Loveable Freak Reviews Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

  So, I've finally read this book I've been dying to read: Good Omens. And IT. IS. FANTASTIC!

 I'm going to avoid putting big spoilers for this 14 year old book...

 Anyway, the book is about the prophesized end of the world. However, as Heaven and Hell gather their forces, there's been a mistake as to who the Anti-Christ is. Meanwhile, a demon named Crowley (...I know...) and an angel named Aziraphale are opposed to this, as they have been on Earth since the beginning and have learned to love mankind and the world in general. So they are fighting to circumvent the end...

 ...And it's a comedy!

 Seriously, this book is hilarious! The tone of the narrator is so snarky. And it has hilarious footnotes (at least in my 'Murican copy). You may wonder how freaking ARMAGEDDON could be funny, well, this is how. I'd compare the writing style to that of the late Douglas Adam's A Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy (another book that's worth reading). And all the characters are quirky and memorable.

 The two big ones I should mention are our essential leads: Crowley and Aziraphale, two unlikely friends.

 Crowley is a fast-talking demon that thinks outside the box when it comes to demonic work. He also sees tempting and condemning souls as more of a job that needs to be done (like tax collection), and is not that terrible a pers-erm, demon. Plus, he drives a freaking classic black Bentley, gardens, and listens to Queen! How can I not love him? Great, now two demons named Crowley are my favorite characters. Starting to sense a pattern... Or a type with me...

 Aziraphale is also loveable. He runs a bookstore, but refuses to sell his books because he's attached to them, and is hilariously fussy and adorkable (he does stage magician tricks without using angel magic, for pete's sake!). And, like Crowley, he's not exactly a goody-two shoes of an angel (but not to the degree of, say, 98% of the angels of Supernatural...)

 I feel I should also mention The Four Horsemen Horsepeople. There are some pretty unique concepts with them. War is a beautiful woman, for example. Famine writes diet books and makes food that purposely starve people. Instead of Pestilence, there's Pollution. And Death TALKS IN ALL CAPS WITH NO QUOTATION MARKS.

 The book is incredibly well-written. It's very easy to picture the scenes. Some of them would be great in a movie, such as when the Four Horsepeople meet up. It's co-written by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. Gaiman is a writer who at this point can do no wrong in my eyes no matter what he writes, and I wanna be like one day. As for Pratchett, I've yet to read his books, but I seriously want to try them now.

Final Thoughts:

• Too many favorite scenes and lines to list.
• I think Eric Kripke and at least some of the writers on Supernatural are fans of the book. Seriously! A demon named Crowley that's innovative, Anti-Apocalypse, and every so often isn't that bad of a guy (especially in light of the episode "Road Trip")? An episode with what can only be described as the reality-warping Anti-Antichrist? I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case.
• True story: when reading the scene where Crowley's racing to Tadfield as The Bentley bursts into flames, my iPod started playing the song "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen. It worked so well. If they make a movie or something of this book, I swear, THAT SONG NEEDS TO PLAY DURING THAT SCENE.
• Speaking of movies: I might do a post sometime with a hypothetical casting for an adaptation...

 Overall, I really love this book and highly recommend it. Seriously. Read it. It... You won't regret it...

...

...Go read the thing...