teyla | Good Omens and other things

I've just finished Pratchett's and Gaiman's "Good Omens".

I've never read any Terry Pratchett before, because from what I'd heard, I was sure I wouldn't like his style. I still don't like the footnotes. Well, I haven't really read any real Pratchett yet, as

neery pointed out to me, so I won't start on Pratchett's style now. But I will comment on Good Omens.

I would readily rec this book to anyone of whom I know that they have a taste in books and enjoy a good laugh. It was a lot of fun to read. I absolutely loved the bits with Crowley and Aziraphale, and not only because they have this slashy slashy friendship going on. Their two characters just fit. They did, said and thought the right things most of the time. They worked for me.

Then there was a part where the demon and the angel disappeared for about hundred pages, and the apocalypse took its course. That part mostly dealt with the Them. Now, maybe that's just me and my worship of the great King, but if you've read "It", you might recognize The Losers in the Them. I certainly did. Not that I resent Pratchett and Gaiman to have snatched a few ideas about kids' characterization from King; I do it all the time when I write about kids, and I wouldn't stop if, by some weird twist of chance, I suddenly became a best-selling author. Still, it's this feeling of *if-they're-copying-from-King-they-can't-be-as-good-as-he-is-now-can-they*.

Well, that's why I didn't really like the middle part. The Four Horsemen I quite liked. They were a good idea, though, thought up nicely. The scenes with them were a little - um - well, pointless, really. I don't need three scenes with that woman to realize that she's War. I liked Death. He was done well.

Anathema and the Witchfinder Army... hm. Anathema didn't really have a character. Newt was fine, so was Mr. S. (even though he was a little ott), but Anathema lacked a bit of color. Which made her only interesting in interaction with interesting characters like Crowley, Aziraphale or Newt. Which I thought was a shame, because she could have been an interesting character.

What I didn't like about the book was the big amount of randomness. It was the same when I read The Hitchhiker's Guide - not as bad, though. In the Hitchhiker, the author comes up with wonderful ideas, explains them to you, and then dashes off to think up the next one without actually doing anything with the things he thought up. It's actually frustrating. In Good Omens, the randomness is not quite as bad, but it's there. They're constantly making up new characters, only to introduce a scene. That's absolutely okay, but only as long as your main character have more of a personality than those characters, which wasn't always the case in this book.

But overall, I liked it. It was certainly one of the better books that I've read.

Now, I need to get some coffee. I wrote a long, long scene this morning for WIP#1, and found that writing it had drained me of all energy to write anything else. But I'm feeling at least partly recharged by now, and coffee will keep me awake so I can get at least a few paragraphs done in WIP#2. So, I'm off *waves*.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'm glad you like Death. He's actually the only character that's also in every Discworld book, and he's totally cool. Especially together with the Death Of Rats.

I was going to ask you whether he's like Randall Flagg in King's books, but of course you wouldn't know him :P.

I like recurrent characters in an author's books. Maybe there's a chance for me liking Pratchett yet.

Maybe there's a chance for me liking Pratchett yet.

Well, you recced his book already, so you do like him at least somewhat. I'm not hoping that you swear off all other literature and declare him the greatest author ever or anything like that, but if you enjoyed the humor in GO, you'll probably enjoy DW at least a little. ;)

DW is full of recurring characters. You have books about different groups of characters - the witches, Death, the wizards, Sam's city guard, Tiffany... but they tend to overlap somewhat, so you'll usually find guest appearances from at least one of the characters from other story lines in every book. And then there's recurring characters like Death, who's in every book, and CMOT, who's in every book set in Ankh Morpork.

^^ I've recced the book to a ton of people already. And see what I did there, I made an icon. You gotta love those two together.

Have you seen this?

::click::

(Okay, I admit it. King never had such a great slash pairing in any of his books. ;) )

I love Terry Pratchett books, I adore the Discworld series *grins* Not yet read Good Omens though *puts it on reading list* And Death is awesome *nods vigourously*

You should totally read the Discworld series *more nodding* Most people either prefer the books with the Witches or with the Night Watch, me, I like 'em both but I think I prefer the Night Watch because Sam Vimes is the awesomest character ever :P And weirdly reminds me of my dad *blinks*

^^ yeah, planning on reading them. And you should read Good Omens. Even if you hate everything else about it, the slash is still awesome ;).

Sam is definitely one of the best characters ever. I have to admit I don't like the older Witches books as much, but I love the new witching series with Tiffany.

I do like the Discworld novels, even though I think Pratchett's style can't compete with Douglas Adams' - I somehow always end up comparing the two, and Pratchett just can't compete. //)

Anyway, Pratchett is really funny in a very worldly satiric way. Some of the Discworld books are amazing satire. "Small Gods", for example, is one of the best books on religion I have ever read, period.

Good Omens is, imho, much funnier than Pratchett manages to be when he writes alone. I still think Good Omens is the funniest book I have ever read. I admit I haven't dissected it as thoroughly as you did - probably because I read it six years ago, before I met so many talented writers. Things like characterization and structure just didn't register much with me then.

I should probably read it again.

somehow always end up comparing the two
^^ Any writer whose books I read has to undergo a close comparision to Stephen King, and they all lose ;). I don't hold it against them, though. There's just nobody who's as good as The King (and no, I'm not a creepy crazy stalking fanatic, what makes you think I am? ;) ).

Of Adams' books, I only read the Hitchhiker, and as I said, I found the experience more frustrating than anything else. But I guess that's me. I like authors that wallow in characterization and descriptive paragraphs and long ramblings about nothing in particular. Randomness just doesn't sit too well with me ;).

I've started on one of Pratchett's books, "Mort" (

neery groaned at my choice, but I really liked Death ;) ), and I like the few pages I've read so far. Haven't seen enough to judge yet, though.

Things like characterization and structure just didn't register much with me then
I know what you mean. I only started paying attention to these kinds of things when I started writing myself. I can't not do it anymore - sometimes I wish I could. But on the other hand, it saves you from reading bad books in the hope that they get better (like, eg Diana Gabaldon's series *shudder*).

Any writer whose books I read has to undergo a close comparision to Stephen King, and they all lose ;).

Heee. :) King is very good, although I have read most of his books in German years ago..., so I don't have his style present all the time.

I don't really compare all authors with Douglas Adams, just Pratchett - their approaches to things are just too similar.

"Mort" ([info]neery groaned at my choice, but I really liked Death ;) )

Mort is one of those I don't particularly like, either. :) Death is a great character, I just don't like Mort very much. Almost all the other books that feature Death are good, though. "Reaper Man" somehow didn't sit well with me, but I think that one's the only exception.

like, eg Diana Gabaldon's series

I bought the first book of the Outlander, on a rec from a (distant) lj friend. I only buy books my lj friends reccommend these days. ;)

But hubby started reading it and dropped it after a few chapters. That's never a good sign. He has good taste. When he doesn't like the style of a book, it's usually a good idea to believe him.

I still haven't dared start it yet. I think it will probably stay at the bottom of the book pile for years.

Good Omens and other things

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject