Customer Reviews

A Farce To Be Reckoned With

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

While the writing of the individual scenes is good, when I finished this fragment which masquerades as a complete story I struggled to remember if I had ever read a worse book. I still have not thought of one. It is obviously an unfinished manuscript - it's filled with foreshadowing that foreshadows nothing, characters that disappear without a trace, and storylines that simply stop.

I am a huge fan of Roger Zelazny - I've collected everything by him that I've been able to find. As a very loyal fan I must say that this farce is a shame on his memory and, since it was written in the year he died, obviously not his fault.

This is only for the most die-hard loyalists or kindling.

This series (Bring Me The Head of Prince Charming, A Farce to be Reckoned With, and If at Faust you Don't Succeed) are, along with A Night In the Lonesome October, the polished works of a master.

I believe that when he wrote these, Zelazny knew he was dying. The writing is sparse, the plotting tight, the works polished before pen went to paper - or that's how they read, anyway. Beautiful, beautiful work.

Put them back in print, dammit!

A Farce to Be Reckoned with is the best book that I have ever read. Even though the book starts out slow the fast chapter breaks make it a book that needs no bookmarks. I have read the complete Chronicles of Amber three times and the comedy that he displays in this book can only be compared to the duel with the sphinx. It's a book that will entertain and make you think at the same time. This is a must buy for any Zelazny fan!

I read this book in russian translation. And very disappointed that an original one is out of stock