I finally got around to reading this book after meaning to for years. The edition that I got my hands on was published after Pratchett died in 2015 but before it was turned into a tv show. It’s really well done, there’s an intro by Gaiman and sections at the end with Gaiman on Pratchett and Pratchett on Gaiman. It is interesting that reading this material somehow necessitates knowing who the authors are. They both wrote this before they became truly famous for their work. It was just two friends working together for the love of it.
Honestly I really liked this book. I am frequently frustrated with Gaiman’s works because he cannot write a decent female character to save his life. But there are a couple decent ones in Good Omens including Pepper, an eleven-year-old tomboy, and Anathema, a witchy psychic. There’s also War, one of the Four Horseman of the apocalypse who’s female. And they all are decent characters, really well fleshed out and not treated as plot devices.
I also quite enjoy that it is canonically confirmed that Crawley and Aziraphale are agender and asexual! Not in those words, but they are called “sexless” and that they don’t find people attractive. Which is rad. I kinda wish that in the show they would cast someone as a woman or something like that to embrace it instead of casting them as men.
Back to the text, I thought it was a very cool interpretation of the Bible and Armageddon. Really in line with American Gods which Gaiman would write later. Everything takes place in roughly the present day, so several things are updated and made contemporary. It is also just so funny and amusing to read! I suspect that this is mostly Pratchett who was known for his humor in his writing.
Anyways so I am on to the tv show next, and we shall see
what I think of that after I finish it.
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