Once every while, one will have the good fortune to find hidden gems amidst the mountains of books published and available in the market each year. When you do, sit back, relax with a cuppa and while your time away with the good read.
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett is one such gem. It has been published for more than a decade and in terms of picking it up, I'm late in every sense. However, I can take heart that an adaptation for a television series is coming up in 2013.
I caught wind of it when I was reading Sherlock fanfiction and chanced upon Sherlock/Good Omens crossovers. These fanfictions are truly lovely featuring the Sherlock characters as angels/devils on Earth. Hence, I now have to track down this "elusive" novel. I placed a reservation in the library and voila!
The novel is an absolute treat and deliciously witty. It is exactly my cup of tea when it comes to books - a hint of sarcasm and wit with lots of brilliant ideas. I find myself bursting into laughter at the 'ridiculous' stuff made up by the very human-boy Antichrist - tunnelling Tibetans, Atlantians with diving gear and raining fish creatures.
Good Omens is described as a quasi-parody and touched on topics such as the Apocalypse, angels, demons, Good, Evil, Heaven, Hell and witchcraft. I'm not particularly religious so it's perfectly fine for me to read such things written in such a light-hearted manner. But, I can imagine some (overzealous) people being touchy over it.
I highly recommend it to those who appreciate witty dialogue and comical characters.
