Having read a reasonable amount of Neil Gaiman (Very much
liked it) and not very much Terry Pratchett (and really not liking it at all),
I have finally gotten around to reading Good Omens, despite taking it on
holiday twice and never managing to even start it.
So. It tells the story of an angel and a demon, Aziraphale and
Crowley respectively, who have been kicking around together since
the times of literal Eden and have since gone a bit native on Earth. Both have
their indulgences; wine, books and tailoring, and classic cars, booze and
sunglasses indoors. They have grown fond of Earth and humans and more importantly,
their nice comfortable lives amongst them. Crowley is tasked with switching a
human baby for the antichrist in order to bring about the Apocalypse, the End Times,
the big, season finale of WAR between Heaven and Earth, Good and Evil and so
on. Aziraphale is there too because the two of them are kind of
unlikely BFFs. The Antichrist is destined to be raised as Warlock, son of a
prominent US diplomat. Aziraphale and Crowley resolve to work their saintly/demonly influence
on him as he grows up, essentially postponing the end of the world as Warlock, hopefully, struggles to choose between good and evil. At least that is the plan. However. The
problem is, there’s a bit of a mix-up with the Satanic nuns and the Antichrist
is actually an ordinary, but unusually charismatic boy from the suburbs, Adam, who
likes playing in the quarry with his mates, reading comics and messing about with his dog, Dog. Meanwhile, Warlock is just
a normal kid with a weird name.
It’s if the Omen
and Life of Brian got blended.
The rest of the story is Aziraphale and Crowley tearing
around the country in an on-fire Bentley trying to conceal their vast mistakes, to track down Adam,
the real antichrist before the various emissaries of Hell get there first and
reveal the boy’s true powers to him. Adam's power so far extends to righting some environmental wrongs that he's read about in hippy conspiracy theory magazines. There’s a nth generation witch living her life from a book of prophecies, a
witch hunter that falls in love with her, the four horsemen of the apocalypse
and Adam’s three mates thrown in for misunderstandings, declarations and
revelations, culminating in a planned and relief-inducing anti-climax at a Nuclear Power Station.
I can see why people love this book. It’s funny, it’s all
about the inherent goodness of people, Aziraphale and Crowley are
hilarious and adorable. I can see how a frequent re-reader could just slide
back into the world easily and just hang with the characters. However. It just
didn’t strike a chord with me and I found myself just wanting to be finished
with it. I struggle to identify exactly what failed to resonate. As much as I
loved Aziraphale and Crowley, I found most of the other characters
to be forgettable and was always a bit annoyed when the narrative swung over
their way.
It’s been on my TBR list for years, so I’m glad I read it,
and I didn’t really know what to expect, but I honestly don’t think this kind
of fantasy is my thing. I kept convincing myself I could cherry pick the Terry
Pratchett jokes and they irrationally annoyed me. The flavour of humour just doesn’t
do much for me, despite the very comedic prose. Like, I can tell it’s funny,
but it doesn’t make me laugh, if that makes sense.
I don’t know. Just not my thing I guess.
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