Book Review
Title: Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch
Author: Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman
Genre: Satire/Fantasy
Rating: *****
Review: I have watched parts of the Good Omens TV show and loved them; I don’t know how faithful the show is to the source material, but this is one of the last books I need to read for the Reading Rush. Good Omens opens with a conversation between an angel, Aziraphale and a demon, Crawley just after the exile of Adam and Eve from Eden as they debate whether or not it is possible for them to do right or wrong given their respective natures, which was interesting. millennia later, Crawley now called, Crowley has been entered to deliver the Antichrist to the right people, which he does but the Satanic nuns responsible for the switch with a human child give him to the wrong family. By this point I was already laughing due to the sheer stupidity of some of the characters and I can’t wait to see what comes as the novel progresses. The epic mistake made has just begun the countdown to the Armageddon but we also learn that Crowley and Aziraphale have an arrangement where they help each other so they can keep their respective masters happy without making any genuine progress towards the end of days because neither really wants to see it happen.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, we learn of many immortal beings working for the forces and of good and evil all over the globe but when Crowley and Aziraphale decide to team up to babysit the Antichrist so that he turns out neither completely evil or completely good. In essence, this is a great plan until you realise, they are babysitting the wrong child, but it does make you ask what is happening with the real Antichrist. Crowley has the feeling that something is wrong but he can’t pinpoint what it is and he informs Aziraphale that he is going to be sent a hell-hound on his 11th birthday and that will the true test of whether he is going to be evil, good or neither. By the time Warlock’s 11th birthday finally rolls around, the hellhound doesn’t turn up they realise there is a possibility that they have the wrong child and they head off in search of the real Antichrist. Meanwhile, the hellhound has tracked down the real Antichrist and changes its appearance based on what its master wants and when he unintentional names him, he gives the hellhound a purpose but the boy names him Dog, so he acts like any other dog as far as we have seen. Unfortunately, this pair don’t have much luck in locating the Antichrist themselves and are having to call in some help from their human helpers but the book a young witch left in the back of Crowley’s car suddenly becomes very interesting to Aziraphale, so much so, that he doesn’t tell Crowley about it but as it is a book of Prophecies, it may help them in their quest to find the Antichrist and prevent the end of the world as they know it.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, I was finding it really interesting that after the first section of the novel, it is told over a matter of days. By the time we move into Thursday, Aziraphale now has his hands on the book of Prophecies written by Angus Nutter, but we do start to spend a lot more time with Adam (the Antichrist – the real one). Adam is the leader of a gang called Them, which consists of Pippin Galadriel Moonchild known as Pepper, Wensleydale (Wensley) and Brian who all seem to agree that Adam is their leader and they follow him endlessly so does Dog. While Adam is great to follow my favourite member of the Them is Pepper because she is just feisty and my kind of person although Wensley is probably my spirit guide. Adam seems to use his abilities without even knowing it as Crowley mentioned as when he encounters a witch, she doesn’t know what he is but it does mention that if she tries thinking anything more than passing thoughts about Adam, they just disappear and he seems to have a minor influence of people. I really liked seeing Adam as a normal boy which he is among friends so it seems that Crowley and Aziraphale don’t have anything to worry about with Adam but that may change as the novel progress. This does very quickly change after Adam meets Anathema and she begins opening his mind to the occult which causes him to use his powers without even realising it, this results in tonnes of uranium just vanishing possibly to turn up somewhere else and this doesn’t bode well if Crowley and Aziraphale don’t find him soon but Aziraphale is too tied up reading Angus Nutter’s book to even be present at the moment. Adam increases his knowledge of all these new things he has been opened to and tells his friends about them too but given what happened at the nuclear power plant, I have a bad feeling that more things like this are going to happen. I have also realised that two characters we have been introduced to are two of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, War and Famine, which makes me think where are the other two. There is also the question of what the package they receive mean.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, more strange things are happening, the longer Adam is being exposed to occult ideas although he has no conscious influence over them. Meanwhile, Aziraphale has been reading through Agnes Nutter’s book and trying to decode the information in there and eventually both he and Crowley get hold of the Witchfinder Army and send them to Tadfield to investigate the strange things happening in the area. We have quickly moved through Thursday and Friday to arrive at the weekend where I believe things are starting to get remarkably interesting. Pratchett is the master of absurdist fantasy and with Neil Gaiman’s unique world building and character work this is a divine pairing as there are random sentence that just make you burst out laughing, for example, Aziraphale being gayer than a tree full of monkeys high on nitrous oxide which actually made me cry with laughter. As Adam learn more and discovers how people are destroying the Earth, he creates things like tree popping up everywhere they shouldn’t be tree and a kraken to destroy whaling ships but as the saying goes the road to Hell is paving with good intentions but neither Crowley or Aziraphale have made an appearance yet, in fact they disappeared a while ago and haven’t returned.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, Mr. Shadwell stupidly sent Aziraphale back to heaven after he informs them of the location of the Antichrist but he also learns that they aren’t going to prevent the war as they just want to win it. This leaves everything in Crowley’s hand but he has his own problems as the mix-up with the children has finally been realised and his head is literally on the line as Dukes of Hell are sent to collect him but he manages to give them the slip but at this point the end of the world is mere hours away and I don’t really see what can be done to stop it now Adam is aware of his powers and is using them and the only person available to even try to stop him is Crowley. After his escape Crowley heads for Aziraphale’s bookshop only to find him gone but he does find Agnes Nutter’s book and heads for Tadfield to try and stop the war or go out in a blaze of glory, which he has seemingly resigned himself too. However, Aziraphale is buzzing all over the world in a spirit form trying to find his way back to Tadfield or at least somewhere close where he can be of some use and all the while the four horsemen (technically 3 horsemen and one horsewoman) are riding out for the end of the world. With both side now converging on Tadfield, Aziraphale and Crowley are both heading there to prevent the end of the world, while others in the know are heading to either witness the event like the bikers travelling with the Horsemen and Madame Tracey and Sergeant Shadwell who are heading to kill the Antichrist.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, as we are coming to the end of the novel, I can’t wait to see what happens with Adam and whether or not Aziraphale and Crowley will be able to prevent the destruction of the Earth. As both Aziraphale and Crowley head to Tadfield, we see the end of the world upon the people, but we also see Adam’s indecision about what he actually wants to do with the world. All of a sudden, he seems to make up his mind and he seems to be on the same side as the angel and the demon in saving the world rather than destroying it and he alone might be able to prevent the coming war between Heaven and Hell. As all the key players converge on Tadfield, but Adam is leading the charge desperate to undo what is being done and to my surprise he manages to get rid of War, Famine and Pollution and Death leaves without much fuss but the armies of both Heaven and Hell are on standby along side Crowley, Aziraphale and the human cast we have been following for the majority of the novel. I am curious to how the book is going to end as Death states that the process of the world ended is already stopping as it can’t be done without all of the Horsemen which leaves me with the question of what happens next. The humour in this book is something I really have to commend as it makes you laugh out loud when you least expect it and I can truly understand why David Tennant and Michael Sheen were cast as Aziraphale and Crowley in the T.V. show as their dry sense of humour lends itself so naturally to the source material and I will definitely be binge watching it when I get the chance.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, we see everything come to its natural conclusion with one key difference, everyone including Aziraphale, Crowley and everyone else realise that Adam is half-angel, half-demon and all human. I liked the Sunday portion of this book as it shows what became of all of our favourite characters and it was surprisingly satisfying for a bunch of stuff that never happened. While I am aware that the T.V. show differs greatly from the book, the book was something that I enjoyed immensely. I haven’t read much by Neil Gaiman and I will be reading more, and I have a feeling that Good Omens might make me finally start the Discworld series. I highly recommend Good Omens especially the audiobook whether you listen to the normal audiobook or the dramatized version, both are amazing.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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