BOOK REVIEW: Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman ★★★★☆

According to The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes 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 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…

Pratchett and Gaiman’s Good Omens is a comedy about the birth of the antichrist and the coming of the end of times. The story centres around an angel Aziraphale and demon Crowley, two should-be-immortal-enemies have a good working relationship. For thousands of years, everything was going swell, until they are each tasked with finding the baby Antichrist and swaying him over to their respective heaven or hell sides, thug bringing Armageddon. Aziraphale and Crowley watch over the boy until he reaches his "full potential", which is possibly in eleven years, on a Saturday, according to a 17th century witch, Agnes Nutter.

Most books on witchcraft will tell you that witches work naked. This is because most books on witchcraft are written by men.

One subplot features a mix-up at the small country hospital, where everyone who thinks Warlock is the antichrist is in fact a normal boy. The actual antichrist, Adam, who grows up with the wrong family and in the wrong country village. And with that, another subplot includes the summoning of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, each a big personality in their own right and the descendant of a witch.

Hell may have all the best composers, but heaven has all the best choreographers.

Clever satire that’s harmlessly mocking; it’s a bizarre and crazy book and did I mention funny. I haven’t read any of Pratchett or Gaiman’s work before so my expectations were low. So that’s probably why I found the book incredibly funny, the kind of funny that gave me a few good giggles and a smile.

It may help to understand human affairs to be clear that most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused, not by people being fundamentally good or fundamentally bad, but by people being fundamentally people.

What I liked about Good Omens was the funny, twisted take on stopping Armageddon by the two people who should be routing for it. That and its British humour of sarcasm, irony and understatements. The chemistry between Crowley and Aziraphale was what really made the story work well, as they put their differences aside, and joined forces to try & avert the apocalypse. I very much enjoyed the incredibly accurate (yet so highly specific as to be useless) prophecies of Agnes Nutter, 17th-century prophetess, that rapidly come to pass. I also liked how Adam (the Anti-Christ) naturally gravitates toward his friends Pepper, Wensleydale and Brian that are the human equivalent of the Horsemen (and woman) of the Apocalypse. War is a war correspondent, Death is a biker, Famine is a dietician and fast-food tycoon and Pollution took over Pestilence as he had retired after the discovery of penicillin, who make their appearance as Hell’s Angels.

It has been said that civilization is twenty-four hours and two meals away from barbarism.

As much as I would like to praise it, there were a few things I didn’t like. Pratchett and Gaiman’s writing were something to get used to, with many pages consisting of free-flowing dialogue, it was more than two subplots and the narrative that’s very sporadic and jumps around quite a bit. Maybe cutting out some minor characters would have made it an easy read, although it was helpful to have a character list near the front.

If you want to imagine the future, imagine a boy and his dog and his friends. And a summer that never ends.

It all comes together in the end though. Highly recommended for fans of these two writers and wanting to read anything funny that doesn’t overstep a sensitive religious mark. It’s a light hearted, one of read and I’m looking forward to watching the tv adaption that’s to come out in the summer of 2019. A movie won’t do this book justice.

Rating: 4/5
Publishers: Gollancz
Publication Date: October 31st 2007 (First Published May 1st 1990)
Genre: Urban Fantasy/Humour/