Review:: Good Omens by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett

According to The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes good-omens-book-cover
Nutter in Good Omens, Witch (the world’s only completely accurate book of prophecies, written in 1655, before she exploded), the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. Just before dinner.

So the armies of Good and Evil are amassing, Atlantis is rising, frogs are falling, tempers are flaring. Everything appears to be going according to Divine Plan. Except a somewhat fussy angel and a fast-living demon–both of whom have lived amongst Earth’s mortals since The Beginning and have grown rather fond of the lifestyle–are not actually looking forward to the coming Rapture.

And someone seems to have misplaced the Antichrist . .

Good Omens was enjoyable from start to finish. It was full of dry, witty humor, and was nothing if not an original twist on Christianity’s part in Armageddon. It was a very easy read, and despite having to start and stop reading it fairly often due to classwork and things, I was always able to figure out what was happening, and the little pop culture references were little bits of fun.

There’s an angel that owns a bookstore, a demon who loves cassette tapes and his vintage Bentley, nuns that never stop chattering, and then the Antichrist isn’t actually interested in destroying the world. Oh, and did I mention that the Devil speaks through Queen tapes? It had me giggling and occasionally cackling at the foolishness that occasionally went on.

I think that my favorite character was probably Aziraphale – he spoke to my love of books, as well as being mostly a great person. Their friendship, actually, was my favorite thing. I never figured that an Angel and a Demon could be particular friends, given the difference in their outlook on life, but I think Crowley figured it out, and described it perfectly with this line near the end of the book, “Just remember I’ll have known that, deep down inside, you were just enough of a bastard to be worth liking.” I’ve been told that a lot of people ship these characters, but I didn’t necessarily read it that way.

I think that my favorite idea throughout the book was that the Antichrist had the free will that allowed him to not cause Armaggedon. He was, in the end, human and only wanted to be accepted.

This book is very much in the British style of humor, so if you enjoy books by Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams, you will probably enjoy this one.

 I’m rating this book five stars because I loved it. You can pick up a copy on Amazon, Indiebound or your favorite other bookseller!

Five stars

5 thoughts on “Review:: Good Omens by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett

  1. Neil Gaiman is, by far, one of my fave authors; so I’ve read a few of his books… Somehow, this one always kept getting pushed to the back burner. Sounds like a good read, though, so I’ll have to check up on that soon. Great review! Glad you enjoyed it.

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