Reviews with content warning for Blood - Good Omens

Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman

11 reviews

madi_oasis's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I thoroughly enjoyed the audiobook with the full cast, it felt like an immersive story that I was part of, watching the days counting down towards Armageddon like a proverbial fly on a wall.

The world building of the human realm is so fascinating, and the character development between the main cast is palpable and satisfying.

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annamorgan27's review

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adventurous emotional funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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bi_n_large's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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helhas3letters's review

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I had so much fun reading this. It's a dryly humorous and very British account of the biblical armageddon, as told through the eyes of an angel, a demon, 2 witchfinders, 2 witches, a fraudulent medium, the four horsemen (motorcyclists) of the apocalypse, and an 11-year-old antichrist. It has endearing characters, exciting plot points, and a lovely - actually quite profound - prodding at philosophical concepts of morality.

There were a lot of characters in different settings, so I did have to make a particular effort to concentrate on remembering all the names, who they were, and where we left them. This fortunately had a beautiful payoff when most of the narratives ended up weaving together towards the end. I most enjoyed reading the parts with the angel Aziraphale and the demon Crowley, and the Four (i.e. the four horsemen of the apocalypse).

I found this novel very easy to read. Both authors adapt to each other's writing styles seamlessly; I really couldn't tell if any sections were written by either one of them. I almost wrote here that the end of the book comes about very quickly compared to the first half, but then I realised that that's just because I raced through the final 150-or-so pages in one night. A testament(!) to its readability?

Although it was very definitely written by two white men in the 90s, it's generally a pleasant read, with not many "wow how did this even get printed back then" moments. Most of the important main characters are male and there's not much racial diversity - but I've been told the TV show is decent with regards to the latter. If you can turn off that side of your brain for a bit, it's a great novel.

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kerttuli's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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lucinotlucy's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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skudiklier's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Hmm. I liked this book more by the last third or so, but still, it took me a while to get into it. There were a lot of dark violent things that deeply bothered me, even though they were usually taken back or didn't happen or whatever. I think I might like the show more. I did like the last few bits a lot though.

Edit/update: I do like the show more, and that's made me want to bump my review of the book up to 4 stars?? But I'm not going to because that seems silly. But I'd maybe recommend watching the show and then reading the book. A fair amount is different, and maybe it'll make the show harder to understand (?), but I think doing things in that order would have made me enjoy the book more. I like the show and am excited for the second season, but I also don't like it enough to want to reread the book haha.

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laurenfro22's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Definitely a funny and irreverent story, I thoroughly enjoyed the style of writing. Both Gaiman and Prachett are masterful wordsmiths and the premise of the book was really fun and sacrilegious and I loved it.

Some things were kind of hard to get over. In particular there were some sections with very serious lapses in judgement with regard to race and racism, as well as fatphobia and homophobia. It definitely takes you out of the story a bit, especially their use of slurs, which while common back in the 90s, are still sharp against the ear and I feel inexcusable. Just something to be aware of going into the book. I may watch the show as I’ve heard good things about the revamping.

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cemeterygay's review

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hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

This is one of my favorite books that I read almost every year. The humor is just amazing. I love the interactions between all the different characters and I enjoyed reading every single character. Aziraphale and Crowley are fantastic main characters who really help keep the mood of the book right on point. The one bit a beef I have with this book is (relatively unimportant to the main storyline spoiler)

why was the scene between Anathema and Newton necessary. It just feels like weirdly misogynistic.

I would 1000% recommend this book to others who are looking for a fun book with fantastical elements.

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booksthatburn's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I liked most of this. The characters are engaging, the angel and demon are fantastic, the plot is pretty well paced, and most of the humor is spot on. However, it has threads of homophobia wound throughout the book, despite the character in question canonically being "sexless". A lot of the homophobic jokes are made by characters we're meant to dislike, but it disrupted my enjoyment of an otherwise great story.

If you're looking to the book to see if you'd like the show, the homophobia and pacing issues are some of the things that the show fixed, and I recommend you just watch that instead of trying to read the original material.

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