Paperback, 416 pages
Published June 21, 2010 by Corgi.
Armageddon only happens once, you know. They don't let you go around again until you get it right.
According to the Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch - the world's only totally reliable guide to the future, written in 1655, before she exploded - the world will end on a Saturday.
Next Saturday, in fact. Just after tea...
People have been predicting the end of the world almost from its very beginning, so it's only natural to be sceptical when a new date is set for Judgement Day.
This time though, the armies of Good and Evil really do appear to be massing. The four Bikers of the Apocalypse are hitting the road. But both the angels and demons - well, one fast-living demon and a somewhat fussy angel - would quite like the Rapture not to happen.
Oh, and someone seems to have misplaced the Antichrist...
I read this about 20 years ago and liked it then, so I thought I'd give it a re-read. It's nothing like I remember.
Ilmestyskirjan tapahtumat ovat käymässä toteen 1980–90-luvun vaihteen Englannissa, hyvän ja pahan voimat jäljittävät uudestisyntynyttä Jumalan poikaa, neljä modernisoitua ratsastajaa karauttaa paikalle moottoripyörillä ja joka välissä viljellään populaarikulttuuriviittauksia. Kirja onnistuu tavoittamaan Thatcherin ajan talouspolitiikan maailmanloppua muistuttavan ilmapiirin, ja monille samoille asioille itsekin teininä 90-luvulla irvailleena olisin varmasti tuolloin ollut varsin lumoissani tästä. Mutta nykyinen makuni menee vähän ohi anglospefistä, ja etenkään en jaksa lämmetä kirjoitustyylille, jossa tehdään vitsailevia yleistyksiä asioista kuin ne olisivat universaaleja, vaikka eivät voisi olla kauempana omasta elämästäni.
Skaičiau tramvajuose ir metro - juokiausi pats ir juokinau žmones, dovanojau šią knygą - manau, kad pasaulio pabaigos negali būti geresnės, negu čia aprašyta.
I was a little surprised by this one. Maybe I’m not the right target audience but I found it all just a tiny bit too whimsical for me. I still thoroughly enjoyed it though, just not 5 stars enjoyed it
Humor and caricatures highlight a cataclysm - in this case, the biblical judgement day. Yet it feels like a sitcom, a 2D story that plays itself for laughs.
I have not watched the series, and this is only the second Terry Pratchett I have read. One good point is that I cannot tell which author wrote which parts. The problem is that almost everything is played for laughs. It feels like there is a commentary here, empowering humanity, but it is mostly lost in the shuffle.
Perhaps, in 2020, the apocalypse is just much closer than in 1990 - and less humorous. Not sure. I plan to watch the series on TV. I'd also like to know why later editions of this book are over 400 pages, when the original was 268. Illustrations? Even more footnotes for Americans? Overall rating 3⅜ stars.
