Good Omens by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett

Genre: Fantasy, Supernatural, Comedy

Pages: 259

Published November 28th 2006 by William Morrow

Synopsis:

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 . . .

My Thoughts

Gaiman is one of my absolute favorites, he has a whacky sense of humor and his storytelling capabilities usually astound me. Pratchett, although I have yet to read through his collections, I have read a few of his works and his quirky storytelling capabilities pair perfectly with Gaiman’s.

This was an Audiobook I found in Overdrive and listened to while I worked, which allowed me to giggle through my working frustrations. I opted for the radio dramatization and I am so glad that I did. I feel as though the production truly brought the story to life.

The opening lines are ones that truly ensnared me, Crowley and Aziraphale are memorable characters that continue to be highlighted throughout the book. However, I feel as though if I had listened to the book itself I would have been lost about 3/4 of the way into it, mostly because there are pieces of the story that grows a touch dry. Crowley and Aziraphale truly were my favorite characters throughout the story and when it happened to shift to others it lost my attention, it was all important issues in the background which made the end result, but it still holds a dry quality that didn’t seem to be present when Crowley and Aziraphale were at the forefront.

It is an interesting view of nurture vs nature – as Gaiman and Pratchett often do, they write satire and this one was rather interesting.

It was definitely a fun listen, though. I recommend the radio audio, if you’re able to pick that up via your library.