Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman

10 reviews

overduck's review

adventurous funny lighthearted slow-paced

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

4.0

I made the mistake of watching the show before reading the book, and it turns out the tv show is a very faithful retelling of the book...which made the book boring. It's written incredibly well, and the writing style is very funny. I appreciated the occasional witty footnote. Ultimately, though, I didn't love this book for the same reason I prefer season 2 of the show: I pretty much only care about Aziraphale and Crowley, and so much time was dedicated to other characters that I felt like I was left wanting a lot more.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War and Car accident

Minor: Cursing, Homophobia, and Murder

a_random_fangirl's review

adventurous funny lighthearted 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, War, Animal death, Cursing, and Fire/Fire injury

julesadventurezone's review against another edition

adventurous funny medium-paced

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

3.75

The most delightful thing about this book are Aziraphale and Crowley, who have a lovely relationship and are also both just fun in their own ways.
I was deeply fascinated by how many different ways they found to call Aziraphale gay. Personal favourites include him collecting Oscar Wilde first editions, getting called three different anti-gay slurs, and frequenting discreet Victorian gentleman's clubs.
The book contains some killer quotes and I quite liked the ending. 

Unfortunately there's rather a lot of scenes you have to soldier through that are about character that didn't interest me despite their best efforts.
Also, as much as both Anathema and Madam Tracy are boring, they still deserve better boyfriends than the ones they end up with. Those dudes Suck.
The scenes that I hated the most were the ones apparently written mostly by just-Neil or just-Terry, which are the long passages of War and Famine that aged incredibly poorly, and children talking at each other for ages. 

There's also a lot of racism in this book, which is either supposed to be satire or just reflecting the way that white British people in 1990 thought about the rest of the world. Doesn't change the fact that it's racist, though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Homophobia, Violence, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Gun violence, Xenophobia, Cursing, Racism, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Ableism, Car accident, and Confinement

lambclown's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny hopeful informative lighthearted relaxing fast-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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Religious bigotry, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Racism, Body horror, Fatphobia, Alcohol, Homophobia, Murder, Gun violence, and Misogyny

eddiesourboy's review against another edition

adventurous funny 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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Murder, War, Alcohol, and Death

Minor: Homophobia and Racism

meganpbennett's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted 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? It's complicated

4.0

A while after watching the short TV series, I finally read Good Omens, which everyone has been telling me to read for years. It was funny, though a lot of things happened at once. The first half of the book really felt as though I was missing part of the series, like when you accidentally pick up book two in a series, and while it does stand on its own, you miss some important details about the characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Body horror, Car accident, Murder, Death, Racism, Racial slurs, Violence, Homophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Sexism, Ableism, Body shaming, and War

mobymaize's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Murder, Religious bigotry, Violence, and War

Moderate: Animal death, Cultural appropriation, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Torture, Alcohol, Car accident, and Sexism

Minor: Homophobia, Racism, and Slavery

bi_n_large's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, War, and Racism

Minor: Bullying, Murder, Death, and Xenophobia

skudiklier's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child death, Eating disorder, Murder, Car accident, and Death

Moderate: War, Ableism, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexism, Racism, and Homophobia

Minor: Sexual content, Torture, Sexual assault, Genocide, and Infidelity

major_tom's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

5.0

It’s an amazing book worth reading to anyone. It has witty jokes, original story telling and unique premise with very relevant themes. Be careful if you’re British, though. And either very easily offended, or overly patriotic to an extent of ridiculousness.

It was adapted to TV series (with season 2 confirmed now!) so you definitely should check that out. It’s very close to the book, so if you can, I would suggest watching first. To me, I would have found it hard to understand some bits in the book if I didn’t watch Good Omens first (but I’m not native speaker, so take it with a grain of salt).
 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcohol, Death, Genocide, Murder, and Religious bigotry