Now, I’m a big Terry Pratchett fan. I’ve been reading Terry Pratchett since his second Discworld book, back in the early 1980’s. I have bunches of his books in hardcover. I’ve read most of them aloud to Jane. I like Terry Pratchett’s stuff.

And yet, until just this week I had never read Good Omens…well, not really. I got a copy of it in hardcover when it first came out, and began reading it to Jane, and shortly got to a scene where Hastur and Ligur, two important demons, begin a conversation with another demon by praising Satan. And I said to Jane, “I can’t read this aloud!” So we stopped. And somehow I never picked the book up again, and eventually I got rid of it. (D’oh!)

But I keep hearing from other readers I trust (notably Julie at Happy Catholic) about how fun the book is, so the other day I got a copy. And I’m afraid I was underwhelmed.

This undoubtedly says more about me than it does about the book. At the lines of prose level it was funny, and there were lots of bits I had to read aloud to Jane. The problem is the subject matter: the authors are dealing with real supernatural material, stuff that matters, and getting it wrong. Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files? Set in the real world, but clearly imaginary. The Discworld? Heck, the Discworld is so imaginary that it’s held together only by vast quantities of magic. But Good Omens, alas, it edges a little too close to home. I kept finding myself saying, “But it isn’t like that.”

Earth to Will: Pratchett and Gaiman were trying to be funny. The book isn’t meant to be taken completely seriously. Yeah, I know. The problem is, the book has a point. And the point is tied into a theology that’s completely screwy. And theologically-unsophisticated readers (which is nearly everyone) are all too liable to read it and agree with P&G’s point and walk away thinking they’ve learned something, when all they’ve really done is to reject an absurd strawman. This bugs me. (You might think I exaggerate, but I remember being 15, when Harry Harrison’s Deathworld Trilogy threw me into a atheistic tail spin. Granted, I was kind of looking for reasons not to believe at that point.)

But your mileage may vary; I’m just explaining why I’m having trouble giving the book an even break. Oh, well.