Reviews with content warning for Racial slurs - Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch

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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wetsokcs's review against another edition

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fast-paced

bit disappointing to find homophobia and racism in the book after liking to show for as long as I have

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kerttuli's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
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

3.75

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merin_aran's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Witty and funny, great commentary on society and religion, great cast of characters - I loved Crowley and Aziraphale especially their dynamic was just brilliant.

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strabbyfieldz's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

the interviews at the back were so sweet and interesting, and I loved a lot of small bits of the book but there were a few bits of like... "ironic" racism/homophobia things for me to really enjoy it. the series is good.

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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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micheala's review against another edition

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1.5

This is a case of both not enjoying the narrative choices (personal) and this book has aged horrifically (it's 32 years old and you can feel it)

On the personal side, this story is supposed to be an ensemble caste, however it just felt like viewing a series of side characters rather than a collection of main characters. I didn't feel like we spent enough time with the characters to understand them on anything but the most superficial level. On the other hand, this is probably why it was such a successful TV show, as they had lots of room to work with in regards to adapting the characters.

My main problem is a lot of the language used. This is full of casual racist, sexist, and homophobic language that is never addressed in text. The one that I personally found the most upsetting (likely as it was a several paragraphs thing rather than one line) was the "Indian spirit guide" that ** fakes in her seances. This portrayal of Indigenous people might have been more common in 1990 however it was bad enough that I can not recommend reading this book. Apparently the TV show has removed the blatently problematic sections, however I have not watched the show yet and cannot say for certain.

I did enjoy the premise and the way in which it ultimately resolved, however that was not enough to salvage this novel for me.

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