A Farce to Be Reckoned With [Mass Market Paperback]

Roger Zelazny (Author), Robert Sheckley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1996

Discovering on a recent sabbatical that mortality plays are all the rage, demon extraordinaire Azzie Elbub strikes back by producing an immortality play, but the forces of good are determined to close the show before it ever opens. Reprint.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The second collaboration between two sf veterans continues the comic adventures of demon Azzie Elbub as he strives to bring humanity to the cause of evil through cultural pursuits.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From Booklist

Azzie Elbub, the ever-resourceful, fox-faced demon last seen in Zelazny and Sheckley's If at Faust You Don't Succeed (1993), returns for more mischief in the never-ending cause of Bad against Good. Fresh from winning Hell's Evil Deed Award, Azzie quickly becomes bored and decides to stage a play--an immortality play, to be exact--and to use all of Renaissance Europe as a backdrop. Enlisting the aid of Italian playwright Pietro Aretino, Azzie offers to grant a wish to each member of a randomly selected cast and deviously prove thereby that sometimes people can get what they want without working for it. But with Azzie's old nemesis, the Archangel Michael, meddling in things, the play's course soon turns awry, and a Mongol horde from another timeline is poised to overrun Venice while the universe itself is on the verge of extinction. Zelazny and Sheckley's third visit to their anything-goes Hell-and-Heaven fantasy degenerates somewhat into unstructured silliness. Still, their humor remains intact, and fans looking for pure escapist fun will find nothing more satisfying than Azzie and company's misadventures. Carl Hays --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 292 pages
• Publisher: Spectra (January 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553573055
• ISBN-13: 978-0553573053
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,686,974 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars An awful piece of work., November 6, 2003

By 

Dan (Boulder CO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Farce to Be Reckoned With (Paperback)

I just finished 'A Farce to Be Reckoned With' by Roger Zelazny and Robert Sheckley. I've read a fair bit of Zelazny--the Amber novels and Lord Of Light and some others. This book looked more light hearted, but I figured I'd give it a try.

I was sorely disappointed. There's no plot. Or, rather, there is a plot, but it makes no sense. Plot turns are introduced (like the Greek gods getting free) and then dropped, willy nilly. There's a character called Peter Westfall who gets Pandora's Box at the beginning, but we never hear from him again. And at the end, we have a fight scene that is a total deus ex machina--the end of the book comes with no explanations.

Normally, you expect characters to have reasons for things they do. They can do weird things, but they should justify it to themselves, and have the actions be a natural outgrowth of their past. This is called characterization. Characters in this book have one sentence justifications for absurd actions. We have a nun who decides to deal with the devil, and an angel who is ordered to spy. There's a set of religious pilgrims headed toward Venice during the Middle Ages. A demon joins them, proves himself to be a demon, and they don't even run away from him.

The dialog is wretched. Everyone converses in a stilted manner. The description is campy; the authors apparently decided to focus on the clothing of women--there are attractive wimples and red low cut blouses galore.

It feels like this book has been subjected to random editing. Or perhaps worse than random, as I feel that there may have been malicious intent at confusing the reader. Characters pop up, disappear for a while, then pop up again with no explanation (an example is the young lady named Priscilla [or Puss]).

But you know what? All of the above flaws could have been forgiven if there had been any scene, any scene at all, that was funny. I wanted to forgive the flaws--I wanted to laugh--I read the entire book, didn't I? But I didn't even crack a smile the entire book. There were times I put it down and thought to myself, 'Why are you wasting your time?' I will admit, I finished the book (I think for the same reasons that folks slow down to look at a wreck on the highway).

Don't buy this book. If you want some funny fantasy, read 'A Night in the Lonesome October' (which is great!) or anything by Blaylock. Don't buy this book.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This book is really a mess., February 24, 2004

By 

WRaven "wraven6" (Denver) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Farce to Be Reckoned With (Paperback)

I barely managed to struggle my way through this book. Frankly, it's a mess. It is in desperate need of editing. It lurches unsteadily and introduces new themes and characters on a whim for no apparent purpose. The Mongol horde mentioned in one of the blurbs provided here at Amazon is a good example of this "kitchen sink" mentality. The way "the seven" end up sitting around waiting for a meaningless ceremony in the end also highlights the basically unorganized and ill-conceived nature of the story. There's really very little to recommend this book to anyone. Even farce and satire needs structure and a cohesive thread. I really don't understand how this book got published in this form.

There certainly could have been a decent story here (as there can be with any premise really) but it doesn't seem like there was any attempt made to tighten up the story and string it together properly. It read like a very early draft meant to demonstrate a couple of key points rather than assemble them into an entertaining story.

3.0 out of 5 stars Not my cup of tea. Maybe yours., November 5, 2011

By 

Tinker (Oregon outback) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: A Farce to Be Reckoned With (Paperback)

I am a dedicated Zelazny fan; have been since I was a kid. I loved most of his books, until I hit this one. To me, it is just too precious and forced. He came up with great ideas, way before his time, the way a really excellent Scifi/fantasy writer does. His imaginative and delightful phraseology just fights to get through this one. I got through it, but had to struggle with it. Will keep it, because his lesser writing is better than most writers' good work. Have not read the other reviews, but someone probably provided a synopsis. This was not my cup of tea, but Amber and Coils were a whole banquet.