InícioAudiolivrosFicção e literatura
Escrito por Neil Gaiman e Terry Pratchett
Narrado por Martin Jarvis
The world will end on Saturday. Next Saturday. Just before dinner, according to The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, the world's only completely accurate book of prophecies written in 1655. The armies of Good and Evil are amassing and everything appears to be going according to Divine Plan. Except that a somewhat fussy angel and a fast-living demon are not actually looking forward to the coming Rapture. And someone seems to have misplaced the Antichrist.
Editora: HarperAudioLançado em: Nov 10, 2009ISBN: 9780061967078Formato: audiobook
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angelajmaherGo to angelajmaher's profile
Perfectly wacky and highly entertaining!
toobusyreadingGo to toobusyreading's profile
Good vs. Evil is a common enough trope in writing, but it is rarely so entertaining. Angels and demons can become friends of sort. And the devil's spawn might turn out to be not quite as planned. But what a waste of a vintage Bentley.I started watching the video on Amazon Prime, but I'm afraid I'm a better reader & listener than I am a watcher so I gave up on the video and borrowed the ebook. (I have the attention span of a gnat when it comes to video.) The book was delightful. And "The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch" were remarkable prescient when given the right interpretation. The characters were not exactly normal, one might even go so far as to say a bit eccentric, and the book was highly entertaining. Gaiman and Prachett make a great writing team.
othemtsGo to othemts's profile
Several years ago, I read Good Omens, and hearing the buzz about the new tv series adaptation, I thought it was worth revisiting this book in audio format, charmingly narrated by Martin Jarvis. This was the first book I read by either author at the time of my previous reading. It is no less than a satirical fantasy about the Apocalypse. More specifically, satire of the religious beliefs around the End Times mixed with satire about quirky, middle-class English life (the biggest flaw of this book is that it can get bogged down in the "quirky, middle-class English life" bit, past the point of being funny).The main characters of the book are the angel Aziraphale and the demon Crowley, who have formed a partnership over the eons due to their both liking humanity for their own reasons, and thus wishing to avoid the end of the world. Early in the novel, the son of Satan is born, and due to a mix-up by the Satanic nuns at the hospital, the baby is mixed up with another baby. 11 years later, when the Apocalypse is too begin, the child groomed to be an Anti-Christ is an ordinary boy, while Satan's actual son is Adam Young of the Oxfordshire village of Lower Tadfield.The plot shifts among several characters. Aziraphale and Crowley trying to sort out the mix-up without getting in trouble with their Higher Ups (and Lower Downs, I suppose for Crowley?). Adam and his gang of friends Them get into esoteric mischief as Adam becomes aware of his powers. Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse - War, Death, Famine, and Pollution (who took over from Pestilence after the invention of penicillin) assemble and ride, picking up some Hell's Angels along the way who give themselves names of things that annoy them. And Anathema Device is a witch who knows everything that will happen because she is the descendant of Agnes Nutter, a 17th century witch who wrote a book of accurate, but highly specific predictions. She is brought together with Newton Pulsifer, a nerdy bloke who seems to stumble into becoming one of the last Witchfinders for a paycheck.A lot of it's corny, and as I've said, sometimes the jokes are belabored. Nonetheless, it's a clever and funny work of two of the great fantasy writers of our age.My original review from 2004:A very silly book about the Apocalypse run amok. Sometimes the tongue-in-cheek writing style got a bit annoying, but there were always some clever bits to redeem it. While mostly a parody of Apocalyptical legend, there is also a strong undertone about good & evil and faith in a higher being. For all the comic cynicism, the message about God here is surprisingly positive.Favorite Passages:It is said that the Devil has all the best tunes. This is broadly true. But Heaven has the best choreographersCrowley thought for a bit. "You must have had records," he said. "There are always records. Everyone has records these days." He glanced proudly at Aziraphale. "It was one of my better ideas."(As someone who works in archives and records management, I'm particularly amused that a demon invented records.)The small alien walked past the car."C02 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?"
moniquesnyman-1Go to moniquesnyman-1's profile
Well, it's that time again... You know, the time when the end of the world is nigh and stuff. Yeah. But this time we have Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's version of it to enjoy, and boy is it an enjoyable, hilarious journey. I loved this book from beginning to end, reading snippets to my husband as I went to make him laugh, too.
Truthfully, I just wanted to read the book before the TV series started, but I simply can't believe why I hadn't picked up this gem before. It's really the best of two legendary authors captured in one book.
donnamariemerrittGo to donnamariemerritt's profile
Missed this when it came out in 1990 and picked it up after getting hooked on the TV series. Intelligent and hilarious, but also thought-provoking. Good? Evil? The "ineffable" plan? Recommended!
sharonmariabidwellGo to sharonmariabidwell's profile
A reread of a classic (because I'm awaiting the DVD release so I can see Amazon's adaptation starring David Tennant and Michael Sheen) by two outstanding authors who are also my favourite writers. This story displays both their talents, creating a meld of the sublime and ridiculous in all the right ways. Any fan of Douglas Adams would do well to pick up this story. The world would be a poorer place without this collaboration. Pure magic.
tytania-2Go to tytania-2's profile
A crazy slouch towards Armageddon. I'd say it was more Pratchett than Gaiman. The jokes just never stop.It was long and rambly, with a cast of characters to match. There were some I loved every time they appeared (Crowley, Aziraphale, Anathema - her name alone has to make you love her). At the other end were some that I really found repulsive, and disliked whenever they got airtime (Shadwell). I wasn't crazy about Newt. As for the kids, they were good kid characters, but being American with little exposure to Britain, I just couldn't reconcile those heavy accents (and ideas) coming out of children's mouths. E.g., "I don't see what's so triffic about creating people as people, and then gettin' upset 'cos they act like people..." This is the 11-year-old Antichrist speaking. To me it just sounds like Andy Capp or one of those dimwitted Python characters.Yes, the Antichrist; so anyway - the purported plot of the book is that the Antichrist comes to earth but gets switched at birth, and grows up without the proper diabolical "training." So he just turns out to be a boy with a few superpowers, and isn't really evil at all.Meanwhile what happened to the baby who got the training? I'm not sure. If he turned up again at all, it was extremely rarely. So I thought this was going to be a big "switched at birth", "nature vs. nurture" kind of subplot, but it wasn't so much.Then there were the Four [Motorcycle] Riders of the apocalypse. I read in the afterward that this was Gaiman's main contribution. Those portions are a little less jokey, but I don't know, things just didn't really come together. Everything was just kind of wacky.If you like Terry Pratchett, I think you'll love it. if you're looking for more Gaiman, I don't really see it.
schneider_1Go to schneider_1's profile
This was OK. Not anything super special, but a well told humorous story.
nu5bibliophileGo to nu5bibliophile's profile
Funny and satisfying. Neil Gaiman is one of my favorites but this one is not one of my favorites from him, yet I don't mind re-reading this later in the future.
bookneurdGo to bookneurd's profile
On paper, this book seemed like a sure thing - legends like Gaiman and Pratchett; about to be made into a Netflix series - but, unfortunately it didn't live up to the hype. Though I found the writing clever, I didn't find it particularly funny or captivating. In fact, for the majority of the book, I had to make myself chose to pick it up, rather than start something else (okay, twice the temptation was too great and I finished those books before I came back to this one). At least I know I don't need to watch the Netflix series!
untitled841Go to untitled841's profile
The kids reenacting the Spanish Inquisition, pricesless.
ridgewaygirlGo to ridgewaygirl's profile
Having been generously given a copy and since there's a mini-series and all, I finally read the book. Clearly, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman had a fantastic time writing this funny novel about the apocalypse. There are an angel and a demon who have become something approaching friends after a few millennia of being co-workers of a sort, each assigned to the same task of influencing humans. There's a socially awkward witch finder, who meets an actual witch and falls in love. And there's the Antichrist, who having been accidentally given to the wrong family, heads up a small gang who specialize in annoying the vicar and in generally wholesome hijinks. Good Omens is fun. It isn't deep or important or breaking new ground, but it is a solidly told story with some very funny sentences here and there. It's certainly dated, but in the kind of way that adds to it's charms.
I was very skeptical about reading this. In the end, I really loved it. I think the authors managed to treat the serious subject with fictionalized humor, and without being sacrilegious. That was quite a feat.The writing really reminded me of one of my favorite authors, Jasper Fforde.
john_warner-1Go to john_warner-1's profile
The end of times as foretold in the Book of Revelation is at hand and the pieces are beginning to fall in place. The anti-Christ has been born and is now a 11-year-old named Adam. The hound from Hell has been released and has been adopted by Adam. The demonic creature was to assume the name and manifestation given to it by Adam, which he does: a Jack Russell-like terrier named, not "Satan" or "Spawn of Hell" but "dog."The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: War, Death, Famine and Pollution (it would have been Pestilence, but he retired in 1936), now driving motorcycles are gathering with the goal to find Adam who will initiate Armageddon.Crowley, the demon who tempted Adam and Eve in the guise of the serpent, has enjoyed his long tenure on Earth and really doesn't want it to end. He convinces his friend, Aziraphale, the angel who drove Adam and Eve from Eden, that the two have a good thing going and should do everything they can to stop doomsday.This novel has been on my "to be read" stack for some time now, but since it is being released on May 31st as an Amazon Prime Original, I thought it best to read it. I enjoyed the satirical humor in this book, which one would expect from Terry Pratchett, one of the co-authors with Neil Gaiman of this book. If you are a fan of either of these authors, I would encourage you to read it.
jessiqa_1Go to jessiqa_1's profile
I first read this two years ago and loved it. I was working a crappy job and read a torrented ebook copy at the desk while at work. It made life just that much more bearable. For that I thank Messers Gaiman and Pratchett. This is also the reason I chose to reread it with my book club. Good Omens is a tale of the Apocalypse. The end is drawing near and yet the Anti-Christ has gone missing, been misplaced, is more accurate. It's up to an angel and a demon, who are as close to friends as two beings who work for opposing teams can be, to find the Anti-Christ and try to end this messy end of the world business, since both of them have rather grown used to life on earth and have no real desire to return to their respective places of origin. As one can expect from Pratchett and Gaiman, the story contains a myriad of confounding and endearing characters who make things as insane as possible so that the reader has to set the book aside for a few moments just to take a breath. I love this sort of book.About a week before the date of the book club, one of the ladies said to me, "Well, I read your Good Omens . . . Let's just say that I've read better books." Two days before the book club, my coworker tells me that at least three ladies have told her that they hated the book. Damn. So I got all paranoid and neurotic over it for the next two days, thinking that they must have found the topic offensive and therefore not at all funny. I hadn't thought that would be a problem when I chose the book, since I'd been doing this book club for almost a year and knew these ladies' tastes to a certain degree by now. Day of the book club: The religious aspect had nothing to do with their dislike of the book. They both simply found it hard to read. One even stated that for a comedy, the humor was too subtle. Alright, I got it now. This was okay; this was something I could understand. They didn't dig the writing style, no biggie. Pratchett's style is a little confusing with so many characters and subplots that it just builds and builds and can be a bit overwhelming. I tend to like this, but I had read quite a lot of Pratchett before I ever got to Good Omens, so I was used to his style. This was the first Gaiman novel I had ever read, though I've read a few others since.It's always fun rereading a book. I found a few things that I had not noticed the first time around. For instance, one of the aliens is a robot shaped like a pepper pot that is an obvious reference to the Daleks from Doctor Who, but I never watched or knew anything about that show until last summer, so I didn't catch the reference my first time around. I wonder what else I'll find the next time I read it, because it's pretty certain that I'll want to read this book again and again.I think Daddy will be wanting to borrow this book from me sometime in the near future. Perhaps I'll simply take it home with me next time I go to visit the parentals. Verdict: I still love the book, though I agree with the ladies that the ending left something wanting and wasn't wholly satisfying. All the laughs make up for this in my mind, but they didn't get the laughs out of it that I did, so they felt it discolored what few good points they found in the book.*Lesson: Never ask a book club to read a favorite book again, because I will consider their judgement of the book a judgement of me, even though I know damn well that that isn't the case.* They thought the footnotes were often the funniest parts. Can't argue there.
.monkey.-1Go to .monkey.-1's profile
My first Pratchett, definitely not my last! This was a hilarious wild ride that had me laughing out loud constantly. Excellent fun!
cindywho-1Go to cindywho-1's profile
It's an old favorite that I read a long time ago, so I thought I'd try the audiobook. The narrator is OK, but could have been better with some voice characterizations. It's still charming and silly.
stephenmakinGo to stephenmakin's profile
When I was 21 I decided to join the socialist workers party, my friend Kim had concerns and gave me this book as a gift.
quiguiGo to quigui's profile
To quote Book-a-Minute, Five billion people almost DIE, and it is FUNNY. That's the gist of Good Omens. But let's forget about the five billion almost dying, and focus on the funny. Because it's funny. Brilliantly so. Hilarious, actually. It may sound obvious, but think about Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, and put them together. Terry Pratchett's humour and Neil Gaiman's knack for surreality. That's all in there, tied together so well, that it is impossible to tell them apart.Good Omens is about the Apocalypse and its Four Horsemen, the Anti-Christ, The Beginning and End of Things, Angels and Demons and everything else that comes with it. But most of all it is a set of stories that all converge into one point. The characters are believable, they are surreal, and you do expect them to pop out in the your street at any time, even if it is The Antichrist. This book is a favourite of mine. When I need something that will amuse me and provide a good read this is usually the book I pick up. If I am to be found chuckling or even laughing out loud alone, this book is sure to be the cause of it.
jshillingford_2Go to jshillingford_2's profile
I'm not usually a fan of comedy (film or book), but the upcoming Amazon television series made me curious enough to give the book a go. I'm so glad I did! Good Omens is an excellent blend of satire and parody, with a touch of absurdity. The antiChrist has been born and the end of the world is now only 11 years away. Demon Crowley quite likes Earth, the food! the music! the entertainment!, and he's not keen on Armageddon. So, he enlists angel Aziraphale to help avert it. Surely an angel is supposed to oppose any action from the other side?The story has hilarious running gags through it, like the tendency of Crowley's Bentley to turn any music cassette left in for more than two weeks into The Best of Queen, or the nightmare of the M25 highway around London. Some of the references (cassette tapes?!) are obviously dated but can easily be imagined with their modern counterparts so the story hasn't lost any of its potency. However, as a (lapsed) Roman Catholic, what I enjoyed most was the satirizing of the religious motifs, Bible references and themes. Four Horsemen? Check. Antichist? Check. The Rapture? Sorry, but you got that bit wrong, haven't you now.I had a couple minor issues that kept me from devouring the book straight through. I put it down a few times to read other things. First, the story sometimes meandered and jumps POVs a lot. I got bored every time the story returned to the kids. Second, the footnotes. The notes are part of the actual story (not explanations to readers such as in The Three Body Problem). They could be skipped, but many times were funny and truly enhanced the reading. However, they were used too often and became a distraction.Overall, this was a delightful surprise and I am truly looking forward to the show. And, I wouldn't hesitate to read a sequel, if Gaiman every decides to do so.
snotbottom-1Go to snotbottom-1's profile
I thoroughly enjoyed this tongue in cheek telling of the end of the world. Well, what was nearly the end anyway. I've enjoyed books written by both Pratchett and Gaiman individually, and this cooperative effort completely paid off. Completely in the spirit of a Douglas Adams book or Mel Brooks movie, this had me laughing out loud on several occasions. Even the author's notes at the end made me smile.
zoes_humanGo to zoes_human's profile
Light yet intelligent. Laugh out loud funny. Feel good without being insipid. The Hitchhiker's Guide of Armageddon. Pratchett & Gaiman match up perfectly - like roasted red bell peppers and goat cheese. One of my all time favorites.
andrew1theqmGo to andrew1theqm's profile
This was a very cleverly written book, which was well constructed and had plenty of amusing lines that made you laugh (possibly not out loud though). I think this will make a great film, or even be good as an audiobook, however I struggled to read too much at one time and had to keep coming back to it after short breaks. Perhaps it was my mood because it was a book I feel I should have enjoyed more. Somewhere between a pick and so-so for me.⭐️⭐️⭐️
voodooyeagerGo to voodooyeager's profile
Good Omens is a great read. It feels like a good Monty Python sketch mixed with Terry Pratchett's sci-fi wit and Neal Gaiman's off sense humor. Thoroughly enjoyed and may have been dropped in the bath.
havingfaith-1Go to havingfaith-1's profile
If you've never heard of this book before now, you probably will do very soon because Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman has been filmed as a television series and is due to be released this year (with David Tennant of Doctor Who, Miranda Richardson of Blackadder II and Michael Sheen of everything else).Good Omens is an undisguised parody of The Omen (with the child anti-Christ Damien Thorn) but has also been influenced by Milton's Paradise Lost (the usurper angel thrown out of heaven establishing his dominion on Earth), then strangely tips its lid to an ancient British television show for children called Stig of The Dump. It is also a golden event in the history of entertainment fiction, a "Dr Livingstone, I presume?" moment or "In this decade we choose to go to the Moon and do the other things" – Well, in that decade Pratchett and Gaiman chose to actually work together.When I read this unusual alloy of good and bad, contrasting jolly tongue-in-cheek humour (Pratchett) and elements of degraded horror (Gaiman – with his cloud of flies screaming down the phone line and defleshing you), I guessed pretty quickly which ideas were from Terry Pratchett and which came from Neil Gaiman. They both did their thing and both stuck to their previous style, foregoing the middle ground. That's the correct way to write this book when it is intended to capture a deliberate contrast of inharmonious sides like good and bad, heaven and hell, music and discord, but the price of applying this is it comes across as disjointed, where the flow will stop and start and stop. You can't achieve A without B, so this is impossible to criticise.Absolute good and bad are relative abstract concepts that never compromise, so personifications of those two things (angels and devils) shouldn't compromise either. Several of the kookier moments in this story are when those ideal representations have been affected by close proximity to humanity (we've come of age and corrupted them) as the Arch-Angel and Demon reached work-arounds of their own. This is all done in the spirit of Graham Greene's Our Man in Havana, in which a spy living far from home starts sending invented reports to his employer to justify his expenses, and also Joseph Heller's Catch 22, in which a US Airforce officer in a war zone makes an arrangement with the enemy that they'll both bomb their own airfields because that would have to happen anyway and it's much safer and more efficient not to fly into enemy airspace. The practicalities of an angel and a devil carrying out each other's temptations and miracles, e.g. "If you're up in the North of England anyway, could you do one of mine?" are logical but hint God isn't omnipotent or there'd be hell to pay. Alternatively, maybe the divine entity is amused by the thought that everyone develops their own renegade personality if given enough freedom, even those who are created with invulnerable minds (a design flaw?). It's reassuring to think human nature will infect and overcome these grand presumptions. Black and white? No. It's all endless shades of grey – and probably about time the supernatural authorities realised it.The other cultural reference I think has been reinvented in Good Omens is a Peter Cook & Dudley Moore film from the 1960s called Bedazzled. In this, a devil stuck on Earth and very bored with his lot amuses himself by degrading people's quality of life by such acts as scratching their LP records and making sure that plastic bottles of brown sauce in nasty transport cafés squirt sideways onto people's clothes. This is a beautiful way to spend eternity and I think the prospect of endless inventive fun is quite worth being corrupted for.It isn't Pratchett's best book and it isn't Gaiman's either, but it is a joining of both worlds and that fumbling makes it something special. You can see they had ridiculous fun, although it could also be the case that their 'cooperation' might have involved writing their own sequences on opposite ends of the planet. It was worth it though. This was never meant to be high-end entertainment, just funny and imaginative, an intention achieved sublimely. If you had to pick a senior and junior partner in craft (at the time of writing, published 1990), the accolade would have to go to Terry Pratchett because the inclusion of a prophetic witch of the Middle Ages who came up such gems as "Do notte Buye Betamax" is an outstanding piece of invention. No one in her family understands these prophecies until their time in the cultural record comes about. That character, Agnes Nutter, has overtones of Esme Weatherwax but is a comedy classic invention in her own right. I can see that Pratchett had a physical malleable history idea before, when he wrote a preface which spoke of miners who found a coal seam with a fossil of a tyrannosaurus in it, holding a silver dollar. He said that kind of anomalous history isn't reported because it undermines out sense of control over reality.Good Omens is not supposed to be critically dissected and taken seriously or to have its success evaluated by publishing accountants because it represents a pair of important writers with richly creative minds meeting up and having fun. They're entertaining themselves, enjoying the glow of working in each other's company. If it makes the reader's day as well, that's great, but I get the sense we are voyeuristically gazing through the window here into Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett's private party.
mooingzeldaGo to mooingzelda's profile
What a wonderful novel Good Omens is! It has everything: a very British sense of humour, a cast of mostly slightly inept but endearing characters who you can't help but root for (even when they're on Satan's side), and a ridiculous but gripping plot. I'm already a Terry Pratchett fan, but I went out and bought one Neil Gaiman's novels when I was partway through Good Omens because I thought it was probably criminal that I hadn't read anything of his previously.Honestly, this was exactly what I needed to get me through the political shambles of Brexit at the moment (now there's a topic that Gaiman and Pratchett would've excelled at skewering in a book!).
cariboukaiGo to cariboukai's profile
I first read this some time in the early '00s. I remember enjoying it.
I still enjoyed it this time around. But holy shit, I didn't remember the random bits of racism and bigotry. Never lingered long, just would come out of nowhere and you'd have relaxed again by the time the next bit came around. Yikes.
maryrobertaGo to maryroberta's profile
Outstanding. Imaginative. Old characters writ new. Perfect illustration re no new stories under the sun and yet the telling can be fresh and "original."
jlharmonGo to jlharmon's profile
I really liked this book. It was fun to read, and I'm a sucker for humorous footnotes. Pratchett and Gaiman are both awesome, and you wouldn't think their writing styles would mess all that well, but the effect is something like Douglas Adams. Funny. Blasphemous. Smart. Plausible in the most impossible ways. A little dark if you think too much about it. But really fun to read.
Good Omens is the story of the end of the world, and the mistakes and blunders that complicate things for both Heaven and Hell. Oh, and there's this book with really specific accurate predictions that are coming true. And there's an awesome frenemy relationship between an angel and a demon. Cool. There are witches and witch hunters and delinquent kids and Horsemen and talking cars. It's fun.
I don't know why this book took me so long to finish, except that maybe there were too many little plots it took a while to digest. When you have angels, demons, their respective superiors and partners, multiple human main characters and their support, and random related events, you have to take your time.
If you're looking for a weird, funny, complicated, somewhat blasphemous take on the end of the world, Good Omens is a good place to start.
mattries37315Go to mattries37315's profile
The Apocalypse has arrived, but the fabled battle of Armageddon will not take place in the Middle East it'll be in Oxfordshire unless a demon and an angel get their way. Good Omens is from the combined writing of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett who take the well-trod path of end of the world novels and stand them on their head.The demon Crowley is tasked with delivering the Antichrist to his family and ensuring his evil education, but his love of humanity makes him come clean to his friend, the angel Aziraphale who comes up with the brilliant plan to have both Good and Evil influence the child growing up. On the child's eleventh birthday, Crowley and Aziraphale find out that there had been a mix up at the hospital and they race to find the Antichrist along with Heaven, Hell, and the Four Horsemen who are gathered from around the world. And in the little town of Lower Tadfield, Adam Young and his gang (Them) as well the witch Anathema Device and the witchfinder Newt Pulsifer have their own roles to play in the Final Battle as it draws nigh.The combined talents of Gaiman and Pratchett work seamlessly, especially when the reader learns at the end of this particular edition of how the two worked together, and create a fantastic satire of the end of the world and all the tropes that go along with it. Though the humor is good, some of it is a bit dated and so some jokes fall flat which is the only downside to this really good book.If you are either a fan of Neil Gaiman or Terry Pratchett and haven't read this book yet, then I highly encourage you to do so. Good Omens is the perfect blend of both authors and you'll find it highly enjoyable, save for the few out of date jokes. If you're simply a fan of satire, then give this book and its riffing of a certain supernatural horror film from the 1970s a good read.