Good Omens
The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch.
By Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
1990, Workman Publishing Company


Good Omens is one of the better known books in the humorous fantasy genre, and for good cause. Over 20 years after its initial publication, it is still reliably found on bookstore shelves, often in both hardcover and softcover, and it remains one of the most popular comic SF/F books out there.

Finally, it's time. The end of the world, or at least, the world as we know it. The Adversary, Destroyer of Kings, Angel of the Bottomless Pit, Great Beast that is called Dragon, Prince of This World, Father of Lies, Spawn of Satan, and Lord of Darkness has been born (well, produced in some manner, anyway), and carefully switched with a mortal child. He will be raised among men, and will, in time, destroy the world, initiate Armageddon, and reform the Earth in whatever manner he so desires.

Unless a demon in a hurry accidently mislays the little rug-rat, of course. This demon is Crowley, and he really is good at what he does. It's not his fault. In fact, it's so much not his fault that he didn't even know that it happened, until the end of the world started going funny. Thankfully, he has help, an angel that has fallen out of the habit of being angelic (although certainly not a fallen angel!), and wouldn't mind if the world didn't end on schedule... not that he has any doubt that his side would win, of course. But really, he does enjoy a good cup of tea, and heaven is not big on the Earthly pleasantries.

So now we have the Four Horsemen (and then some) running around leaderless, the big heavenly and hellish players looking for someone to blame, and an Antichrist who appears to be working for entirely the wrong team.

Oh... and Agnes Nutter was a witch who was disturbingly good at seeing the future. Too good, really, because most of the future isn't something you want to know, really know, that is coming for you. But she did get out one book of prophesies before being burned, and now it looks like Agnes' book is the only clue as to what in the world is going on.

This is a quite well written book, and compares well with other works of Pratchett from around that time; not quite as polished as his latter books, but top-quality humorous fantasy nonetheless. Gaiman's voice is a little less obvious, but stands out in some areas, such as the Four Horsemen. This is probably in part due to this book being a bit more lighthearted than most of the things that Gaiman writes, making it hard to identify his writing; the authors agree that Terry Pratchett was responsible for a bit more than half of the overall text, but this was a collaborative work, and they each hand a hand in every part of the story.

The plot is delightfully twisty, with multiple intertwining story-lines and sudden switchbacks and references to earlier bits that you thought had been dropped. It remains fast-moving and entertaining throughout, and holds up through multiple readings. The theological bits are covered with enough thought to be interesting, and handled with enough care as to be as inoffensive as this sort of book can be -- if the story pitch doesn't strike you as inherently sacrilegious, nothing in the book will make it worse. Overall, a very nice piece of work, recommended to anyone who likes a good laugh.


ISBN-10: 0060853980
ISBN-13: 978-0060853983