Rating: 
Summary: Love Peter David
Review: I was first introduced to him through his Star Trek work (one of their best authors). Sir Apropos is a completely different style but engaging none the less. Alternating between cheering him on and wanting the beat him, Sir Apropos will none the less keep you laughing and interested to the last page.
Rating: 
Summary: A Tragicomic Antihero
Review: I'd give this book three and a half stars if I could, but I can't quite justify a fourth star. It was very good in parts, and the idea of making a hero of the wry comic relief stock character was a good concept. But the book suffers from a bit of a cumbersome back story and a tendency to overstate the obvious. I did like the book, but I wouldn't follow this character's adventures through more than a couple books. If this is an open-ended series, I wouldn't pick up the next book. As of this review, there are three books in the series. If it's going to stop at 3, I might finish them. Time will tell.It starts out with a genuinely funny situation in which Apropos is holding the sword that is protruding from the chest of a knight. Unfortunately, once out of that situation, the author launches into the origin story of how Apropos arrived in that situation - which lasts over 200 dull and somewhat depressing pages. If you can persevere past page 300, you might find the story entertaining after all. If the story were about 250 pages shorter, it would be a lot better, and a lot of that extra bulk could be taken out of this origin story. The story is told from the perspective of Apropos, who is the product of the gang-rape of a tavern wench by a group of visiting knights. After the rape, she feels she has nothing left to lose and so continues to support herself by becoming a prostitute at that tavern. After Apropos is forced to leave home (is it a spoiler to tell something that has happened before page 1, but isn't told until page 200?) he goes to the court of King Runcible of Isteria to right some wrongs that were done to him, and instead becomes a squire to the doddering old Sir Umbrage. After he is sent on a mission to retrieve the Princess, who has spent the last several years being schooled in a far-off convent, his adventure truly begins. In his origin and early adventures, Apropos is a thoroughly contemptible character, very self-centered and cowardly. However many of the things he does out of greed or cowardice end up working out better than the heroic options might have. Later on in the story, he grows a little bit, which in a way spoils his appeal. His unheroic methods defined the character, and to see the resolution of the book hinge on his learned selflessness is a bit of a disappointment. The main problem with this book is the same as with most of the fantasy I've seen labeled as comical satire or humor. With very few exceptions, the genre fails on the same point - it just isn't that funny all the way through. And given the comical nature of the title, along with the description on the back of the book, a lot of the book is far too serious. There are long stretches where it reads just like any other adventure novel. There are numerous puns populating the world of Apropos. Some of the puns are passable, but some are heavily strained, like the 3-page back-story to arrive at the pun-based name of the group of male harpies - the Harpers Bizarre. There are a number of very funny parts of this book, but they're rather scattered. The writing itself is not as good as it could be. While parts of the dialogue are brilliant, there is a tendency to overstate a point in narration, needlessly complicating the prose. Almost every page for the first 400, I found a paragraph that, were I Peter David's editor, would have picked apart as shamelessly overwritten. David also has a tendency to overuse certain words. I counted about a dozen too many uses of the word "formidable" in various contexts in the first chapter alone. Almost as many "endeavor" abuses in later chapters. So, other than the fact that it's too long, this is not a bad book. Not a must-read by any means, but not without its merits. It sets up the history and adventures of Sir Apropos of Nothing, with just enough comedy to keep it from turning into a serious attempt at heroic fantasy. The next books probably wouldn't be encumbered by the need to take 12 chapters out of the narration to set up the characters. Most of where it falls down is in the writing, with the writer taking three sentences to say what the reader already knows from one. It could have gone through a couple more re-writes before seeing print.
Rating: 
Summary: Not as much magic, but - Flashman meets Tolkien
Review: I've never seen any of the Blackadder shows so I can't say whether or not it can be compared to them, but as the book jacket says, you can definitely find elements of Harry Flashman all through "Sir Apropos of Nothing". This is a completely unique fantasy novel and the funniest thing I've read in years. The plot is your basic tried and true fantasy story, something I'm sure you've read a hundred times before - but never with a leading man like this. Apropos is a greedy coward who always looks out for his own interests ahead of everyone else's. The problem is that, just like Flashman, an awful lot of people mistake his selfishness for nobility - and if it'll advance his causes he doesn't do anything to change their minds about it. Apropos isn't as over the top as Sir Harry, but he's a definite first cousin to that noted rascal. If you've read any of the Flashman stories you already know the basic plot, even allowing for the insertion of elements of fantasy into the story. Still, I have to deduct a star for some of the more glaringly obvious puns. "Sir Umbrage of the Flaming Nether Regions"? Please!
Rating:
Summary: Not as much magic, but - Flashman meets Tolkien
Review: I've never seen any of the Blackadder shows so I can't say whether or not it can be compared to them, but as the book jacket says, you can definitely find elements of Harry Flashman all through "Sir Apropos of Nothing". This is a completely unique fantasy novel and the funniest thing I've read in years. The plot is your basic tried and true fantasy story, something I'm sure you've read a hundred times before - but never with a leading man like this. Apropos is a greedy coward who always looks out for his own interests ahead of everyone else's. The problem is that, just like Flashman, an awful lot of people mistake his selfishness for nobility - and if it'll advance his causes he doesn't do anything to change their minds about it. Apropos isn't as over the top as Sir Harry, but he's a definite first cousin to that noted rascal. If you've read any of the Flashman stories you already know the basic plot, even allowing for the insertion of elements of fantasy into the story. Still, I have to deduct a star for some of the more glaringly obvious puns. "Sir Umbrage of the Flaming Nether Regions"? Please!
Rating:
Summary: Original and Problematical
Review: If you're sick of the usual wit-barren, predictable, and badly written book product (Jordan, Eddings, Brooks, Lackey) then this one might be worth a try, but beware, not all the of nasty stuff is dealt out by safely cliche villains. The style is funny, evocative, and for the most part controlled. (David tends to fall into repetitive rants, and the "big insight" segment that goes on for several pages could better have been reduced to one paragraph; as it is the reader keeps muttering, "Right, I get the point already, oh, not ANOTHER iteration..."). The whole Tacit subplot doesn't work for me--it's so thoroughly unpleasant that it seems forced, but despite all that I kept reading, wanting to reach the end. Further, I hope David writes another one.
Rating:
Summary: Easy to relate to
Review: If you've ever felt like no matter what you do, life takes a bite out of your fanny, read this book. Unlike a lot of reviewers, I'll keep it short. Its good, its funny, its worth a few bucks for the entertainment.
Rating:
Summary: This book is much cleverer than some reviewers :)
Review: It's not an accident that so many people have given this book five stars. After reading the likes of Tolkein, Donaldson, Kerr, Herbert, etc., this book is the most profound breath of fresh air that I've read in a long time. I am very much looking forward to reading book 2.
Rating:
Summary: Sir Apropos of Nothing
Review: Peter David is a genius. There, I said it, that settles it. His books are always entertaining and Sir Apropos of Nothing certainly is. I won't bother with the plot/character review thing. It doesn't matter. Buy this book. Read it. You will enjoy it. I read it while on vacation. Big mistake. It would have been like a vacation if I read it during the work week. When my son (age 17) asked me what is was about, I told him: "500 pages". That is the effect the book will have on you. Relax. Read. Be Happy.
Rating:
Summary: don't ya just love Peter David?
Review: Peter David is a wonderful writer. It's as if he is here in person telling me a story.
Rating:
Summary: Undeniably Hilarious Tale of Antiheroism!
Review: Peter David's "Sir Apropos of Nothing" introduces the titular character, an anti-hero that is equal parts George Castanza and Sir Percival. Crammed with more biting sarcasm than a Sam Kinison rant, chock full of (oft accidental) derring-do, and replete with enough terrible puns to choke a hippogriff, "Apropos" is a wonderful read for fans of the fantasy genre.
(Here's just one sample of the excruciating puns David tosses off so effortlessly -- a bunch of harpies mate with a gang of lepers, giving birth to a brood of insane male harpies . . . the Harpers Bizarre! As Charlie Brown would say, "Aaauuuugghhh!")
Be warned -- this book is not for everyone! Apropos, born lame (but with a full set of teeth and eager to bite) after his mother was gang-raped by seven nights, is a selfish, cynical, unfaithful, back-stabbing conniver and fast-talker, and he's surrounding by more incompetent boobs than you can shake a bastard sword at. Apropos has few motivations in this life -- avenging his mother's murderer, exacting vengeance on his father, and protecting his own skin. Oddly enough, he's rather capable and gets to pursue all three across some truly enchanted lands.
It's a general staple of the fantasy genre that our hero, invariably a down-trodden diamond-in-the-rough, will form up a merry little band of eccentric, talented diamonds-in-the-rough and lead them on exciting adventures, generally to their mutual advancement and well-being. Unfortunately, those who meet Apropos rarely end the day with a smile on their face. From Apropos' first true friend, the imminent hero Tacit, to the occasionally-insane/occasionally ravishing princess Entipy, to various and sundry knights, kings, and other characters, most finish the novel either dead or gnashing their teeth in frustration at the havoc young Apropos wreaks on their lives.
David keeps the reader jumping as the tale spins out over nearly 500 pages, but the book never seems to run out of steam. Things get a wee bit icky at the end, with some delicate family history coming to the fore, but for the most part this is a side-splitter for those who love the fantasy genre enough to watch it skewered, roasted, and washed down with a hearty dose of bile.
If you're looking for a parallel reference, at the risk of saying "If you liked X, you'll love this," allow me to say that if you were a fan of either "Bored of the Rings" or Piers Anthony's "Xanth" novels, this book should be right up your alley.
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