Book Report: Good Omens

Good Omens
By Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman



From the back:
According to 'The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Anges Nutter, 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 ammassing, 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...

First paragraphs:
It was a nice day.
All the days had been nice. There had been rather more than seven of them so far, and rain hadn't been invented yet. But clouds massing east of Eden suggested that the first thunderstorm was on its way, and it was going to be a big one.


This chunky little paperback was the only book I bought that day from Cargo Largo. Terry Pratchett's name on the spine caught my eye and I grabbed it, not entirely sold on the premise, but trusting it would be good nonetheless. I haven't read a Terry Pratchett book in a long time, but I know I love his stories. Plus, I was still reading 'The Messiah of Morris Avenue' at the time, which dealt heavily with religion, and I figured I'd learned enough from that book to be able to follow this one.

Page 14 sees Terry's first trademark footnote, and it made me happy to see it. For a book written by two people, I can't tell where one started and the other ended. I've not read Neil Gaiman's book, but if his sense of humor is that similar to Terry's, I look forward to reading.

Two of the main players in this story are Aziraphale, an angel, and Crowley, a demon. They've known each other since the start of time, and both have taken a liking to the world as it is today. But when Crowley recieves orders to 'plant' an infant Antichrist in a maternity ward, he must act. Unbeknownst to him, though, there is a mix-up between three identical babies. The Antichrist is sent home with an unsuspecting family, while all eyes are on a simple 'mortal' baby.

Aziraphale and Crowley make for a great pair: opposite values and morals, but getting along anyway as old friends do. They watch the child grow up (years pass in days), keenly observant and watching for any trait of the Antichrist to appear. However, the boy appears frighteningly normal. And on the day a Hell Hound is scheduled to appear as the boy's faithfull servant--and never shows up--they realize that the real Antichrist is somewhere else, and severe punishment is certain if they can't find him.

Meanwhile, the real Antichrist--named Adam, of course!--grows up with a normal childhood. He has three friends and The Them, as they're called, are known as trouble makers. Indeed, Adam's Hell Hound arrives, a huge, red-eyed, black dog that, once Adam names 'Dog', transforms into a loyal little terrier. In his new body, Dog finds himself enjoying this new cat-chasing, hole-digging life. The group is mostly inactive, mostly talking about how the world could be a better place if people would just stop killing whales and cutting down rainforests.

And all around the world, strange things start to happen. The weather goes berserk. Electricty fizzles out. Four seperate strangers start to gather power.

The final key player is Newt, the last Witchhunter in a long line of Witchhunters, sent on one final mission. He must find out why one town--Adam's town--is remaining so utterly normal when all this chaos is going on everywhere else. He eventually meets Anathema, a decendant of Anges Nutter. The two of them form a relationship--despite the fact that generations before, Newt's relative burned Anges at the stake--and they work on deciphering the prophecies with the intention of saving the world.

Terry and Neil took their time with this story, giving everyone a unique personality and backstory. As the story unfolds, all the seperate threads start to come together in comedic and interesting ways. Nothing goes right as each character must overcome their own odds. For such a large cast, I had no problem visualizing it all.

Mostly I enjoyed the relationship between the angel and the demon, the way they acted with such a comfortable friendship and even showed concern for each other, despite being 'enemies'. They debate on whether or not Adam, growing up with neither heavenly influences or demonic, can still mature into the Antichrist. Is evil nature or nurture? Can good overcome bad in the end?

For such a hearty, tongue-in-cheek Apocalypse story, there are some real messages here. The final showdown is huge and dazzling, containing all the major players and even some surprise ones. I enjoyed this book immensely and am marking it a favorite.

Five out of five stars for imagery, humor, characterization, management of subplots, and of course, Death's cameo. ;)