Good Omens is my favorite book, full stop. It’s got stakes; it’s about the end of the world! But it’s also got humor. Not just has humor, humor is woven into its DNA. Good Omens is the hardest I’ve laughed at a book pretty much ever (Boyfriend Material might be the exception to that). But it’s not just laugh out loud funny, it’s a charming, low-boil funny that just makes you smile and keeps a steady drip of serotonin flowing the entire time. From the very beginning when the book describes Crowley as “a demon who didn’t so much fall, as saunter vaguely downward,” you understand the tone of the story.
The story borrow heavily from The Omen as well as the book of Revelations. It’s all about the end of the world, specifically through the siring of the Antichrist. Our main characters are Crowley, the demon/serpent who tempted Eve, and Aziraphael, the angel who guarded the eastern gate with a flaming sword. After they got their work done in the grand plan, they had to stick around, and having stuck around with one another, foiling each other at the behest of a massive celestial bureaucracy, they couldn’t help but become some form of friends. They also both, over thousands of years, happened to develop a taste for The World. Both understand that if they had to resume their places in the Celestial Hierarchy, they’d lose out on the best things they enjoy. For the angel, that means no more sushi and no good music. For the demon, it means none of the things he enjoys because you’re not allowed to do anything in Hell but scream.
So they decide they’re going to foil the end times by trying to corrupt the influence of the Antichrist, turning him into a perfectly middle of the road neutral party. This would have worked… if they hadn’t been influencing the wrong child due to the Stooge-like actions of the Order of Chattering Nuns. I’m not going to explain what that means, you just need to experience it for yourself. Alongside that you’ll meet Anathema Device, Newton Pulsiver of the Witchfinder Army, and… Dog. There are so many rich characters, the deep worldbuilding that only Neil Gaiman can accomplish, and the perfect, sarcastic yet wise tone that Pratchett serves.
I’ll say it again: Good Omens is my favorite book. Of course I recommend it.