Good Omens~ Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

I don’t think I could review Good Omens as a book without including my thoughts on the Amazon Prime series. I watched the series first after months of eagerly awaiting it after the first trailer dropped. I will admit that it caught my attention because David Tennant was in it.

So, a couple of days after it was released, I sat and watched Good Omens (pausing halfway through because I had a dentist appointment). I fell in love with Aziraphale and Crowley before their first scene was over. Michael Sheen and David Tennant portrayed these roles brilliantly. I could rhapsodise for ages about their acting for a lot longer than anybody has the patience for (and it’s already all over Tumblr so I don’t think I could add anything that hasn’t already been said). The source material’s version of the characters was just as lovable.

The novel and the series are very similar, in fact, there are moments where the dialogue/narration is lifted directly. I really liked the fact that Crowley and Aziraphale are introduced in the middle of a conversation without much of a descriptor. In my opinion, the dialogue and their reactions give you a much better idea of who the characters are than any description could.

The Them are amazingly accurate representations of eleven-year-old British children, or at least quite similar to what my experience was. I wish I could’ve played in a quarry like Adam, Pepper, Brian and Wensleydale do. Adam acts exactly how I remember the summer before high school, feeling like you are so grown up without being an adult and feeling like you can accomplish anything like saving the whales.

Usually, I really dislike footnotes as they interrupt my reading flow for (normally) some useless piece of information that doesn’t add to the story or to add a source. Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s footnotes are the first I have liked in a very long time. They’re funny and add little pieces of information to the story that furthers your thoughts on the characters or something about their personality. I quite enjoyed reading the partially nonsensical footnotes.

The ending of the book is slightly different to the series. I don’t think the series ending would’ve worked in the book and nor do I think that the book ending would’ve worked in the show. The book ending is very anticlimactic compared to the series. After everything that happens, a quiet (in comparison) ending to Crowley and Aziraphale’s story is what is needed, it was refreshing and opens up possibilities for their love story to continue (in a cottage on the south downs).

I could go on for ages about this book and this show, but I should probably curtail it now. I thoroughly enjoyed both the book and the series (although in retrospect, I wish I had read the book first) and give the book five stars. I honestly preferred the series over the book, but I will definitely reread the book in the future.

If you loved the show but haven’t read the book, I thoroughly recommend the book. If you haven’t read or watched Good Omens, I suggest that you do as soon as possible.

C 🌙