A Good Omen For English Literature (Good Omens - Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman)

Member Name: Redmedic

Product:	Good Omens - Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman
Date:	30/10/08 (91 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Splendidly funny, clever and compelling

Disadvantages: Fantasy

From the best creative partnership since Rogers and Hammerstein comes 'Good Omens,' a collaboration between Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. Each brings something to the narrative style; Gaiman's dark humour is lifted by Pratchett's wit, while Pratchett's often-wandering narrative is focussed by Gaiman's grittiness. The result is a book which is imaginative, uproariously funny and completely compelling.

The beaurocrats of hell are angry. The demon known as Crowley, notably responsible for 'man's first temptation' in Applegate, has lost the Antichrist. The Antichrist should have been placed into the care of a significant American diplomat, but, thanks to the ministrations of some particularly incompetant satanic nuns, the boy is somewhere else. Now, a special hell is being prepared for Crowley and his immortal soul unless he can find and deliver the Antichrist to the armies of Satan, so that Armageddon can take place. Which brings us to the other problem - Crowley doesn't want that to happen.

He and an angel called Aziraphale have one significant feature in common: they like Humanity and all its trappings. Aziraphale has a weakness for antique books, regency silver snuffboxes, and dinners at the Ritz, while Crowley loves his vintage Bentley, which he has owned since new. Now, the omens of the Apocalypse have begun to appear, and the eight Horsemen - Death, War, Famine, Pollution, and the less-famous Ansafones, No Alcohol Lager, Things Not Working Properly Even After You've Given Them A Good Thumping and Really Cool People - are riding out. As their enjoyment of the world threatens to be cut short, the angel and the demon must join forces against both Heaven and Hell to find the Antichrist and save the world.

Meanwhile, somewhere south of the M40, a boy called Adam Young is rather put out to discover that his very existance dictates that the end of the world is nigh, since he happens to be rather fond of it. He and his friends, Brian, Wensleydale and Pepper (who is absolutely not to be called by her actual name of Pippin Galadriel Moonchild) and his dog, Dog, decide to try and avert this disaster. But can the Antichrist really choose his own destiny?

With a full ensemble of witches, witch-finders, aliens, ladies of questionable virtue and mythical creatures, Good Omens has something for everyone. It is a book that you will want to read time and time again, which will never lose its appeal, due to the depth of its humour.

Summary: A book that should appeal to everyone.