legionnaires and the Regular Army. The Army sends some of their most elite troops to take part in the competition, but Phule's company operates with their own unique tactics....

©1990 Robert Asprin (P)2017 Tantor

Entitled know-it-all steamrolls misfit crew

As much as I liked this author’s Myth Adventure series, this one fell completely flat. Phule is a spoiled, arrogant brat who, when placed in charge of the military D-squad, proceeds to solve everyone’s problems with money or by smugly informing them how to better themselves (which he figures out by their first interaction). The supporting characters are minorities with rather typecast accents and personalities. The biggest problem, however, is boredom. There’s no humor or action, just this rich white dude and his butler bullying everyone.

For a better space romp, try the Space Team omnibus (books 1-3 for 1 credit).
For a space opera with wizards, try the Black Ocean omnibus (85 hrs for 1 credit)
For a gang of scoundrels in space, go with the Firefly series (some books currently free in Audible Plus)
For space opera featuring military tones, try Galaxy’s Edge (a mixed bag for me) or Forsaken Mercenary (Jason Bourne meets dystopian space opera).

LOVED the whole experience!

I was thrilled to find this Robert Asprin book finally made it to an audio version. I've read the book many many times over the years. The reader they chose was great! Looking forward to hopefully more books in this series brought to an audio format.

A fun listen.

What made the experience of listening to Phule's Company the most enjoyable?

A nice book to listen to when you just want to relax and listen to something but don't want to have to follow it too closely. It was funny, fun, and performed well. No complaints worth mentioning.

always a favorite

I have been reading Robert Asprin books since I was a child he has an excellent command of language a good sense of pacing and great ideas for his stories I highly recommend this author

Refreshing

I first read this book over 20 years ago and could never find it in a library or book store after that. Then I got lucking and found the whole series at a used book store and even in my 30's I still enjoyed every long night reading these books. Then Tantor comes out of left field and makes it an audio book, not only that but a very well done version too.

The misfits of the Omega Mob are great and now that I can sit back and just enjoy their antics it's even better. Do yourself a favor and give this one a listen, it's lighthearted, intriguing, and funny. You won't regret it.

Relic of the past

Clearly came from the 90's. Certain character depictions were verging on prejudice. Can't recommend.

Witty, fun, intellectual without baggage.

I am an “myth” enthusiast, Asprin’s other comical series, and though the setting is dipped in military flavor, it deliveries.

It’s definitely a story starter that alludes to more conflict it later books, but the lack of immediate threat doesn’t distract from the enjoyment of discovering Phule’s company.

The narration is excellent; the separate voices for each character are all expertly portrayed, and Robert’s use of different perspectives only enhance the experience.

This was a fun listen!

If You’ve tired of all the negativity going on out in the world right now, and you’d like a little escape and a chance to laugh, I heartedly recommend this book. If you are looking for a more gritty military sci-fi novel, then this may not be for you.

Please continue with series!

I love this series of books, and hope the reamining books are added to audible.

wasn't expecting much

a surprise with so much garbage I found a diamond in the dross. a nice tale that isn't woke or a lazy power fantasy. so kudos and looking forward to the sequels.