The Outsorcerer's Apprentice by Tom Holt

 This was an impulse buy I made during Christmas shopping. I was rather stymied by trying to figure out some sort of gift for my brother-in-law. Now, I love Vincent, but he's one of those people who generally tends to buy what he really wants so gift giving ideas either come from a list that he quite helpfully supplies (really, it is very helpful) but isn't very satisfying or is an expedition in trying to find something he doesn't know he wants which is thrilling when it works. Since Vince hadn't gotten around to supplying a list this year, I found myself browsing the novels and tripped across this book.

I'm not sure if it's a British thing per se, but there's a certain humorous tone I associate with fantasy novels that come from British authors. Not all of them of course, but enough so that I've started actively looking for these fantasy novels that are high on satire, full of fun characters, and crammed with dry wit. Think like a less grumpy Douglas Adams. It turns out Tom Holt fits the bill and has been writing since the 80's. He's got a ton of books out and I'd never even heard of him until now. 

This particular novel posits that in a multiverse there are realities that can be leveraged to provide cheap labor and goods for our reality. Sure their are issues, but a properly motivated businessman can make the tough decisions to work it out. And all of this works for thousands of years from the perspective of the fantasy realm being exploited by the businessman calling himself "the wizard". It works until a hapless physics student decides to pop over to the fantasy as a break in preparing for his dissertation defence. 

He spends sometime knocking around as a somewhat idiotic prince little realizing how much he's being contaminated by the physical laws of the reality. Additionally, his presence is changing the local inhabitants who begin to notice how things around them don't quite seem to make sense. It's hilarious and I love it.

Unfortunately? Fortunately? (I don't know which) It turns out that this is the third book in a four book series. Clearly, I need to read the  rest of the series although I honestly had no inkling that it was part of a series until Ryan looked it up.