Reviews with content warning for Animal death - Good Omens

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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mobymaize's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging funny lighthearted medium-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

4.5

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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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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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bluejayreads's review

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adventurous funny medium-paced

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

4.0

I've never read anything by Neil Gaiman, so I can't speak for that, but if you like the way Terry Pratchett's books are written then you'll thoroughly enjoy this. (I also have not seen the show yet, since I was strongly advised by a friend to read the book first, but I will be watching that eventually.)

Aziraphale the angel and Crowley the demon are a lot of fun in the way they contrast. Aziraphale is strict, fastidious, and always plays by the rules. Crowley is bold, hedonistic, and not a huge fan of rules. They're enjoyable in their own right and especially fun when they bounce off each other.

The book also has a remarkable amount of other point-of-view characters - such as Anathema Device, a witch and the last descendant of Agnes Nutter and possessor of the only book of her prophecies (which are very accurate, if not very clear); Newton Pulsifer, who fails at most things and joins the nearly-defunct Witchhunter Army nearly by accident; and Adam, the Antichrist, who I really didn't like much at all (possibly because he was the Antichrist and not supposed to be liked, possibly because he was an 11-year-old boy in small-town England in the late 80s, which is about as far from relatable as it's possible to be from a mid-twenties nonbinary person in a medium city in America in the 2020s).

It also contains a delightful cast of secondary characters, including the slightly batty and only other Witchhunter Army member Sargent Shadwell, the fake psychic and probably-sex-worker Madame Tracey, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and a crotchety old man who writes so many complaints to the local newspaper that they don't have room to print them all and who only shows up for one chapter but I think it's the funniest chapter in the book.

This whole book is funny, though. In between the whole "end of the world" and "cosmic battle between good and evil" and "literal Antichrist and son of Satan" bits, you also have laugh-out-loud lines and hilarious moments where ordinary people are completely gobsmacked by supernatural things that seem very ordinary to most of our main cast.

This review is not going to accurately encapsulate this book, because this book is a lot of things. It's a bit of a rumination on human nature, and a bit about how the Divine Plan doesn't make a lot of sense (or doesn't seem to be planned at all), and quite a lot of implications that good and evil aren't all that different when it comes down to it, but it also has flying saucers, people being in underground tunnels without really being sure why, Atlantis, rains of fish, Crowley and Aziraphale being mistaken for a gay couple, major highways actually being demonic symbols, and a lot of humor.

This book is long (or maybe it just feels that way since almost everything that happens takes place over about 7 days). I will admit, I skimmed over several of the longer tangents and only read about half of the footnotes. But it's still quite enjoyable, and if you enjoy Terry Pratchett's works, you'll enjoy this one too.

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