Book Review- Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

IN HONOUR OF TOMORROW'S APOCALPYSE. IN THE UNLIKELY EVENT THE WORLD ACTUALLY ENDS WITHIN A CLOSE TIME PERIOD, IT WAS NICE KNOWING YOU. 

IN THE MEANTIME, ENJOY THIS REVIEW.

Title: Good Omens

 Authors: Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

Published:  First published 1990.

Length:  398 pages

Source: bought

Summary : According to "The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter," "Witch" (the world's only "completely" accurate book of prophecies, written in 1655, before she exploded), the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. Just before dinner.

So the armies of Good and Evil are amassing, Atlantis is rising, frogs are falling, tempers are flaring. Everything appears to be going according to Divine Plan. Except a somewhat fussy angel and a fast-living demon--both of whom have lived amongst Earth's mortals since The Beginning and have grown rather fond of the lifestyle--are not actually looking forward to the coming Rapture.

And someone seems to have misplaced the Antichrist.

Review:  The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter tells us that the world will end. Next Saturday. As foretold in Revelation, the Four Horsemen (or now, Bikers) will ride, Heaven and Hell will fight and the world will end. Crowley and Aziraphale are the only demon and angel that don’t want this to happen. And to make sure that it doesn’t, they have a lot to do. For example, deal with the Antichrist-an 11 year old named Adam who is a generally nice boy. Other things happen too. Lots of other things.

I’ve not read much of Pratchett’s work (I think Nation and Maurice and that’s it) and only a little bit of Gaiman’s. But what I have read of both was generally awesome, and Good Omens is no exception!

The dramatis personae really sets the scene for this. Quote:

Satan (a Fallen Angel, the Adversary). Beelezebub (a Likewise Fallen Angel, and A Prince of Hell), *other Fallen Angels* Crowley (an Angel who did not so much Fall as Saunter Vaguely Downwards).

 Also generally descriptive of this book are the explanation for the M25 being such a hellhole, the Angel’s conversation with the Snake, and the Satanic nunnery in which the nuns are meant to keep talking. If you  laughed, liked, or weren’t morally offended by these things, then you’ll enjoy the rest of this.

There’s a lot of plots that intertwine with each other eventually. Crowley and Azireaphale running around, Anathema dechipering Agnes’ prophecies, the Four Horsepersons getting together, the witchfinders running  around, and Adam and his friendship group. There’s also a lot of shorter plots featuring characters for one block of text and then moving on. For some reason, this works in Good Omens (cameo characters in this volume don’t work in other books).

The main characters are all one of a kind. Crowley and Aziraphale aren’t your typical angels/demons, and most of this defys your stereotypical views of heaven and hell. I loved the Four and the way they’re presented-both darkly funny and a little creepy (especially when their disguises drop) at the same time.

The thing that really makes Good Omens is the writing. The “Who wrote what bit”  of the Q&A proves you can’t say exactly which is Neil’s and which is Terry’s, but I’d say they’re both equally good. The footnotes! There’s more of them at the start, but they crop up throughout in amusing and appropriate places. The writing style of the whole thing contains many pus and is full of sarcasm and dry wit.

Overall:  Strength 5 tea to a comedy of apocalyptic proportions you just have to read again and again.

Links: | Goodreads | Neil’s website | Terry’s Website

Book Review-Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne

Title: Monument 14

 Author: Emmy Laybourne

Series:  Monument 14 #1

Published:  June 5 2012 by Feiwel and Friends

Length: 294 pages

Warnings: violence, sex references 13+

Source: Netgalley

Summary : Fourteen kids. One superstore. A million things that go wrong. In Emmy Laybourne’s action-packed debut novel, six high school kids (some popular, some not), two eighth graders (one a tech genius), and six little kids trapped together in a chain superstore build a refuge for themselves inside. While outside, a series of escalating disasters, beginning with a monster hailstorm and ending with a chemical weapons spill, seems to be tearing the world—as they know it—apart.

Review: It’s a normal day. Dean and his brother are on their school bus as normal. they don’t know that it’s not a normal day. They don’t know that they’ll get caught in a hail storm, and forced to take refuge in a supermarket. Fourteen kids of different ages end up without adult supervision and you end up with  a post-apocalyptic Lord of the Flies.

It all starts off very quickly and promising, with the bus crash happening in what would be the first few pages if this wasn’t a kindle file.  And then the teacher leaves. And then....not much. Dean, Astrid, Jake and the other older ones have to deal with the little children. So there’s fourteen of them, in a supermarket, nobody knows where they are, or what’s out there. But with food, water, sleeping bags and enough to survive. so it should be ok...right?

The idea is definitely Lord of the Flies- (side note-in a creative writing thing we did while studying LotF, I’m sure one of my classmates did a bunch of kids in the supermarket) children left after a disaster, no adults to protect them, no real idea of what to do.

There are a few plot twists built into Monument 14, but they were all quite predictable. The virus-y thing was interesting though, something different, but it didn’t get too much attention, which is a shame. It did help move the story on though.

The characters break off and group up in the same way as LotF. You get the guy who thinks he’s the smartest and the toughest, the sensible ones, the ones trying  to keep the peace and so on.

Their interactions are on the fine line between believable and stereotypical (which are stereotypical for a reason). You get a good sense of the desperateness for familiarity, for survival, for normal life, but sometimes it feels as though it’s a little bit forced.

As I said, plot “developments” weren’t amazing. It’s nice seeing everything happen and such, but it just doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. And the ending was really anticlimactic.

Overall:  Strength 2 tea to a book with a promising start, but from then, goes downhill.

Links: | Goodreads | Author website | 

On My Wishlist 6

*insert usual rambling about OMW being hosted by Book Chick City etc...*

So, in memory of the zombie/ apocalypse that never happened, I thought I’d theme this weeks wishlist around zombies/apocalypses just for the fun of it. Here you go.