Omen to That (Good Omens - Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman)

Member Name: 87degrees

Product:	Good Omens - Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman
Date:	27/01/06 (382 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Funny, gripping, entertaining

Disadvantages: Some of the characters appear for a page or two then vanish

Yes, I know the title's a terrible pun. Don't let that reflect badly on the subject of the review. I love this book. I haven't read anything else by Neil Gaiman (though I have friends trying to correct that) so I can't compare it to his other works, but I can say that this is as humorous as most of the work Terry Pratchett is most famous for: The Discworld.

~~~ The Setting ~~~
This book is set in our world, but not quite as we know it. Demons and angels influence the lives of the humans, manipulating the world towards the great conclusion: the final battle between heaven and hell.

There are scenes all over the world, but most of the action either takes place in central London, or in a village called Tadfield. This village has pretty countryside, trees that are perfect for climbing and wonderful weather. Anyone think that's natural?

~~~ The Plot ~~~
The story concerns the end of the world. The anti-Chris is sent to earth but, due to a mix up at the hospital, is given to the wrong parents and heaven and hell both lose track of him.

Aziraphale, an angel, and Crowley, a demon, have both been on earth long enough that they have more in common with each other than their respective bosses. As such, they both come to the decision that they like the world and, while both sides are preparing for the Great War, they decide to stop Armagedon.

But there are humans who know what's going on as well. The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnus Nutter are the only completely realiable guide to the future and one of Agnus Nutter's descendents has been interpretting those concerning the end of the world. Now Anathema, witch, has joined forces with Newton Pulsifer, witch-finder, to see if they can't change what's written.

And there's the anti-Chris and his gang of friends. No one asked him if he wanted the world to end.

~~~ The Characters ~~~
The main characters in this story are definitely Aziraphale and Crowley. The two work brilliantly in contrast to each other and have some very nice interactions. I think they are wonderfully portrayed with some good sequences and funny one-liners, always remaining perfectly in character.

The main human characters also have nicely created personalities. I especially like Them, the gang of kids who accompany the anti-Christ. The main characters are all different and its easy to tell them apart. These include Adam, Wensleydale, Brian and Pepper (the four members of Them), Newton Pulsifer who's trying to make his life more exciting by joining the witchfinder army, Anathema Device, a professional descendent, Sergeant Shadwell, for whom witchfinder is his entire life, too bad he's never found any, and Madam Tracey, a medium.

There are also the supernatural cast, including the Four Bikers of the Apocalypse, Hastur and Ligur who are Dukes of Hell, and Metatron, the Voice of God, and not to forget Satan.

There are also various characters who appear for a page or two and then are never seen again. They seem to exist to show the various supernatural events occurring round the world, but I didn't quite like them because you never get a chance to discover their personalities and characteristics before they're gone.

~~~ The Writing Style ~~~
The book is mainly humorous, but that's not to say that its lacking in plot. It's said that the world will end on Saturday, so the book is split into sections, each one containing one day of the last week. This works very well as a countdown, with tension building and events getting more heated towards the end. It keeps you going until the end to find out what happens.

There's some nice jokes and some good descriptive passages. There are some sections that are very unlike the Pratchett style I'm used to, so I'd assume they're written by Gaiman. I think the book draws nicely from Pratchett's talents. As I said earlier, I don't know Gaiman's work so I can't really say if the same is true for him. I would guess so, because I couldn't find anything I disliked in the book aside from what I've already mentioned about the characters.

There are various footnotes that are translations for Americans, describing things like the previous currency system in England and Milton Keynes. I don't know if they help Americans, but they were certainly amusing to me. I think there are a few jokes I think non-English wouldn't get, such as Crowley thinking about his demonic creations and being particularly pleased with Manchester.

~~~ Overall ~~~
This is a very good book for something enjoyable and not to take too seriously. As a tale of religious importance, its not. But as light entertainment, its very good. If you like Pratchett's style of humour, you should definitely read this.

It has plot, it has jokes, it has the end of the world. What more could you want from a book?

Summary: funny story about conflict between heaven and hell and the end of the world