What happens when babies are switched? Well, some disasters will follow.
This is one of the funniest books I’ve ever read, and I don’t remember ever laughing this much after reading Heir Apparent by Vivian Vande Velde in 2006.
The story focuses on a mission from hell, with the antichrist child being prophesied to end the world and start the war between Heaven and Hell. A fallen angel turned demon, Crowley, aka the serpent who tempted Eve, was given the task to make sure that the baby would be put in the right family so that the child would grow up well.
Now, fallen angels and demons had grown comfortable living in the world, and they’d rather keep the world going than to end it.
For instance, Crowley was never a big fan of apocalypse because he loved the world. So he and his friend, the angel Aziraphale decided to make sure that the child would be raised 50:50. Not so good, and not so bad either. So that when the day came, the child would be too confused to choose which side he’d let win the war.
So after a decade passed, and the prophecy was supposedly coming to fruition, they realized that they had been raising the wrong child all these years. And with only a week left to apocalypse, the two friends must race to find the real antichrist boy to save their beloved world. Of course, given that the mistake was found early, they were racing against the rest of hell as well.
And the real antichrist child, Adam, is slowly changing the world without knowing it.
This book has a lot going on that it gave me headaches sometimes. There are a lot of characters and stories, a lot of background stories that I’m not sure we all need to know, and details that I’d rather skip for the real meat of the story.
Of course, in the end, everything had to come together so we should not ignore any detail no matter how ‘minor’ it seemed.
I tried to be as interested in the other characters as I was in Crowley or Adam or Aziraphale. There were some moments I tolerated, because I truly agreed that they were directly affected by the main events taking place in the apocalypse agenda, but some I found somewhat redundant that I’d rather skip. I understand that the book was written by two writers, so a lot of things were bound to happen and confuse me.
However, despite the many distractions, the story was gold, and the humor was spot on.
It’s sarcastic and witty, and the way it brings about heaven, hell, and the world is just refreshing. The references to the Bible and how wrong but so right they are just make the story all the funnier.
I laughed so hard reading this book, and I wonder if I will find another that can make me laugh as hard.
Good Omens is a 7/10 for me. I would definitely read it again, and would definitely recommend it to my friends.
OpinionHuis 