Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch

This is the third copy of this book I have purchased. My daughter has one and refuses to relinquish it; I don’t blame her. I still have my original copy, a first edition, but it is fairly worn out and holds a place of reverence on a shelf of my all time favorite books by my all time favorite authors. Pratchett and Gaiman happen to head the roster of said authors. When Amazon Prime announced the soon to be released series based on the book, Good Omens, I knew it was time to read the book again even though I had re-read it for the God (or his/hers main opposite) knows how many time quite recently. Unfortunately I was afraid my time-worn, much loved, original might not survive another session. Thus my recent purchase of this latest copy. It is sturdy, well printed, it arrived on time and, after reading it again, I have lent it to my son with a stern warning that I WILL have it back. It is, and always has been, a great read, and such is the Prime Video of the series. Read the book, watch the series, and repeat as often as you wish to be entertained. I still mourn the loss of Terry Pratchett but Neil Gaiman wrote a masterful screen play that absolutely works. Start with the book, though, and I very highly recommend it.

It has been said that civilization is twenty-four hours and two meals away from barbarism.

This was quirky and a little on the odd side but totally fun. Heaven and Hell have basically been in a cold war for well forever it seems. Ever since Lucifer An Angel who did not so much Fall as Saunter Vaguely Downwards. became the bad guy the final show down has been in the works. But now, finally Satans son has been born and the prophecies all say that when he is Eleven the end of the world will finally come about.

The humor in this is really incredibly fun and I loved Aziraphale, the Angel who wasnt necessarily all good, and Crowley the demon who really wasnt that bad of a guy. Even more I enjoyed the friendship between them and how they worked both together and against each other.

Hell wasn’t a major reservoir of evil, any more then Heaven, in Crowley’s opinion, was a fountain of goodness; they were just sides in the great cosmic chess game. Where you found the real McCoy, the real grace and the real heart-stopping evil, was right inside the human mind.

This had an extensive cast that included the four horsemen (one was a woman) of the apocalypse, a witch or two, some Satanists (they werent really bad people), a gang of kids, a witchhunter and a dog.

There are a ton of funny little snippets here and there and I really enjoyed the cut and paste together style that had the reader jumping from group of characters to groups of characters as we go through the countdown to the final days.

This is supposed to be a tv series soon and it will be interesting to see how that goes. I think it will be a good time and lets face it at the end of the world you might as well have a good time.

Perfect for when you just want a good laugh and some ridiculousness in your life.

This is my 3rd Neil Gainman book. American Gods was amazing, Anansi Boys was find, but Good Omens let me down. Here’s the thing: the more witticisms and jokes you try to cram in a book the more likely you are, by the law of probability, that most of them will be duds. You are much more likely to succeed if you keep the jokes to a minimum, but make sure those few are really good. As others said, this book tries way too hard to be funny. Don’t write a book with the declared intention of it being “hilarious” or “the funniest book you’ll ever read”, because you only raise expectations to an unrealistic level. Much better to write it as a very good story, and the funny parts will be the icing on the cake.
The only characters I enjoyed were the angel and the demon, who happen to be unlikely buddies, and their interaction is usually entertaining. The 4 bikers of the Apocalypse are also a fresh take on the classic horsemen. Other than that, I really didn’t care much about anyone else, with some of the other characters (the witch hunters in particular) being right down obnoxious. I also couldn’t bring myself to care about the end of the world, and if you can’t make me care even a little bit about the most catastrophic event possible, you know you didn’t do it right. In fact, when I start hoping the end does come and wipes out these obnoxious people, you probably missed the mark by a long shot.
I think I’ll take a break from Gainman for a bit, since it seems every book I read is worse than the previous.

Excellent book! I have a separate copy I keep for lending. I love this book. It’s very well written and very tongue in cheek. Two wonderful authors, and the cover is beautiful.

This is truly the WORST Pritchett book I have ever read. I dont really adore the Ridcully/suitcase series, but there are still funny bits. But this book is just AWFUL. Just boring and tedious and the characters are uninteresting, and predictable. My son had to read this for a classwhen I saw it was Pritchett, I assured him with great confidence he was going to love it. He hated it. When he finished, I read it, thinking maybe he just didnt appreciate Pratchetts dry wit or play on words etc. Except there was none; I hated it, too. I cant understand all the rave reviews.