Why
I Read This Book
I’m not
sure if I would ever have gone out of my way to track this book down, but when
I saw a free copy laying around the staff room, I thought, “Yeah, why not?”
I’ve
been a Terry Pratchett fan ever - since - I - discovered - the - Discworld - series - some - years - ago.
Neil
Gaiman I have to admit I know only by reputation. But being a comic book geek, I of
course recognized the name, even if I’ve never read anything buy him. And I’ve seen at least one movie based off of his work.
And
finally, being interested in mythology, the mythological themes of the book
caught my interest.
The
Review
A really
fun little book. I laughed a lot while I
read it, thoroughly enjoyed it, and would recommend it without hesitation.
Despite
being a joint project with Neil Gaiman, this book reads like pure
Pratchett. The book has Pratchett’s
normal sarcastic narration, the usual Pratchett cast of lovable odd-balls, and
it follows Pratchett’s usual conceit of taking a serious situation and
inflating it to the point of absurdity. (According to Wikipedia Terry Pratchett actually did the majority of the actual
writing on this book. I was not
surprised when I learned this.)
The
book is about the antichrist and the coming of Armageddon. The concept of course has its origins in
Christian mythology, but the popular conceptions which this book plays off of
have as much to do with Hollywood movies like The Omen as a strict reading of
Revelations.
The
coming of the antichrist is usually played either as religious propaganda to
scare sinners into repenting (as in The Left Behind series) or for horror thrills (as in The Omen) but of course in the world of
Pratchett and Gaiman, everything becomes ridiculous.
***SPOILERS***
In
Prattchet and Gaiman’s world, the demons are bumblers who can’t keep track of
the real antichrist (they switch the wrong baby at birth, and end up spending
11 years raising the wrong kid). The antichrist
himself turns out to have a bit of an independent streak and, much to the
frustration of heaven and hell alike, refuses to simply play the role that
destiny has allotted to him. (All the
armies of heaven and hell are assembled for battle, and much to their mutual
frustration, the antichrist refuses to start Armageddon.)
The
whole premise of the book is to have fun with Christian mythology, but by my
reading it’s not really an anti-Christian book.
The core concepts of Christianity are treated with respect. (Nothing compared to say the blatant
anti-Christian messages of Golden Compass trilogy).
The
book only gently asks questions.
But
the questions are, nevertheless, there.
Take
for example the opening of the book, which contains a conversation between the
serpent and the Angel:
It was a nice day.
All the days had been nice. There had been rather more than seven of them
so far, and rain hadn’t been invented yet. But clouds massing east of Eden suggested that the
first thunderstorm was on its way, and it was going to be a big one.
The angle of the Eastern Gate put
his wings over his head to shield himself from the first drops.
“I’m sorry,” He said politely. “What was it you were saying?”
“I said that one went down like a lead balloon,”
said the serpent.
“Oh. Yes,” said the angel, whose
name was Aziraphale.
“I think it was a bit of an
overreaction, to be honest,” said the serpent. “I mean, first offence and
everything. I can’t see what’s so bad about knowing the difference between good
and evil, anyway.”
“It must be bad,” reasoned Aziraphale,
in the slightly concerned tones of one who can’t see it either, and is worrying
about it, “otherwise you wouldn’t
have been involved.”
…
“You’ve got to admit it’s a bit of a
pantomime, though,” said [the serpent]. “I mean, pointing out the Tree and saying “Don’t
Touch” in big letters. Not very subtle,
is it? I mean, why not put it on top of
a high mountain or a long way off? Makes you wonder what He’s really planning.”
“Best not to speculate, really?”
said Aziraphale. “You can’t second guess ineffability, I always say. There’s
Right and there’s Wrong. If you do Wrong
when you’re told to do Right, you deserve to be punished. Er.”
They sat in embarrassed silence
watching the rain bruise the first flowers….
That’s
just the opening page. But from there, the
questions continue all the way through the book. What is God’s ineffable plan? Does the antichrist have free will? Do demons and angels have free will? If all demons originated as fallen angels,
then would they still have some of their original goodness left in them? If the antichrist is Satan’s son, and Satan
was originally an angel, then wouldn’t the antichrist be genetically
predisposed to be good instead of evil? If
it’s already pre-ordained that the demons will lose Armageddon, than why are
they so eager to bring it about? Could
it be that it’s not so clear that they will lose, and that the Book of
Revelation is just propaganda for one side?
None
of these questions are ever pressed very hard, but they pop up in the
book. It’s not very hard hitting
philosophy, but it’s just enough to tickle your brain a little bit as you read
through the book.
Final Verdict—A very fun book, and well
worth reading.
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