Bring Me the Head of Prince Charming

This book is light and funny and thoroughly enjoyable to read. The plot is a novel idea - a demon tries to set up a fairy tale (Sleeping Beauty) so that it comes out wrong to prove that evil is more at work in the world than good. To do this, he constructs the principle characters (Beauty and the Prince) from parts of other people that are expressly chosen to make their task unlikely (cowardly legs for the prince and a scorned woman’s head for Beauty). Through it all he is fighting a bureaucratic system of evil (of course evil is entirely bureaucracy, it only fits) and an angel who can summon whatever he needs at a moment’s notice. The book and the writing are delightfully funny.

This is a very well written book. The plot is paced show more well and the pace is generally good, varying from laid back to fast paced. The characters are also extremely well done. Azzie, the demon, is creepy and very much trying to be evil, even if sometimes one can’t help but feel for him. His “assistant”, Frike, is perhaps creepier than the actual demon, although his is human. His desire to partake in any questionable activity that Azzie can come up with is endlessly entertaining. Babriel, an angel set to make certain Azzie doesn’t cheat, is another fascinating character. He isn’t good as one generally thinks of angels, but he is good to a fault and the dichotomy there (he helps everyone, because that is good, even a demon) makes him an interesting character to watch. My favourite of the main characters was the witch, Ylith. She was funny and realistic at the same time. She added a much needed touch of human common sense to the book. The cast was very well balanced.

This is a light book and generally a pretty quick read. I enjoy it a great deal and defiantly recommend it to anyone else! show less

The demon Azzie Elbub tries to win a millennial contest between good and evil by orchestrating a fairy tale with a prince and princess, but his plans go comically wrong. Azzie tries manipulating human events to prove evil's superiority, but the humans' choices and the interference of an angel, Babriel, lead to unexpected and amusing results, making it a lighthearted take on classic fairy tales and cosmic struggles.

I read this at least twenty years ago and remember enjoying it, and it was fun to read as an adult too. Nothing to be taken too seriously - after all, it's about a demon cobbling together Prince Charming and Sleeping Beauty out of body parts in order to win the Millennial contest between Good and Evil - but still a fun bit of light fantasy. I've always been a fan of Heaven vs. Hell stories, and the sheer goofiness of this one adds a little something extra. It's a good waiting room book.

Fun and wel written, but in my opinion a significant notch under the classic Zelazny (Lord of Light, Amber, Changeling).
I feel it is fun to see Zelazny and Sheckley trying their hand at writing Pratchett style. They do not, however manage to get that over-the-top-and-then-some quality of Discworld novels.

Ever seen a film trailer, watched the film and thought that the trailer was actually better? e.g. Pearl Harbour or The Phantom Menace? Well, this book is similar - the premise seems potentially hilarious but the book is merely mildly amusing.

A neat example of the 'demon from hell as hero' genre. Always amusing and occasionally very clever, as the central character Azzie tries to assemble a living version of Sleeping Beauty to corrupt as evil's entry in the Millenium competition. Many delights.

A good farce of the usual fairy tale story, Azzie sets out to prove that evil is better. A great cast of characters make this an entertaining read. It was also good to discover that the Hell operates as a proper bureaucracy, that just seems right.