julesadventurezone's review against another edition

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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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qrschulte's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging funny hopeful lighthearted reflective 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

5.0

2019: This book was hilarious. I wish I could have read it all closer together so I would have gotten the full impact of it, instead of having to get back into it. I know I’ll enjoy it even more on my next read.

2023: Still loved this book, but boy howdy I didn’t remember how badly a lot of it aged. But I did love reading it after watching the show, and picturing the actors and hearing their voices. Made it even better. 

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