The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Apocalypse

The world's going to end and you're going to laugh. That about sums up Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's brilliantly inventive apocalyptic farce "Good Omens." These two wildly creative British authors (Pratchett is best known for his award-winning 'Discworld' series while Gaiman was the creator of the unprecedented graphic series, 'The Sandman')have joined together to write a novel of epic proportions, and side-splitting humor.

The novel focus mainly on two supernal beings; the angel Aziraphale who gave his flaming sword to Adam and Eve because he felt sorry for them, and Crowley, a demon who didn't so much fall as saunter vaguely downward. The two of them have been the agent's for heaven and hell respectively since the beginning of human existence and when they find that the Antichrist is alive and well on earth they know something has to be done because, much to the chagrin of their superiors, Crowley and Aziraphale like humanity too much to let it get destroyed.

The cast of characters are all disturbingly fascinating, from Adam, the somewhat reluctant antichrist to Newton Pulsifer, a private in the Royal Witchfinder Army to even the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse. It's characters like these that really show how well Gaiman and Pratchett work together. Pratchett's grasp of the insanely absurd is perfectly juxtaposed with Gaiman's dark irony. The characters in the book show a balance of normalacy and inanity that's extremely reminiscent of Douglas Adam's 'Hitchhiker' series.

Unlike other apocalyptic farces like Robert Heinlein's 'Job: A Comedy of Errors,' Pratchett and Gaiman's novel is just so wildly absurd that blasphemy, even if present, is quickly dismissed and forgiven. I was too busy laughing out loud at the escapades of the Four Other Horseman of the Apocalypse (Really Cool People, Grievous Bodily Harm, Cruelty to Animals and, Things Not Working Properly Even After You've Given Them a Good Thumping But Secretly No Alcohol Lager) or Witchfinder Sergeant Shadwell who finds witches by counting their nipples, to notice any heresy. I think that's part of the magic of the book, it's silly and ridiculous and that was the point all along. 'Good Omens' is a wonderfully amusing and thoroughly enjoyable book and I strongly suggest it to any and everyone.

On a side note, Pratchett's footnotes in some passages are really one of the highlights of the novel, be sure not to skip any as they're well worth the extra read.