FFB - Good Omens

Good Omens was co-written by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, and originally published in 1990. It may seem apt to post this review since Sir Terry Pratchett has recently died. I reviewed this in 1990 when it came out in paperback:

‘I’ve enjoyed Gaiman’s writing for DC Comics, and of course love Pratchett’s Discworld books, and pleasure of pleasures, the combination works well.

‘It’s an Omen spoof, where the anti-Christ child ends up with the wrong parents. Aziraphale is the sort-of good angel (and part-time rare-book dealer who teams up with the sort-of bad Crowley (‘an angel who did not so much Fall as Saunter Vaguely Downwards’). They get together to prevent the imminent Armageddon (next Saturday, apparently) because they like the status quo just as it is.

‘There are many amusing scenes, from the absent-minded evil nuns at the baby hospital to the Four Apocalyptic Horsepersons vying with some Hell’s Angels no less. The humans are an even stranger lot, which is to be expected, I suppose.

‘It’s daft, lovely, full of compassion and cleverly done Just Williamesque kids whose logic is priceless. If William Brown had ever been considered the son of the devil by all those poor folk who suffered in his books, then they’d be surprised at how his alter ego (Adam, the anti-Christ!) turns out.’

This was Gaiman’s debut as a novelist, though he had already gained a large readership through the medium of comics. Since then of course he has written seven books, some collaborations and won several awards.