Wow, It has been a while. Like, over two years, but here we are again. I am dusting off this blog once again and this year I think I will actually keep up with it and here is why, I am reading 25 books this year, and I hope that I can encourage you to read more books as well. I can’t promise I will review every book here, But I intend to review the really good ones. I also plan on posting more music reviews and photos (once it is warm enough to go outside without freezing to death again).
Now that that is out of the way, let’s begin with the real meat of this blog, the review.
Good Omens, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman (or Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett if you prefer), is a delightful romp through the apocalypse. This book is a great first read of 2018 because it was so light and humourous. It has some of the best of each authors’ style in it but it is well meshed together so that it is almost impossible to tell who wrote what, and in fact in the back of my copy, the authors themselves talk about how they really don’t know who wrote what. The basic plot is that the antichrist has come and the end of the world is nigh despite the very comfortable lives that a demon named Crowley and an angel named Aziraphale have led in England these past 6006 years (Although the 14th century was apparently pretty rough). I found a lot of the humour in this book came from having convention turned on its head. Those who will enjoy this book the most are probably those who have an understanding of religion, but don’t take it, or themselves, too seriously. A lot of the jokes are tied into a vague understanding of christian eschatological principles but this is hardly a prerequisite for enjoying the book, as most of the items they address are cultural as much as religious (for example, the four horsemen of the apocalypse are present). There are four main story lines, one dealing with the aforementioned duo, the angel and demon, the a-four-mentioned four horsemen, the antichrist and his followers and the final descendant of Agnes Nutter witch-extraordinaire, Anathema. The book never felt rushed, but I kept wanting to rush ahead to see what would happen. Its use of comedy and suspense kept me reading.
Overall I would recommend this book. I am not going to be doing a number system or stars rating but I really enjoyed this one and hope that some of you will pick it up and read it. My only regret is that only a few people will probably see this as it is my first review after my long break. If you are trying to get back into reading I recommend this book as a great way to kickstart the habit. The only negative thing about this book i found was its lack of chapters. While this made it hard to set down, a plus, it also made it hard to remember exactly where I was when I did have to set it down (apparently food and sleep are still necessary when you are reading).
I would recommend going to a local bookshop to pick this up. If you don’t have a local book shop try your local Barnes and Noble. I am a big supporter of local bookstores and hope that you all will be too.
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