If at Faust You Don't Succeed

The cosmic battle between Good and Evil continues where Mephistopheles mistakenly recruits a common thief, Mack the Club, instead of the scholar Faust for a millennial contest, leading to a chaotic chase through history as the real Faust tries to catch up, with scheming demons and angels interfering in a zany, farcical retelling of the Faust legend.

This is the sequel to Bring Me the Head of Prince Charming, which I read (and enjoyed) at least twenty years ago. However, I recall being unable to get into this book and ultimately giving up on it. I gave it more of a chance this time and read the whole thing, but it never lived up to its predecessor. Honestly, it's a bit boring, and the writing style is uneven. Yes, it was written by two people, but sometimes it seemed like they alternated paragraphs without reading the previous one. The characters from the previous book do make appearances, but they're kind of shoehorned in, to the point where you don't need to have read the first book to follow this one - they don't have a whole lot to do with each other, other than both being about show more the Millennial Contest (the contest between Good and Evil to decide who gets to rule Earth for the next thousand years). All in all, pretty forgettable. show less

The celestial war is faught with the help of the humans, it was supposed to have been Faust but it ended up being Mack the Club, trying to rob Faust. A series of adventures in time with some famous characters. The story sometimes comes across as being a frame to visit historical characters on rather than being a truly coherent story. Fun and light but undemanding.

Not as funny as the first book, but it still have it's moments.

A vos marques ! Le nouveau concours entre les forces du Bien et du Mal va commencer ! Et le jeu en vaut la chandelle : le gagnant dirigera la destinée des hommes pendant un millénaire. Représentant de l'humanité : l'illustre Dr Faust, brillant alchimiste, maître penseur, et insupportable poseur.
Hélas, Méphistophélès, grand ordonnateur des épreuves, se trompe de concurrent et promène de siècle en siècle un voyou nommé Mack le Gourdin. Sa mission ? Changer le cours de l'histoire. De la prise de Constantinople à la fuite à Varennes, en passant par la Florence de Laurent le Magnifique, l'humanité semble bien mal barrée ! D'autant que tout le monde s'en mêle : sorcière, héros légendaires, demi-dieux... chacun défend show more son steack. Et Lui, tout là-haut au plus haut des cieux, qu'est-ce qu'Il fabrique pendant ce temps-là ? show less