Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Re-read 12/21/18:

Winter Solstice! Well, certain reads and re-reads lend themselves well to anniversaries and horsemen. :) And YES I was forced to re-read this because I was told I must be crazy to only give this a three-star rating and LOOK! It's about the be on the tele! So I agreed to give it another shot.

I'm adding a half star.

Why only that? Because all the things I love most about Pratchett, in general, is done better in his Discworld books. Because Gaiman's iconoclastic use of mythology and dark humor was always a bit more detailed and deep in his own works. Together, Pratchett's humor feels like a bunch of talking heads cracking witticisms and Gaiman's depth gets lost in peddling bikes.

That is NOT to say that I didn't find vast swaths of this book awesome, because I did. The horsemen, the celestial buddies, and even Anamathia and Adam were quite delightful at times. Unfortunately, there is still something about this book that bounced off me. You'd think that reading it 5 years apart might have loosened something in me. That reading all of Pratchett's works a second time and some of Gaiman's two times as well might have softened my heart to this more... but no. I'm simply not much of a fan of pastoral fantasies.

It's a good thing this is a great book for almost everyone else, however! :) :) I'm pretty sure I'm going to love the television version, regardless. :)



Original Review:

It was funny enough for a novel about 11-year-old antichrists and barroom jokes about a devil and an angel. On the other hand, I must be a bit severe and say that I loved practically everything else by both of these authors a lot more than this single novel with them together. The characters weren't bad, they were just elaborate set-ups for the humorous device. On the other hand, I did really like Anathema Device. I'm not disappointed in reading it, I simply won't recommend it due to the very outdated humor. (Think about answering machine or cassette jokes, and you've got it.)

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