Review: Good Omens

It seems fate has a sense of humour, Good Omens has turned the apaocalyspe into the funniest tale you’ll hear all year. The sacrastic demon Crowley and the stubborn angel Aziraphale band together to find the antichrist and avert the apocalyspe in their haphazard way, much to the reader’s immense amusement. This side-splitting tale is set in the fictional English village of Tadesfield, as a mission driven psychic, a reculant witch finder and the four motorbike riders of the apocalyse are hot on the trail to find the clueless human raised Antichrist. Good Omens is a angelic batter filled joyride that you do not want to miss.

The legendary team up from Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman has all the elements of a diverting entertaining read with an angelically witty plot and outtageousley funny chracters, who’ll have you dying of laughter. The unlikely duo of Crowley and Aziraphale began when they were both sent to oversee the ‘Adam and Eve’ stituation in the Gadern of Eden. Despite their superiors and species, they forged an thousands year old bond of friendship, willing to come to each other’s aid and keep the balance between heaven and hell. For every bad act, there’s a good act to balance it and vise versa, and that’s the way they like it.

That is until they relaise they’ve misplaced the Antichrist, and it is only a matter of days, until he is supposed to start the Apacocalyspe. To keep their earth bound lifestyles, Crowley and Aziraphale must keep up pretenses, and advert the plans of their demonic and angelic superiors as the hysterical hunt for the Antichrist has begun. Good Omens is part supernaturual buddy comedy and part contemporary fantasy.

Good Omens provides a fresh unique perspective on the ‘apocalyptic’ plots, seen in fantasy novels, through its own brand of divine comedy. It’s comedy that has both humour and heart. Gaiman and Pratchett have a true gift for making their readers laugh with the characters as well as at them; whilst making them care about Crowley and Aziraphale. The angel and demon represent people who have always been told who they should be and what to do with their lives, except it’s not what they want. What they want is simply to stay on earth and be allowed to remain friends, despite the fact angels and demons are barely meant to talk to each other, let alone help each other out from time to time. Crowley Aziraphale’s hilarious adventure has heart, as at it’s core, Good Omens is about two unlikely friends who team up to save the earth, even when everyone and everything is against them.

The plot also introduces us to the antichrist, who is revealed to be eleven year old Adam Young, the son of Satan. He was switched with the wrong baby at birth, so he was raised human with no knowledge of his true heritage. An comical moment is when a flesh eating hellhound is sent to Adam on his eleventh birthday to be given its name, and therefore it’s purpose in helping Adam start the apocalyspe. Except Adam names the hellhound ‘dog’ and so the vicious hellhound becomes a adorabley iconicly sweet puppy, whose sole purpose is to chase sticks and wag its tail. Also Adam represents a very different kind of ‘chosen one’, he chooses to do something simply because it is right, and he’s a flawed but self aware character who doesn’t allow their mistakes to define them, and decides to stand by his human friends and be who he wants to be, not even angels, demons or his devilish father can get in the way of that.

After all, as Good Omens says, “the really important thing was to be yourself, just as hard as you could”. At its core, Good Omens is about having a good laugh, whether it’s in the everyday or the apocalyptic things. You won’t be able to finish with book without a huge grin on your face, and if you want more, a true to book adaptation of Good Omens can be found on BBC iPlayer and Amazon Prime.