Saturday, November 24, 2007

Book Review: Good Omens

Good Omens
The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch


I just finished reading this book. It, if you couldn't tell by the title and cover, is fiction. In my own words I will attempt to sum the novel up as quickly as possible:

Agnes Nutter was a witch, who in 1655, wrote a book of prophecies. One of which was the exact day the end of the world would come. It just so happens that it is going to be Sunday.

The anti-christ (Adam, somehow fittingly) is re-born in to the modern world. A mix up in the delivery room causes Adam to be raised in the country as a normal boy. The authors do a good job at adding an overshadowing of his true power in his everyday world.

There are two angels, one on the side of heaven (Arizaphale) and one on the side of hell (Crowley). They both live on earth and help people or create problems, respectively. Since they have lived on earth since The Beginning they actually have become quite accustom to life on earth. As a result they are not looking forward to the Rapture. However, since they are here each respective side is sending them to find Adam. It seems that the delivery room mix up caused both sides (Heaven and Hell) to lose track of him.

As the book moves along the heat (pun intended) between the two sides is building and building into the great last battle. More and more weird shit is happening all over the world, like Atlantis rising. Arizaphle and Crowley get more and more frantic looking for Adam. The Four Horsemen appear, riding motorcycles, looking for Adam.

The armies of Good and Evil take the field of battle with Adam, caught, unafraid in the middle. I will not say what happens after this point. But it was a fairly clever solution to destroying all life on Earth.

This is a pretty easy reading book. I particularly enjoy that there were plenty of places to break because I usually only have 20-30 minutes to read at anyone time. I find that when chapters drag on, so can the book. Anyway, If you are looking for a good, fun fiction this could be it for you.

Side thought: I thought this was much better than American Gods also by N. Gaiman.

1 comment:

  1. I read this a few years ago and really enjoyed it. You can definitely see the Pratchett influence on the writing but it's most definitely a Gaiman book.

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