elderwoodreads's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • 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

3.5

I was hoping to like this one a lot more than I did. I love the setup, an angel and a demon working together to prevent the end of the world, but it ended up not being what I had pictured. As other reviewers pointed out I was surprised by the lack of Aziraphale and Crowley story line, and I found the middle of the story hard to follow at times. I would like to revisit this with a physical copy to see if I enjoy it better, at which point I would review it again. I will say there were moments that genuinely made me laugh, and the parts of the story I found emjoyable were excellent. 

Also, as others have warned there is outdated language used in this book, additionally this particular narrator used some racist accents at times. 

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melsage1823's review against another edition

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

3.5

I never thought I would say this but this story was way better as a tv show and I'm glad Gaiman adapted this as such. A fun story but I can't ethically recommend due to the out dated languaged used because as a marginalised person it just makes me icky. 

There's a saying that some books aren't for you and this was sort of the case. I really struggled to follow the plot as a dyslexic and Autistic reader. The "chapters" we're very thick and I felt like it would have been better if there were chapter titles in places and not just a capital letter. 

It felt weird that even though Crowley and Aziraphale are the main characters that they barley are in the book. I think as a result of having so many characters the book became very overload especially with the sections about the four horse men. I wish the povs had been separated chapters.

Again develops from my second point but the characters didn't seem fleshed out enough. I wanted to route for Aziraphale, Crowley and Adam but I didn't feel like I got to know them that well as well as their personal stories.

However despite that it wasn't a terrible read for me. The dynamic between Aziraphale and Crowley absolutely carried the book whole heartedly, their bond creates perfect comedic moments that will have you laughing as you turn the page.

I love the fact that the story balances its comedy which allows for the complex message and moral of the story be processed. A lot of stories these days often struggle to balance comedy but is done very well in this story, the comedy in the story did not take anything away from the serious moments. The comedy is at its best when its from the dynamic of Crowley and Aziraphale as well as Anathema Device and Newt Pulsiver. 

The footnotes all though sometimes exhausting to read were absolutely hilarious and added alot of fun but comedic elements to the story. All the footnotes helped wrap the story in a neat bow including the long rambly ones.

Overall a book I cannot ethically recommend but if you've seen the TV show or want to read a mind bending book about armagedon go ahead. Despite its major flaws it was still a super fun ride.

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books_in_running_brooks's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0


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meganpbennett's review against another edition

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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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sherlockstan98's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character

5.0


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rgraham's review against another edition

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4.0


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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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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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ashisreading's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny hopeful fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • 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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