Good Omens is great book with an even better TV series.
I hate to say it, but it’s true. The series is better than the book. It might be because I watched the series first and it is a word-for-word, scene-for-scene adaptation. There are no extras to be gained from reading the book.
It might also be because the performances of David Tennant and Michael Sheen are so perfect that you cannot imagine anything more of the characters of Crowley and Aziraphale.
Don’t get me wrong, this book is excellent. The perfect mix of Gaiman and Pratchett. But if you have watched the series there is no point in taking the time to read the book.
The only real criticism I have of this tale is that the characters of Crowley and Aziraphale are so brilliant that almost every scene they are not in is dull in comparison to the ones they grace. Adam and his friends suffer this fate throughout the story until, of course, they meet the demon and the angel.
If you haven’t watched the series then please dive in. You will be greeted with wonderful writing and characters, a story as old as time and a warm fuzzy feeling in places.
The book is brilliantly written and executed, the only issue is, the series did it better.
Charlotte Wood is a feminist and writer of the macabre and sinister. She reads horror, fantasy, classic literature and historical fiction (with a preference for history from a woman’s perspective).