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Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch

Terry Pratchett,

Neil Gaiman (Goodreads Author)

4.24 · Rating details · 577,849 ratings · 29,018 reviews

‘Armageddon only happens once, you know. They don’t let you go around again until you get it right.’

People have been predicting the end of the world almost from its very beginning, so it’s only natural to be sceptical when a new date is set for Judgement Day. But what if, for once, the predictions are right, and the apocalypse really is due to arrive next Saturday, just af ...more

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Mass Market Paperback, 491 pages

Published November 28th 2006 by William Morrow (first published May 1st 1990)

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Mar 30, 2010 Manny rated it really liked it

Shelves: well-i-think-its-funny, too-sexy-for-maiden-aunts, parody-homage, science-fiction, twofer, linguistics-and-philosophy, story-review, pooh-dante

I somehow ended up reading them both simultaneously. So I couldn't help wondering

What Madam Bovary Might Have Thought Of Good Omens

Three days later, a package arrived; there was no return address, but she immediately recognised Rodolphe's hand. It contained a paperback novel, whose title was Good Omens. Feverishly, she cast herself over it. Her English was poor, but, with the aid of a dictionary, she persevered and soon made great progress.

The more she read, the greater her bewilderment became. ...more

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May 28, 2008 Jeremy rated it really liked it

Remember back when funny books were funny? Back before you went to college and found out that Dave Barry and Carl Hiaasen weren't funny after all, but Samuel Beckett and Charles Dickens were hilarious? Remember when the words on the page didn't just make you smile wryly and shake your head in shame for humanity, but actually made you laugh out loud? Well, that's the kind of humor that Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's 1990 release Good Omens brims with, and it is so damn good.

The two British aut Remember back when funny books were funny? Back before you went to college and found out that Dave Barry and Carl Hiaasen weren't funny after all, but Samuel Beckett and Charles Dickens were hilarious? Remember when the words on the page didn't just make you smile wryly and shake your head in shame for humanity, but actually made you laugh out loud? Well, that's the kind of humor that Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's 1990 release Good Omens brims with, and it is so damn good.

The two British authors were both relatively unknown at the time of their partnership, having met when Gaiman (working as a journalist at the time) interviewed Pratchett on the success of his first major novel, The Colour of Magic. The two became quick friends and proceeded to write the 398 pages of the now cult classic novel by sending floppy disks through the mail and calling each other on the phone. Of course, that story is all explained in the appendix, provided you don't pick up an original printing of the book (if you do do that, however, you can probably sell it for quite a bit of change, so don't be discouraged by your lack of author interviews).

But the real story at hand is, of course, the narrative of Good Omens itself--the tale of two friends, a demon named Crowley and an angel named Aziraphale who have spent all of human existence on earth and have rather come to like it, so when it comes time for the Apocalypse, they try to do whatever is in their powers to stop it. The cast of co-stars can only described as "vast," with some characters only popping in long enough for Aziraphale to take over their body or to go on a shooting rampage. The main other characters though, include: the Antichrist himself, a young boy named Adam, and his gang of friends; a witchfinder named Newton Pulsifer and his love interest, Anathema Device, who just happens to be a witch (and one whose ancestor, Agnes Nutter was burned at the stake by Newton's great-great-etc. grandfather, Thou-Shalt-Not-Commit-Adultery Pulsifer.

Perhaps you're beginning to pick up on that sense of humor I mentioned?

That's what makes this book so great. I'm sort of a sucker for religious humor (and religious horror movies), and I've read a lot of books about the End Days. This one has to rank near the top, maybe even as the downright finest. It's humor ranges from simple little comedic bits to social commentary on religion and the human race--but no matter how big or small the joke is, every one of them is attended to equally, and they are all funny because of that. Though some of the British jokes and references flew by me (a problem the authors usually account for in their humorous footnotes), I really did enjoy this book, all the way from the plot down to how it was written. It really is an impressive feat for a co-authored book to feel so seemless (this honestly almost puts shame to the excellent Stephen King/Peter Straub double-ups, The Talisman and Black House).

So let down your guard, pack away that condescension that your professors poured into you Lit class after Lit class, and resist the urge to turn up your nose at any novel you can buy in trade paperback form in airports for $7.99 (but higher in Canada--oh wait, not anymore!). I actually laughed out loud as I read Good Omens. A few times, to be completely honest. And that's pretty impressive for a cynical, jaded old bastard like me. ...more

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Mar 01, 2018 Miranda Reads rated it really liked it

Shelves: audiobook

“DON'T THINK OF IT AS DYING," said Death. "JUST THINK OF IT AS LEAVING EARLY TO AVOID THE RUSH.”

The Apocalypse is not off to a good start.

Ten years ago, Crowley (a demon) brought the infant Anti-Christ to a group of Satanic Nuns who swapped the Anti-Christ with a human child.

For ten years, Aziraphale (an Angel) and Crowley educate the child on the finer points of good and evil.

“People couldn't become truly holy," he said, "unless they also had the opportunity to be definiti

...more

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Feb 07, 2008 Derek rated it liked it · review of another edition

Overall, this book was a huge disappointment for me. I’d heard so many good things about it and had been meaning to read it for years. When I finally started it, I was about 20 pages into it and thought, “Yes! This is going to be one of the most entertaining books I’ve ever read.” It was like reading The Hitchhiker’s Guide for the first time again. It was witty and fast-paced and had so many brilliant things to say about society and religion. And then about halfway through, I realized that I jus ...more

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Aug 01, 2013 Jayson rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: author-british, genre-comedy, genre-low-fantasy, genre-adult-fantasy, subject-religion, 400-499-pp, read-in-2009

(A-) 80% | Very Good
Notes: Not as funny as I'd anticipated, and at times it's a bit too absurd for my tastes, but a good ending and loads of charm. ...more

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Feb 04, 2021 Jayson rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: author-british, genre-adult-fantasy, genre-comedy, genre-low-fantasy, subject-religion, read-in-2021, audiobook-audible

(A-) 80% | Very Good
Notes: A briny deep of Britishness, its canny humor's quirky-quaint, a road to war that plays with lore, and rich as oil paint. ...more

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Apr 29, 2016 Cecily rated it it was amazing

Shelves: humour, fantasy-faeries-magic, god-religion-faith

Image source imdb.

Don’t be misled by those who class this as fantasy, humour, or just fiction.

This is actually a profound philosophical and theological treatise, exploring good and evil, nature versus nurture, free will, war, pollution, and organised religion. 😉

But it’s cleverly disguised as a madcap caper featuring angels, demons, the M25 motorway, Manchester, raining fish, dolphins, Atlantis, aliens, the Apocalypse, the young Antichrist, Americans, footnotes for Americans, tunnelling Tibetans ...more

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Jun 15, 2019 Elle (ellexamines) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: elle-recs-list, z-2019reads, 5-star, y-1900sreleases, favorite-characters, z-2019favs

literally every day I'm thinking about how this book was published in 1990 and in 2019 they finally made a miniseries and Neil Gaiman was like. hey. let's make this even more of a romcom than it already was just for the fuck of it

I keep trying to land on what I think is the objective Best Thing about this ridiculous book that I loved reading so much and I think I’ve landed on this paragraph from a delightful review of the 2019 miniseries:

“Good Omens knows that you can’t look at a screen

...more

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Mar 21, 2009 Felicia rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, faves

One of my all-time favorite books. Up there with Hitchhiker's Guide. ...more

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Jul 06, 2018 Sean Barrs rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1-star-reads, fantasy, i-tried

I knew from the first page that this book would not work for me.

I slogged through about half of it and gave up. I lost the thread of the plot long before due to my lack of interest in everything this book is. It all felt forced, like the themes and ideas were shoved into the narrative and that the plot had to adapt to fit them in. It was trying too hard to be funny rather than actually being funny. Life is far too short for books I don’t enjoy.

And I could never enjoy this. It felt like it was w ...more

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May 26, 2010 Nataliya rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-reads, favorites, pratchett, 2019-reads

In my personal hierarchy of books, this one comes a close second after Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita. What can I say - like (diabolical) father, like (infernal) son.

"It may help to understand human affairs to be clear that most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused not by people being fundamentally good or fundamentally bad, but by people being fundamentally people."

In a way, I can view this book as my own personal therapy session¹ - that is, in addition to it being a In my personal hierarchy of books, this one comes a close second after Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita. What can I say - like (diabolical) father, like (infernal) son.

"It may help to understand human affairs to be clear that most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused not by people being fundamentally good or fundamentally bad, but by people being fundamentally people."

In a way, I can view this book as my own personal therapy session¹ - that is, in addition to it being a hilarious dry-humor take on Armageddon and the ever-dual nature of humanity, its highs and lows and our ability to be both, frequently almost at the same time.

¹ As a kid, I had a habit of getting into the books clearly not meant for my age - like, for instance, The Omen, featuring the world's most infamous tricycle. My eight-year-old self was petrified. For months, I had nightmares, was scared of dogs, mistrustful of tricycles and had an irrational dislike of the number "666".

Eight-year-olds with overactive imaginations were really NOT the intended audience of *that* book, after all.

WARNING: THERE WILL BE MILD SPOILERS. BECAUSE I CAN.

As predicted by the titular 17th century witch Agnes Nutter in her extremely ~~nice~~ accurate book of prophecies, handed down through centuries to her last living "professional descendant" Anathema Device, Armageddon is quickly approaching. The four Horsepersons of the Apocalypse have set out on their way, and that must mean things are getting serious.

- You're Hells Angels, then? What chapter are you from?"[...]
- REVELATIONS, CHAPTER SIX.
-----------
“Death and Famine and War and Pollution continued biking towards Tadfield. And Grievous Bodily Harm, Cruelty To Animals, Things Not Working Properly Even After You've Given Them A Good Thumping but secretly No Alcohol Lager, and Really Cool People travelled with them.”

And this upcoming major event is a source of some serious worry for eternal-enemies-turned-reluctant-friends Aziraphale (An angel, and a part-time rare book dealer) and Crowley (An Angel who did not so much Fall as Saunter Vaguely Downwards), the duo who, after six thousand years, have "gone native" and would infinitely prefer this world to the future where either side wins - the future (oh the horror!) without good music or bookshops or sushi restaurants. And so the unlikely allies decide to band together to prevent the end of the world.

"That's how it goes, you think you're on top of the world, and suddenly they spring Armageddon on you."

Except things do not go as planned.

You see, the young 'Adversary, Destroyer of Kings, Angel of the Bottomless Pit, Great Beast that is called Dragon, Prince of This World, Father of Lies, Spawn of Satan, and Lord of Darkness', due to an unforeseen turn of circumstances, happens to grow up outside of the influence of either celestial/underworld force.

Aptly named Adam, he grows up - as his name suggests - perfectly human, in a little corner of paradise - the English village of Lower Tadfield. But Agnes Nutter is never wrong, and as her prophesies suggest, shortly after Adam's eleventh birthday (on which he DOES get a much wanted ~~Hellhound~~ Dog) the events of the end of the world are set in their inevitable, ineffable motion.

But Adam's essential humanity puts a new spin on this old story:

"Something was happening inside his head.

It was aching. Thoughts were arriving there without him having to think them. Something was saying, You can do something, Adam Young. You can make it all better. You can do anything you want. And what was saying this to him was ... him. Part of him, deep down. Part of him that had been attached to him all these years and not really noticed, like a shadow. It was saying: yes, it's a rotten world. It could have been great. But now it's rotten, and it's time to do something about it. That's what you're here for. To make it all better."

The problem with ~~the Antichrist~~ Adam is that he, a human eleven-year-old boy, is fueled - unexpectedly - by Love and righteous indignation. He loves this world, and he, coming into his power, wants a very human thing - he wants to make it better. Don't we all? But do (and can?) his good intentions make any difference in the way things have been prophesied to go?

"It's like you said the other day," said Adam. "You grow up readin' about pirates and cowboys and spacemen and stuff, and jus' when you think the world's all full of amazin' things, they tell you it's really all dead whales and chopped-down forests and nucular waste hangin' about for millions of years. 'Snot worth growin' up for, if you ask my opinion."

If there is one thing this book gets through it's the belief in humanity. Not in its wickedness or goodness or anything like that. Just humanity, in all the multifaceted nature of it, in its righteousness and wretchedness, love and cruelty, strengths and weaknesses, stupidity and wisdom.

"And just when you'd think they were more malignant than ever Hell could be, they could occasionally show more grace than Heaven ever dreamed of. Often the same individual was involved. It was this free-will thing, of course. It was a bugger."

Sometimes, maybe, when left to our own devices, when not preached to in one way or another, we can perhaps develop into flawed but hopefully decent beings - like Adam, named after the first human in the prophetic fashion, after all. Because what makes life interesting, as a particular angel and demon would loudly attest to, is precisely the combination of good and evil, nice and nasty, mean and kind that we all possess, in the precarious and miraculous balance that is the true treasure of humanity. Because it makes us act like people.

"I don't see what's so triflic about creating people as people and then gettin' upset 'cos they act like people,” said Adam severely. “Anyway, if you stopped tellin' people it's all sorted out after they're dead, they might try sorting it all out while they're alive."

And maybe, just maybe, due to our always-balancing nature on the borderline between two conflicting universes that we, humans, inhabit, we will be able to eventually figure it out - without anyone messing with our heads, filling them with the Good or the Evil, endlessly preaching what they believe to be true - but simple letting us be ourselves. Maybe we will figure things out on our own.

"Adam stood smiling at the two of them, a small figure perfectly poised exactly between Heaven and Hell.

Crowley grabbed Aziraphale's arm. "You know what happened?" he hissed excitedly. "He was left alone! He grew up human! He's not Evil Incarnate or Good Incarnate, he's just ... a human incarnate."

==============================

The brilliant Pratchett/Gaiman duo provides everything these two authors are famous for - easy readability, dry intelligent sarcasm-infused humor, seamless plot that pushes the limits of imagination while staying perfectly grounded in (albeit fantastical) reality, and first and foremost, very apt observations about human nature, as well as (in a true Pratchett-like way) a complete irreverence for the set-in-stone beliefs and ideas. At times it's easy for those familiar with their respective styles to tell which one of them penned which part, at times it's impossible - but it doesn't matter as their writing styles blend together so well, so seamlessly, so seemingly effortlessly.

This is an excellent book - both funny and serious, at times utterly unpredictable, at times baffling, at times logical. It's a pleasure to read, and a pleasure to seriously reflect upon after having a good laugh. And for all of that it gets the ineffable five stars.

He stared down at the golden curls of the Adversary, Destroyer of Kings, Angel of the Bottomless Pit, Great Beast that is called Dragon, Prince of This World, Father of Lies, Spawn of Satan, and Lord of Darkness.

"You know," he concluded, after a while, "I think he actually looks like an Adam."

--------
June 2013: I just listened to this one on audiobook - AGAIN. I love it more and more with each time I do. I have to advise - if you plan to listen to this one, please get the British version with Stephen Briggs as the narrator (Isis Publishing) - it is lightyears better than Harper Audio. Stephen Briggs is amazing! ...more

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Jun 07, 2019 Emily (Books with Emily Fox) rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks

This book has been recommended to me for years. Everyone has been telling me how funny it is and...

Nope.

Didn't laugh. Didn't smile. Didn't even blow air through my nose. Not once.

I eventually continued it as an audiobook otherwise I wouldn't have finished it.

It felt like a kid story. Maybe I don't get the British humour (I feel like I usually like it tho). But I just couldn't get myself to care.

Meh. ...more

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Feb 13, 2020 Kevin Kuhn rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy

If I were to pick a setting for a comedy, I’m not sure it would be Armageddon. However, in the talented minds of Pratchett and Gaiman, it’s the perfect setting. Another disclosure, I’m a sucker for British humour – give me Monty Python, Douglas Adams, Benny Hill, Red Dwarf, and even Rickey Gervais and I’ll right larf out loude! It’s just the right mix of clever, deadpan, sarcasm, innuendo, and self-deprecation for me.

I wanted to get this read before I watched the new Amazon Prime series. It’s a If I were to pick a setting for a comedy, I’m not sure it would be Armageddon. However, in the talented minds of Pratchett and Gaiman, it’s the perfect setting. Another disclosure, I’m a sucker for British humour – give me Monty Python, Douglas Adams, Benny Hill, Red Dwarf, and even Rickey Gervais and I’ll right larf out loude! It’s just the right mix of clever, deadpan, sarcasm, innuendo, and self-deprecation for me.

I wanted to get this read before I watched the new Amazon Prime series. It’s a good time to be reading this book, as we all need a laugh (or at least I do). In a time where some days feel like the start of the apocalypse (climate change, Middle East violence, American & British politics, virus pandemics, etc.. etc.), it feels good to laugh at Judgement Day.

For me this book read much more like a Terry Pratchett story, than a Neil Gaiman tale. I was impressed that the writing style seemed to be consistent throughout. I think that’s as much Gaiman’s ability to write in a Terry Pratchett style as anything. In the aftermatter, P&G amusingly reveal that they can no longer remember exactly who wrote what and suspect that neither wrote some of the parts.

As to the story, this book has many great characters, a complex, winding plot, and plenty of charm and surprises. You’ll meet angels, demons, inept witch hunters, the four horsemen, and even the anti-Christ. However, it’s primarily the humor that carries it. It’s full of twists of phases, funny observations, and of course, the trademark Pratchett footnotes. I enjoyed the humor more than the story, but it never was boring.

Once again, I feel compelled to explain why I am just now reading this novel, first published in 1990. Well, in the 1990’s, I had a wife, two young children, a cat, an older, fixer upper home with a needy yard, and an intense job. Something had to give. So I fully admit I missed an entire decade of literature, news, and music. I really got into Pearl Jam in about 2002 . . .

Any who, if you enjoy British humor, you’ll enjoy this book, if you don’t, you likely won’t. If you are easily offended by religious satire, you should probably skip this. But if you enjoy clever writing, adept observations on society and life, and masterful humor, you need to read this book. Five fiery, red glowing brimstone stars from me. ...more

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Aug 03, 2019 JV (semi-hiatus) rated it really liked it

Shelves: brit-lit, audiobooks, best-audiobook-narrators, 2019, fantasy, humour-me

"That's how it goes, you think you're on top of the world, and suddenly they spring Armageddon on you. The Great War, the Last Battle. Heaven versus Hell, three rounds, one Fall, no submission. And that'd be that. No more world. That's what the end of the world meant. No more world. Just endless Heaven or, depending who won, endless Hell."

Has the world ended yet? Oh! Right, it hasn't as I'm still babbling away and giggling silly all by myself. Thank heavens I didn't listen to this audiobook

"That's how it goes, you think you're on top of the world, and suddenly they spring Armageddon on you. The Great War, the Last Battle. Heaven versus Hell, three rounds, one Fall, no submission. And that'd be that. No more world. That's what the end of the world meant. No more world. Just endless Heaven or, depending who won, endless Hell."

Has the world ended yet? Oh! Right, it hasn't as I'm still babbling away and giggling silly all by myself. Thank heavens I didn't listen to this audiobook while out and about, for I devilishly fear that the public might give me a searing stare saying this guy must have lost his marbles. Surely, I have gone crackers! Now where's that failsafe button when I needed it the most?

"It may help to understand human affairs to be clear that most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused, not by people being fundamentally good or fundamentally bad, but by people being fundamentally people."

Outright irreverent and zany, Good Omens delivers a therapeutic dose of laughter when cheekily injected into the bloodstream. With an endearing cast of characters, wit-laden dialogues, and brilliant British humour, phenomenal writers Pratchett and Gaiman concocts a story about the end of the world in cataclysmic (hilarious) proportions. Everything seems set and the cosmic game of chess is about to happen... well, close enough except that someone has terribly misdelivered, misplaced, and misguided the Adversary, Destroyer of Kings, Angel of the Bottomless Pit, Great Beast that is called Dragon, Prince of This World, Father of Lies, Spawn of Satan, and Lord of Darkness, aye, lost the anti-Christ, have we, mates? With that comes multiple unexplainable phenomenons occurring all around the globe — the happening with the nuclear plants, surfacing of the Lost Continent of Atlantis, Tibetan monks coming out of a random hole, and then some visiting and peculiar aliens whose Earthly commentary seemed spot-on (such jolly nice fellows to point it out for us):

"'CO2 level up 0.5 percent,' it rasped, giving him a meaningful look. 'You do know you could find yourself charged with being a dominant species while under the influence of impulse-driven consumerism, don't you?' The two of them righted the third alien, dragged it back up the ramp, and shut the door."

If you want some cheeky treat with a fistful of bloody bonkers and taking the piss out of all things sacrosanct (plus philosophical and theological commentaries), then this version of "Buggre Alle This Bible" is especially for you! Let's just excuse the compositor's error and do mind the writer, after all, he's human too!

"Buggre Alle this for a Larke I amme sick to mye Hart of typefettinge. Master Biltonn if no Gentelmann, and Master Scagges noe more than a tighte fisted Southwarke Knobbefticke. I telle you, onne a daye laike thif Ennywone withe half an oz of Sense shoulde bee oute in the Sunneshain, ane nott Stucke here alle the liuelong dale inn thif mowldey olde By-Our-Lady Workefhoppe."

Can I play the harp with my pitchfork now? I'm sure they're made for each other.

Audiobook rating (narrated by Martin Jarvis):
Narrative voice & style - ★★★★★
Vocal characterisation - ★★★★★
Inflexion & intonation - ★★★★★
Voice quality - ★★★★★
Audiobook verdict - ★★★★★ (Exquisite performance, superbly brilliant, a must-have!) ...more

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Dec 15, 2014 Lyn rated it really liked it

The year is 2114 and in an upstairs apartment in Lower Tadfield, Oxfordshire, England four people – Marge, Ron, Neville and Madam Tracey – sit around a table. They are gathered for a séance.

Madam Tracey: I can feel my spirit guide approaching.

Marge: Ooooo, this is exciting!

Madam Tracey: [In a dark brown voice] How! [Then in her normal voice] Geronimo is that you? [And again in the deep voice] Yes, this’n is me.

Neville: This is just like in that old book by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, Good O ...more

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Jun 17, 2008 Maggie Stiefvater rated it it was amazing

Shelves: recommended

This novel spoof of THE OMEN is absolutely hilarious. From the four bikers of the apocalypse to adorable hell hounds, it's my absolute favorite offering from Terry Pratchett -- his humor mixed with Neil Gaiman's is absolute win in my opinion.

***wondering why all my reviews are five stars? Because I'm only reviewing my favorite books -- not every book I read. Consider a novel's presence on my Goodreads bookshelf as a hearty endorsement. I can't believe I just said "hearty." It sounds like a stew ...more

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Aug 11, 2007 Jen rated it it was ok

Shelves: fantasy

I actually feel a little bad giving this 2 stars, since I see so many reviews of people who loved this book. Unfortunately, I'm just not one of them.

I usually like Pratchett's work, and there are a few comic touches that I liked here, but overall the unbelievably slow pace of the latter half of this story nearly drove me bonkers. It skips over about 10 years in a few chapters, and then camps out at 6 hours 'til doomsday for hundreds of pages. The dialogue of the children was tiresome, and the o ...more

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Jan 11, 2009 Anne rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: jill joyce

Shelves: paranormal, read-in-2014, kindle, favorites, humor, read-in-2009, neil-gaiman

I read American Gods not too long ago, and while I liked it, it didn't turn out to be as amazing as I had hoped. So I wondered if maybe I shouldn't go back and check this one out. You know, see if it was really as good as I remembered?
Huh.
It was actually better. Hilarious!
The 5 star rating stands!

description

Good Omens is going to go down as one of my favorites. I wouldn't say that I laughed out loud, but I snorted once or twice and smiled the whole way through. Who would have thought the apocalypse could ...more

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Jan 31, 2018 Choko rated it it was amazing

Shelves: humor, fantasy, demons

*** 4.75 ***

"... “God does not play dice with the universe; He plays an ineffable game of His own devising, which might be compared, from the perspective of any of the other players [i.e. everybody], to being involved in an obscure and complex variant of poker in a pitch-dark room, with blank cards, for infinite stakes, with a Dealer who won't tell you the rules, and who smiles all the time.” ..."

Loved every second of it! A book about free choice and nature vs nurture, some good old ponderin *** 4.75 ***

"... “God does not play dice with the universe; He plays an ineffable game of His own devising, which might be compared, from the perspective of any of the other players [i.e. everybody], to being involved in an obscure and complex variant of poker in a pitch-dark room, with blank cards, for infinite stakes, with a Dealer who won't tell you the rules, and who smiles all the time.” ..."

Loved every second of it! A book about free choice and nature vs nurture, some good old pondering over what is good and what is evil, commentary on our values and all together sorry state of our perceptions, all bundled up in the beautifully hilarious and stingingly clever prose of the authors, who only cement there places as some of the best of our contemporaries. 50% of the book deserves to hang as quotations on our walls, but I will have to be satisfied with just couple...

"... “It may help to understand human affairs to be clear that most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused, not by people being fundamentally good or fundamentally bad, but by people being fundamentally people.” ..."

To all who know me it will come as no surprise that Terry Pratchett and his humor are like a balm for my soul. Even though I adore almost every word he puts to paper, I am still aware of the fact that he is not everyone's cup of tea. More often it is the over-saturation of his cheek that becomes too much and people loose the underlined analysis of human behavior in which lays his greatest strength. I would be the first one to recommend his work, but I will also be the one to warn you to space his works good time apart in order to truly savor his wisdom and turn of phrase. After finishing any of his books I am always tempted to immediately jump into the next, but that would do me and the book a disservice. So now I treat them as precious gems - the rarer, the more time and adoration I can lavish on each!!!

"... "Over the years Crowley had found it increasingly difficult to find anything demonic to do which showed up against the natural background of generalized nastiness. There had been times, over the past millennium, when he’d felt like sending a message back Below saying, Look we may as well give up right now, we might as well shut down Dis and Pandemonium and everywhere and move up here, there’s nothing we can do to them that they don’t do to themselves and they do things we’ve never even thought of, often involving electrodes. They’ve got what we lack. They’ve got imagination. And electricity, of course. One of them had written it, hadn’t he…”Hell is empty, and all the devils are here.” ..."

If you ask me, this book deserves giving it a try, no matter what genre you usually gravitate to. Even better if this is not your usual cup of tea:) I recommend it to all!!!

"... “Potentially evil. Potentially good, too, I suppose. Just this huge powerful potentiality waiting to be shaped.” ..."

Now I wish you all Happy Reading and many more Wonderful books to come!!! ...more

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Aug 14, 2019 Kylie D rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: goodreads-summer-challenge-2019, group-read, sci-fi-fantasy, annual-challenges, monthly-challenges

What on Earth did I just read? I think I'll be shaking my head for a while trying to fathom this one... ...more

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Mar 12, 2008 Kyle Nakamura rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: anyone who doesn't take their spirituality too seriously

This has got to be one of the funniest satires I've ever read. I suppose the closest comparison I could make is to describe it as a literary sibling to Dogma, but filtered through a distinctly British lense. That description doesn't really do the story justice, but that film definitely hits me in the same place as the book.
The whole premise, and I'm not giving much away here, begins with the accidental "mis-placement" of the infant Antichrist during a complex baby-swapping procedure intended t ...more

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May 24, 2007 J.G. Keely rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, humor, contemporary-fantasy, novel, uk-and-ireland, reviewed

I read this book before I tried to tackle Pratchett on his own merit, so I may have to retroactively skew this review based upon what I now know. The book is enjoyable, but may suffer from the fact that it represents its two authors at what seems to be their most basic states.

There is no question as to the recognizability of both Gaiman's and Pratchett's respective styles here, but neither seems to add anything to the other. One of Gaiman's weaknesses is surely his general lack of humor. Anythin ...more

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Jan 25, 2012 Richard Derus rated it liked it

2019 UPDATE The miniseries on Amazon Prime gets 4.5 out of five, and a strong encouragement to go watch it. I mean, what is all this kerfuffle about the ending?! Episode 6 ended perfectly, with the loveliest touch of smarm and some real guffaws...wise choices indeed. The series misses on one count, we could do with more of the Them, but really now! Child labor laws and all that. Episode 3's epic cold open is, by itself, worth subscribing to Prime for. Episode 4's delight is Gabriel's red red rob ...more

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Nov 13, 2019 Ahmad Sharabiani rated it really liked it

Shelves: 20th-century, fantasy, british, novels, humor, fiction

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (1990) is a World Fantasy Award-nominated novel written as a collaboration between the British authors Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.

It is the coming of the End Times: the Apocalypse is near, and Final Judgement will soon descend upon the human species.

This comes as a bit of bad news to the angel Aziraphale (who was the guardian Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (1990) is a World Fantasy Award-nominated novel written as a collaboration between the British authors Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.

It is the coming of the End Times: the Apocalypse is near, and Final Judgement will soon descend upon the human species.

This comes as a bit of bad news to the angel Aziraphale (who was the guardian of the Eastern Gate of Eden) and the demon Crowley (who, when he was originally named Crawly, was the serpent who tempted Eve to eat the apple), respectively the representatives of Heaven and Hell on Earth, as they have become used to living their cosy, comfortable lives and have, in a perverse way, taken a liking to humanity.

As such, since they are good friends (despite ostensibly representing the polar opposites of Good and Evil), they decide to work together and keep an eye on the Antichrist, destined to be the son of a prominent American diplomat stationed in Britain, and thus ensure he grows up in a way that means he can never decide between Good and Evil, thereby postponing the end of the world. ...

تاریخ نخستین خوانش نسخه اصلی از انتشارات جنگل روز دهم ماه اکتبر سال 2019میلادی

عنوان: فال نیک؛ نویسندگان: نیل گیمن، تری پراچت ؛ مترجم: سوگند رجبی‌نسب؛ تهران: انتشارات بهنام، ‏‫1398؛ در 384ص؛ شابک 9786226651592؛ موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان بریتانیایی - سده 20م‬

بر اساس پیش بینی «اَگنِس ناتِر» ساحره، در سال 1655میلادی، که پیش از منفجر شدن او نگاشته شد، دنیا در روز «شنبه» به پایان میرسد؛ فرشتگان و شیاطین، در حال بازگشت به آسمانها هستند، اقیانوس بالا آمده، و دمای هوا به شدت بالا رفته است؛ همه چیز درست طبق پیشگویی، در حال رخ دادن است، و البته به غیر از یک فرشته ی خوب وسواسی، و یک فرشته ی بد عجول، که هر دو از زمان پیدایش زمین، در میان مردمان حضور داشته اند، و اکنون بسیاری از عادتهای انسانهای زمینی را فراگرفته، و به آنها معتاد شده اند؛ این دو فرشته توجهی به این پایان دنیا ندارند؛ اما به نظر میرسد، کسی تصمیم گرفته، به دشمنی با مسیح بپردازد...؛

کتاب «فالِ نیک: پیشگویی‌های ظریف و دقیق اَگنِس ناتِر، ساحره»؛ رمانی کمدی، حاصل همکاری دو نویسنده ی بریتانیایی: «تری پرچت»، و «نیل گیمن» است؛ داستان کتاب درباره ی تولد «پسر شیطان» و آمدن آخرالزمان است؛ در سال 2019میلادی «آمازون استودیوز» و «بی‌بی‌سی استودیوز»، بر اساس این رمان مجموعه ی تلویزیونی «فال نیک» را تولید و منتشر کردند؛
ا. شربیانی ...more

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Jun 06, 2019 Lisa rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: neil-gaiman

In the beginning, there were a few words, and the words were with Neil Gaiman, and he saw that they were good words, so he passed them on to Terry Pratchett, so that he could make light of them. And it was morning (and Neil slept and Terry wrote) and it was night (and Terry slept and Neil wrote) - the first chapter.

Thus (or similarly, for the book in the book is only rarely cited directly!) spoke Agnes Nutter, the nice and very accurate prophetess.

She would also have said (if she had been bles In the beginning, there were a few words, and the words were with Neil Gaiman, and he saw that they were good words, so he passed them on to Terry Pratchett, so that he could make light of them. And it was morning (and Neil slept and Terry wrote) and it was night (and Terry slept and Neil wrote) - the first chapter.

Thus (or similarly, for the book in the book is only rarely cited directly!) spoke Agnes Nutter, the nice and very accurate prophetess.

She would also have said (if she had been blessed or cursed with not only the facts, but also with the UNDERSTANDING of the facts) that it was prophesied that the bible was written to become the confusing yet entertaining template for a masterpiece of comic fiction - and everybody knows that is a devilishly hard task to pull off, the comic genre being the most complicated one, but divine if if works out! (The reason holy books aren't funny is that they haven't gained the required level of sophistication yet - they take themselves too literally and too seriously, and that is stylistical suicide, as we all know from listening to the holy books' human personifications - the preachers and politicians - which is why they are better suited to be comic material than comedy show producers).

If anybody (Agnes Nutter for example) had told me in 1990 that there was a recently published book which told the incredible story of the world in 2019 and showed the perfect parable of our current mess in the body of an Antichrist - born to save the world from destruction by the joint narcissism of Heaven and Hell - and that the said Antichrist would take the shape of an 11-year-old environmentalist worrying about our eco systems, I would have been doubtful. I would even have said it sounded way too much like the conspiring universe of the unbearable awfulness of The Alchemist, which was interestingly written at about the same time (proving that stupidity and brilliance are only a sense of humour apart!).

So I guess the International Express delivery man had clear instructions not to deliver Good Omens to me until I had finally got ready for it by watching human nature carrying out the work gods and devils were paid to do (and I don't mean the M25 London Orbital specifically, even though it is a masterpiece both Heaven and Hell claim).

Now that I have been provided with the Good Omens (it really is quite strange how references to that sheepish ANTI-NOVEL keep sneaking into the review of THE NOVEL), I have to spoil the fun and tell you all that Armageddon is off the table. It was an idea that didn't work out in practical terms, as the Antichrist pointed out quite cleverly: it can't be about having a winning and a losing side, as the "winners" will want to continue the squabble and turn on each other. It is about making the best of the mess. About "not getting along" in peace!

Good Omens is a joyride to the tune of Europe's Final Countdown, unsubtly interrupted in medias res by Queen singing The Show Must Go On...

Amen. ...more

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Jul 25, 2014 C.G. Drews rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: adult, read-2014, 5-star, paranormal

I won't lie: I read this because it has a) Crowley in it, and b) it's an adult book and I was adulting. (That was exhausting though. Please, lead me back to the children's aisle. That's where I belong.) I totally enjoyed it though because it's HILARIOUS. Yeah maybe the story is a bit waffly in places and there are some useless tangents it runs off on, but it is downright funny. Why? Oh, oh keep calm. I'll show you.

First of all, it is SO like the Supernatural TV series. What can I say? I'm a ...more

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Mar 20, 2010 Trish rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This is the third time I've read this book. Once I read this edition, once I listened to the BBC radio dramatisation and now I alternately listened to the audiobook and read the hardcover.
This, by the way, is my edition of the print book, the old Gollancz edition and I love the quirky design very much.

What you see beneath the book are the two badge pins I couldn't resist buying a while ago.

The reason for the re-read is that Amazon Prime is gonna show the adaptation in 2019 (no exact date is give ...more

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Jun 30, 2017 Althea | themoonwholistens ☾ rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: anybody looking for humor and friendship between an angel and a devil

Recommended to Althea | themoonwholistens ☾ by: Jasey

Shelves: genre-urban-fantasy, favourite-characters, sub-genre-mythology, favourite-standalones, best-audiobooks, age-adult, read-physical-copy, read-audiobook, favourite-narrations

// This is my book for the "Recommend a Book" challenge//

”It may help to understand human affairs to be clear that most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused, not by people being fundamentally good or fundamentally evil, but by people being fundamentally people.”

FORMAT READ: Paperback & Audiobook (Recommended)
SIMILAR VIBES: Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue
READ FOR: themes and devils/angels/hell/heaven/world-ending humor
READING LEVEL: Level 4-5 out of 5

⟹ MY BLOG ⟸
⟹ SUP ...more

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Mar 25, 2013 Bradley rated it liked it

Shelves: humor, fantasy, 2018-shelf

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 an ...more

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May 05, 2020 emma marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: non-ya, can-t-wait-to-read, tbr-owned, owned, auto-buy-authors, fantasy

hard to say which i could use more at the moment: anything written by neil gaiman, or a good omen.

i'm going with both! ...more

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About Terry Pratchett

Terry Pratchett

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Born Terence David John Pratchett, Sir Terry Pratchett sold his first story when he was thirteen, which earned him enough money to buy a second-hand typewriter. His first novel, a humorous fantasy entitled The Carpet People, appeared in 1971 from the publisher Colin Smythe.

Terry worked for many years as a journalist and press officer, writing in his spare time and publishing a number of novels, i ...more

Books by Terry Pratchett

The Color of Magic (Discworld, #1; Rincewind, #1)

Guards! Guards! (Discworld, #8; City Watch #1)

Equal Rites (Discworld, #3; Witches, #1)

Going Postal (Discworld, #33; Moist von Lipwig, #1)

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A comforting balm. A much-needed diversion. Time spent with an old friend. Childhood memories and annual traditions. We asked the...

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“DON'T THINK OF IT AS DYING, said Death. JUST THINK OF IT AS LEAVING EARLY TO AVOID THE RUSH.” — 3118 likes

“God does not play dice with the universe; He plays an ineffable game of His own devising, which might be compared, from the perspective of any of the other players [i.e. everybody], to being involved in an obscure and complex variant of poker in a pitch-dark room, with blank cards, for infinite stakes, with a Dealer who won't tell you the rules, and who smiles all the time.” — 2445 likes

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