Fiction 14 Oct 2004 02:22 pm
Good Omens
Good Omens
Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
If I didn’t know better, I’d think this book was written by Douglas Adams as well. The style is certainly the same (not that this is a bad thing). This one tells the story of the Apocalypse (yes, the big one, the end of the world), but with a sense of humour. The Antichrist, due to an oversight, is raised by a regular middle-class English family. The demon tasked with making sure everything goes as planned is not very enthusiatic about the whole thing, because he rather likes this world. His best friend, an angel, while sure that his side will win in the end, would also rather avoid that whole “war” thing. The Four Horsemen are actually the Four Bikers of the Apocalypse. A witch who has a very accurate book of prophecies in looking for the Antichrist (in the right place), while a witch-hunter is looking for her. And so on.
It’s hard not to laugh out loud several times while reading this book. There are lots of deadpan jokes delivered in all seriousness; I particularly liked the bit about Earth being a Libra. As I said, the style is very “Douglas Adams”, so, if you don’t like his books, you won’t like this one (but, then again, who doesn’t like Douglas Adams?). If you do, you’ll love it. I strongly recommend it.
