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Good Omens Mass Market Paperback – May 1, 1996
- Print length366 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherAce
- Publication dateMay 1, 1996
- Dimensions4.36 x 1.04 x 6.7 inches
- ISBN-100441003257
- ISBN-13978-0441003259
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Product details
- Publisher : Ace (May 1, 1996)
- Language : English
- Mass Market Paperback : 366 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0441003257
- ISBN-13 : 978-0441003259
- Item Weight : 6.1 ounces
- Dimensions : 4.36 x 1.04 x 6.7 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #2,097,157 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,713 in Humorous Science Fiction (Books)
- #15,572 in Humorous Fiction
- Customer Reviews:
About the authors

Terry Pratchett sold his first story when he was fifteen, which earned him enough money to buy a second-hand typewriter. His first novel, a humorous fantasy entitled The Carpet People, appeared in 1971 from the publisher Colin Smythe. Terry worked for many years as a journalist and press officer, writing in his spare time and publishing a number of novels, including his first Discworld novel, The Color of Magic, in 1983. In 1987 he turned to writing full time, and has not looked back since. To date there are a total of 36 books in the Discworld series, of which four (so far) are written for children. The first of these children's books, The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, won the Carnegie Medal. A non-Discworld book, Good Omens, his 1990 collaboration with Neil Gaiman, has been a longtime bestseller, and was reissued in hardcover by William Morrow in early 2006 (it is also available as a mass market paperback (Harper Torch, 2006) and trade paperback (Harper Paperbacks, 2006). Terry's latest book, Nation, a non-Discworld standalone YA novel was published in October of 2008 and was an instant New York Times and London Times bestseller. Regarded as one of the most significant contemporary English-language satirists, Pratchett has won numerous literary awards, was named an Officer of the British Empire “for services to literature” in 1998, and has received four honorary doctorates from the Universities of Warwick, Portsmouth, Bath, and Bristol. His acclaimed novels have sold more than 55 million copies (give or take a few million) and have been translated into 36 languages. Terry Pratchett lived in England with his family, and spent too much time at his word processor. Some of Terry's accolades include: The Carnegie Medal, Locus Awards, the Mythopoetic Award, ALA Notable Books for Children, ALA Best Books for Young Adults, Book Sense 76 Pick, Prometheus Award and the British Fantasy Award.

Neil Gaiman is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty books, including Norse Mythology, Neverwhere, and The Graveyard Book. Among his numerous literary awards are the Newbery and Carnegie medals, and the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, and Will Eisner awards. He is a Professor in the Arts at Bard College.
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Overall, I'd say "Good Omens" is a blast if you like your books quirky, unexpected, and a little bit absurd.
It is a cult classic and I am not going to waste a bunch of time trying to come up with superlatives not yet used. It is worth reading the reviews such as the ones I found on Amazon. The novel is not everyone’s cup of tea; there are many negative ones. Most of the negative ones I read were of Neil Gaiman and those reviewers complained about a difference in the Gaiman style as compared to his other works. I felt those reviewers were unfair. I can safely bet there are a bunch of Christian religious fundamentalists (not extremists) which would not even attempt to see the humor in the naming and depictions of various members of the holy (and unholy) establishment. Who would have the temerity to suggest that War, Death, and Famine could keep their original Four Horsemen names but Pestilence was going to have to accept an upgrade to Pollution due to the demands of technology?
Back to two complaints I have about the edition I read. (1) Who cares about publisher and publishers and reprint editions and the “when” of an edition? Me, when the novel becomes hard to read. Throughout this edition, there were symbols that looked like this * throughout the novel. I couldn’t initially find what they referred to. The story was moving along nicely at its usual speed of light and ignoring the symbols didn’t hinder its movement at all. Then I found all the referenced items at the end of the novel. And they were interesting. But at that point, there were no page references and I couldn’t easily go back to what they referred to. Grrrr! So, for a better reading experience, click on the tiny symbols. They will take you to the reference. Then click the back button on the Kindle App and it will take you back to the page you were on … maybe. I don’t know how it works when you are reading the novel on several devices at once and synchronization kicks in. That is what caused me problems.
(2) This book was written by two authors in sort of a back-and-forth style. If one couldn’t get past a certain point (make it funny) the other kicked in new ideas. Through lots and lots of conference calls, they came up with this. Of course, Gaiman’s style was different! I am sure both he and Terry Pratchett made compromises in their final submission. I found many of the negative reviewer comments irrelevant.
Now a bit about content. Here are some of the lines I found attention grabbing. Having read these, no way I could put the book down. After reading the subtitle I was hooked. “The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch.” How could I walk away from that? It quickly became apparent that Agnes had written a book predicting the Apocalypse, the end of Days. And, looking at the table of contents (of this novel, not the one by Agnes) we can see that it is going to be very soon. It is a matter of days. Certain events and signs must happen first (re: the four Horsemen) but a lot of subordinate characters, angels and lesser angels, demons and lesser demons, Witchhunters, and innocent bystanders go in search for the missing ingredient, the Antichrist. The Antichrist, appropriately named Adam, has not exactly gotten sidetracked in his mission. He was never informed of the mission. He grew up as a “normal” boy. Although he always seemed to be the leader of any group, the one with the best ideas, and the ability to bend everyone else to his will, he did not act knowingly as the Antichrist. He is simply known by his nickname “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. (p. 27). At least that is what Crowley, Satan’s representative on Earth, calls his soon-to-be-master.
This is a hilarious, sarcastic, cynical, and absurd look at the fragility of human nature. For those who want to relate absurd happenings to literal happenings in present day reality, there is lots of material to allow a reader to do that.
But I couldn’t stop laughing and didn’t want to spoil it with reality. I will read more novels with the Gaiman name. And I will take care of them. I will not treat them in a way described at the beginning of this novel. “If we run across a shiny new copy, it’s usually because the owner’s previous five have been stolen by friends, struck by lightning or eaten by giant termites in Sumatra. You have been warned. Oh, and we understand there’s a copy in the Vatican library.” (p. 2).
Then Crowley gets the word that the time has come for the arrival of the Anti-Christ. He can't believe it's all going to end, but like a good demon he does his duty. Unbeknownst to him, though the Satanic nuns at the hospital where he delivered the child had a minor mix-up and the Anti-Christ ends up going home with a working class English couple instead of the American diplomat he was supposed to. In this novel, prophecy move along regardless of the circumstances (probably foretold in the "The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch") and neither side discovers the error until eleven years later when a hellhound is released and never appears at the appointed place. By that time things are in a major uproar because the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse (who prefer to ride Harley's instead of horses), Death, Pestilence, Famine, and War have already started going about trying to destroy most of the world while most of the hosts Heaven and Hell are preparing for battle in the upcoming Armageddon.
Things don't look very well. Yet, there's an eleven-year-old boy in England who has visions of UFOs, a hollow Earth, and tunneling Tibetans that suddenly start happening. Things just aren't what they used to be. As the only two creatures who seem to have a clue what is going on, it's up to Crowley and Aziraphale to try to put things right before the world ends.
I thoroughly enjoyed GOOD OMENS. The book was full of classic Brittish wit coloured with good-old American humor and pop culture references. I have never read anything by Gaiman (though I have heard of his SANDMAN works) or Pratchett and picked up this novel after hearing that Terry Gilliam was wanting to turn the book into a movie. I've enjoyed many of Gilliam's other works and wanted to stay ahead of the game and read the book ahead of time (the movie is in limbo right now, though).
My only negative complaint is that the book has several characters, so at times it is a bit difficult to keep up with what is happening to whom and where. I know that there are also some who would be offend by the misuse of the Biblical elements used to form the foundation of the story. I usually tend to view things such as the Apocalypse, Armageddon, and the end of the world in a serious light myself. However, I knew before reading this book that these writers weren't going to that and I ended up enjoying the book immensely. It made me laugh many times.
Just watch out for those good omens. They rarely are that good.
Top reviews from other countries
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 26, 2024

















