The Wish List

The Wish List by Eoin Colfer
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Dying isn't the end for Meg Finn: her soul is perfectly balanced between good and evil, so she is sent back to Ireland with one last chance to make it through the pearly gates.

Meg Finn was an ordinary Irish girl until an unfortunate accident with a shot gun, a propane tank, and a pitbull ended her life. She gets sent on to the afterlife and finds a few surprises: heaven and hell are real, and while blue auras go up, red goes down. But Meg's aura is....purple? Back she goes for one last chance to right some wrongs: Meg helps a crotchety and lonely old man rekindle his lost love, reclaim missed opportunities and settle old grudges, all while dodging Satan's minions.

This novel is quippy and light-hearted in spite of the fact that its heroine dies in the first few pages. Most of the fun is in the premise, and watching Satan's technologically challenged servants try to track down Meg before she gets away. Not brilliant, but certainly entertaining.

Fans of the Artemis Fowl series will find more of the Colfer's signature style here. Fans who have outgrown the teenage mastermind might try Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride or go a step further to the clever Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett (which would appeal to anyone who liked the Beelzebub/St. Peter dynamic).

Good Omens

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

When an angel and a demon mislay the Antichrist, the Apocalypse comes as expected - but doesn't proceed according to plan..

For fans of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, it will be clear that the majority of the writing and style is Pratchett's. The humor, plus his ever-present humanism, is a lot like what you will find in the Discworld books. So you'll meet funny characters: witches who are ahead of their times, the Four Horseman (including Death, who speaks in all caps!) and the Satanic nuns, a gang of imaginative kids, a dog-like Hellhound, telephone salespeople, and bikers - all of whom will irresistibly remind you of the good people of Ankh-Morpork.


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P.S. A friend asked me why I didn't give this book more than three stars. Here is my response:

"While I enjoy the works of both of these writers, I confess that I can't fully love a book where two atheists reinterpret the Bible to fit their own worldview. That makes me a little uncomfortable, and I am definitely not a secular humanist like Pratchett.

If not for my philosophical differences, I might have enjoyed "Good Omens" as much as the best of the Discworld books (for me, "Small Gods" has the same problems with religion as "Good Omens"). A lot of people love this book to pieces, though, and you may not have the same reservations I did.

That's not to say that I don't find the characters charming and the book well-written. It's just a personal hangup that kept me from fully engaging in the story."