Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
God does not play dice with the universe; He plays an ineffable game of His own devising, which might be compared, from the perspective of any of the other players [i.e. everybody], to being involved in an obscure and complex variant of poker in a pitch-dark room, with blank cards, for infinite stakes, with a Dealer who won’t tell you the rules, and who smiles all the time.
– Terry Pratchett
I bought this book to have something to read on our trip to Japan, as I had always heard good things about it. It is the first book I’ve read from either Gaiman or Pratchett. I knew I was in for something quite British in nature, but even I was surprised by how silly and funny this book was.
The book begins with Crowley, a demon who was the snake in the garden of Eden, talking to Aziraphale, the angel on the east gate, about the original sin. Crowley and Aziraphale are representatives of Hell and Heaven on earth, respectively, and they live there for thousands of years. When it is time for the Antichrist, a young boy who grows up in a normal English family, to start the apocalypse, Crowly and Aziraphale decide that they quite like earth and it would be a shame to break the whole thing up. With the four horsemen of the apocalypse, witchfinders, witches, a healthy dose of prophecy, and plenty of sarcasm and dry English humour, Good Omens is a fun novel about the end of the world. It also had biblical references galore, which I always enjoy.
DON’T THINK OF IT AS DYING, said Death. JUST THINK OF IT AS LEAVING EARLY TO AVOID THE RUSH
I will definitely be reading some more Pratchett and Gaiman in future after Good Omens.