Good Omens

Rating:
Summary: skip it
Review: First, I've only read about 125 pages of this book so perhaps it has some dramatic improvements I'm missing...BUT overall it isn't very clever and it's rather uninteresting. There are pages of setup for jokes that fall flat. It's British so you may have trouble if you're American and don't know some British slang (Tubes are subways etc..) I have a pretty eclectic sense of humor and this book didn't appeal to any of the wide-ranging aspects of humor I appreciate- irony, sarcasm, wacky stuff, satire, wit, ..this had none worth mentioning.

Rating:
Summary: "Crowley blessed under his breath . . ."
Review: That's because Crowley is a demon. "Cursing" under his breath doesn't offer a demon the emotional release the opposite expression would provide. Crowley is one of The Two. His opposite number, Azariphale, is an angel. For six thousand years [Ussher missed the correct time of creation by fifteen minutes], they have wandered the planet awaiting the final encounter - Armageddon. The arrival of the AntiChrist on Earth is what they've been preparing for. Of course, it means both of them will thereby be laid off. No more job.

Pratchett and Gaiman's story of Christianity's two-millennia-long fulfillment episode is outstanding. With their combined wit and inventiveness, "Good Omens" is at least a laugh per page. A subset of humanity has blamed The Evil One for various wars, disasters and Labour governments. Not so, according to Crowley, who should know. Each time he thinks he's devised a truly fiendish torment to apply to humans, they've usually gotten in before him. And exceeded his expectatations. When it comes to vindictiveness, it seems nothing can outdo the human species.

There's another side to humans, however. It's sometimes discovered among children, who haven't learned the kinds of nastiness adults can develop. Among the children of the remote British town of Tadfield is a four-member gang, the Them. Three lads and a red-haired girl struggle to understand the adult world. One of them, Adam, has a certain level of leadership. He also has a dog - named "Dog". A recent acquisition of Adam's, Dog has been developing a taste for rabbits, a novelty compared to his previous diet.

Although the authors kindly provide a "Dramatis Personae" at the book's opening, listing various real and supernatural beings, one group enjoys a particular place in this book. Witches have endured some interesting shifts in our history. Where once they were dumped in the nearest scum-covered pond or fried upright bound to a post, now they have a new image. Today it's health food, long beaded necklaces and ley lines. Anathema Device, who may [or may not] be the descendent of Agnes Nutter, takes her role quite seriously. After all, she has The Book. The subtitle of "Good Omens" says it all [except you will relearn the definition of "nice"]. Agnes foretold the future in astonishing detail and precision - a capacity surprising Azariphale and occupying Anathema's time.

Bringing all these disparate elements together seems an impossible task. Especially since the logical conclusion would leave the book with a set of blank pages at the end. Pratchett and Gaiman, who both have proved inventive in devising conclusions, don't fail you here. Find out how they deal with Armageddon. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Rating:
Summary: British humor at it's best
Review: I usually don't like "funny" books, but this one is witty. I love the depiction of the representives of heaven and hell as cohorts rather than enemies. I am a Neil Gaiman fan from Neverwhere and thought I would give this book a try and was so impressed by it I bought another copy to send to my brother. I'm not good a reviews, but your life is lacking seriously in mirth if you do not get this book!

Rating:
Summary: The Earth's a Libra!
Review: This is one of the funniest books I've read since leaving my Douglas Adams novels at a friend's house. I laughed out loud at many points in the story, which I don't do very often. At others, I couldn't even do that - I had to rock back and forth, gasping and smacking the table.

Crowley and Aziraphale are the representatives of hell and heaven, respectively. Crowley has to make sure that the Anti-Christ grows up to be the Anti-Christ. Aziraphale is also supposed to, because heaven wants celestial warfare. The problem is, they're both rather fond of the human race, not to mention this planet. But bad stuff's starting to happen - the four horsemen of the apocalypse are showing up (on motorcycles. And Pestilence retired. Pollution took his place.) and the seas are turning to blood. It's getting bad.

It's also really funny, if you pay any attention to Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. Admittedly, the plot does drag a little in the middle (Adam the Anti-Christ and his friends are cute, yeah, but they're just not as good as Aziraphale and Crowley) but it's worth it. It really is. There are so many funny, little things in it ("Newt did not smoke, because he would not allow tobacco to enter the temple of his body, or rather, the Welsh tin tabernacle of his body...") that all the slow bits seem much faster. There are jokes about Welsh-Language television, New-Age spirituality, satanists, seventeenth-century English, fast food, diets, tabloids, and almost anything else you can think of. I advise giving a copy to everyone you know.

Rating:
Summary: James DeWitt said it best
Review: I'll keep this short. I adore Douglas Adams and the twisted wry humour found in both his "Hitchhiker's Trilogy" and the books of the Dirk Gently series. The blurb said it was similar. I gave it a try. It was.

You will especially enjoy this if you have:
1) a DECENT working knowledge of Christianity (to get some of the subtle digs)
2) a knowledge of pop culture depictions of evil (the Exorcist movies and the like)
3) the ability to laugh at your own religious perspectives

I consider myself an evangelical and thought this was laugh out loud outrageous. But if you're of the mindset that God can't take a joke, well, you're probably better off with a different book...

Rating:
Summary: "And not one single sushi restaurant."
Review: Good Omens is mostly terrific for its details. Whether it is the tapes which all turn into The Greatest Hits of Queen if you leave them in the car for too long or whether it is the continuing discussion about the nature of the word "nice", the book is full of sharp moments that make you laugh. Gaiman and Pratchett clearly have a great deal of fun with this book. The fun is infectous and the reader cannot help but share in the joke.

Good Omens is laced with a thoroughly unobjectionable moral about tolerance and balance. I would recommend it as a great gift for a teenage reader (paired with the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, perhaps?). Any readers interested in satire or fantasy should find it an engaging use of time.

Be aware, Good Omens is significantly different from the other works of either author (particularly Gaiman). Pick up either the Sandman graphic novels or Discworld if you want something in a style more representative of the authors.

Rating:
Summary: The Apocalypse will not be televised
Review: ***1/2

Okay, maybe it will be, but it won't be up for any Emmys.

I cherish the breadth and fertility of Gaiman's myth-absorbing and mythmaking gift, and felt it was time to expose myself to Pratchett. So this volume seemed a good bet.

Good Omens starts off on a roll. Page one, with its Edenic serpent named Crawly, drew a guffaw. Sister Mary Loquacious, and the serpent's 20th century transmogrification into an oily Leisure Suit Larry, and the delightfully fractured pseudo 15th century English of Agnes Nutter, witch, that infallible and luckless prophetess, sparked one chortle after another.

But then the pleasurable inventiveness slacked off, and the nearer Armageddon approached, the more the plot began to plod and strain. It became apparent that the book, composed some fifteen years ago, was a gentle takeoff on eighties pop demonology, from The Exorcist to the interminable Omen sequels. Because the present, more serious, mania over the Left Behind books cries out for a more stinging brand of satire, the whole enterprise started feeling kind of dated to me. The cover blurbs promise a worthy successor to Hitchhiker's Guide. A tall order that, and not surprisingly, it wasn't delivered. I understand the blurbers' temptation to make the claim; the Guide's wry British understatement, and Prefect-like bumbling are there. But Doug Adams' best features, those cosmic non sequiturs and inescapable twists of demented logic, weren't forthcoming.

Overall, it was pretty funny, fairly engaging, and the plot didn't feel contrived until quite near the end. Underlying it all, and largely compensating for the lack of bite in the satire, is a firm streak of humane common sense in both our authors.

I wouldn't warn anyone away from this likable confection. But it's a poor place to start to get a fix on Gaiman's sizable talents. I'll seek out Discworld soon, trusting that the same will prove true of Pratchett.


Rating:
Summary: The Apocalyspe has never been funnier
Review: I bought this book a day and a half ago on a completel whim. I'd heard others gush about it, so when I saw it on the shelf of Barnes and Noble, I just figured, why not?

Oh Go-, Sa-, Whoever, am I glad I did.

This book is not only funny, it's intricate and intriguing. I couldn't put it down and finished the 360-some pages in under 24 hours. Good Omens has the comedy of The Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy but, in my opinion, it has something more. I ... well I don't really know what.

Mainly, we start, more or less, on the coming of the Apocalyspe. The angel Aziraphale and the demon Crowley, who should be great enemies, and have been, really, for 6000, which has lead to a pretty tight friendship, are overseeing that all goes well. The Antichrist is born, and will be raised until he is eleven years old, and then the world will end. Sounds fun.

Thing is, at the hospital run by the Chattering Nuns, there's been a slight mix up. As in, the Antichrist and a completely normal, blonde hair little boy who will unforunately be given the name Warlock.

So, eleven years later, the end of the world is coming closer and close, War, Famine, Pollution and Death have come, nuclear waste has gone missing, Agnes Nutter was one hell of an intelligent woman, Dog starts liking being a dog, it's mere days until the complete destruction of the world, and no one knows where the Antichrist is.

And, to make matters worse, Aziraphale and Crowley don't actually want the world to end. They rather like it, with it's humans, and Best of Queen albums.

What happens next? Well you'll have to read to find out!

This book is amazing, hilarious, seriously engaging, and so, so interesting, that I couldn't possibly reccommend to you a better book. Get out and buy this book NOW!

Rating:
Summary: Whimsical, funny, and ironic apocalypse
Review: Gaiman and Pratchett are great together on this. It's a funny idea and well done with good characters. They take the apocalypse, give it a thoroughly modern setting, and make it very funny. How can the apocalypse be funny? Read it and see.
Unfortunately, the handful of other books I've read by these authors individually, don't live up. If you're thinking of reading anything by either of them based on this book's strengths, don't. Pratchett is too dorky (there really is not better word) and Gaiman is too dark and evil. Together though, they made a great combination.


Rating:
Summary: Charmingly Snarky and Laugh-out-loud-Poignant
Review: Well, huge fan of Douglas Adams that I am, my good friend lent me this book to take home with me over Christmas break. I was in the in the middle of two books already, but once I read the first page of Good Omens, the others collected dust till it was finished. Neil and Terry may share Douglas's talent for fusing comedy and philosophy in a sci-fi/fantasy setting, but their style is all their own. They poke fun at everything from ancient prophesies to modern-day annoyances of life, and leave you snorting out loud.
The book is not, however, for everyone. A scientist who blocks his ears to imagination or a fundamentalist who blocks his ears to anyone who challenges a certain book's infallibility will be equally dismayed. Anyone else: venture on to enlighten your mind and put laughter in your smile. The book's message is often misunderstood as simple bible-bashing, society-bashing, etc., when the real message is one that breaks free of dogma and into infinite possibility: don't panic - life, the universe, and everything is so absolutely crazy that it just might make sense, if you could read the 'larger letters.'
Neil and Terry's greatest accomplishment though, were the loveable protagonists - Crowley, the demon with common sense who's a softie deep down, and Aziraphale, the angel with a decided lack of arrogance, love of books, and distaste for righteous smiting. (He 'misplaced' his flaming sword six thousand years ago.) These two friends both like Earth, each other, and humans more than either of their sides would deem proper, and have decided to try to thwart the real evil, which would be destroying the world for the sake of the cosmic chess game. (think of all the whale brains in the ocean gone to waste!) These characters have not left my mind for weeks now, and I'm sure they will be with me forever. This book is truly a favorite of mine, and all I can say is I hope Neil and Terry write together again soon! Until then, I'm off to check out their separate works.