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.


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


Book Description
On a devilish sabbatical in Europe, Azzie discovers that morality plays are all the rage. He decides to strike back by producing an "immorality play", in which seven nondescript human pilgrims will be allowed by magic to attain their hearts' desires. But the forces of Good are determined to close the play before it opens. New characters suddenly start roaming the stage, such as a Grateful Dead-listening Cyclops, and Azzie's own protagonists begin changing their hearts' desires on the slightest whim. This is one theatrical production that could do without an angel - and there's even worse news waiting in the wings...


The publisher, Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.
"Demon Azzie Elbub, winner of perdition's Evil Deed Award, wants to create a cultural artifact for his side so attractive that humanity will want to do Bad's work. The answer strikes him in a flash. Azzie will use his Evil Deed bonus to commission a great play in which the Seven Deadly Sins are shown to be the true path to a fine life. But the angel Babriel has gotten wind of the scheme, and sets in motion a duel of titanic--and hilarious--proportions, reaching from the halls of Limbo to the very edge of the new millennium, in this charming and deliciously enjoyable novel from two of the greatest sly storytellers on either side of the afterlife."Zelazny and Sheckley make for a synergy that's just about unequaled in fantasy humor."--Minneapolis Star-Tribune

ANNOTATION

Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Roger Zelazny once again teams with Robert Sheckley for the latest comic fantasy starring demon extraordinaire, Azzie Elbub. On a devilish sabbatical in Europe, Azzie discovers that morality plays are all the rage, so he strikes back by producing an immorality play.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

On a devilish sabbatical in Europe, Azzie discovers that morality plays are all the rage. He decides to strike back by producing an "immorality play," in which seven nondescript human pilgrims will be allowed by magic to attain their hearts' desires. But the forces of Good are determined to close the play before it opens. New characters suddenly start roaming the stage, such as a Grateful Dead-listening Cyclops, and Azzie's own protagonists begin changing their hearts' desires on the slightest whim. This is one theatrical production that could do without an angel - and there's even worse news waiting in the wings...

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal