Good Omens Review

author's plan around free will more clearly than the character's need.

I became most involved through the people caught in free will, especially around the footnotes. Aziraphale and Crowley's affectionate argument about humanity gives the comedy its heart. This is where my sympathy became complicated rather than automatic, because friendship carries a real cost.

The sections I enjoyed most involved the footnotes, misplaced-child setup, Four Horsemen, bureaucracy, and friendship across supposed enemy lines. Those sections find a rhythm that suits the book's interest in friendship.

The larger subject is free will, friendship, duty, bureaucracy, human messiness, apocalypse, and the difference between obedience and goodness. I appreciated that free will is tied to money, family, work, and the footnotes rather than left as an abstract idea.

I also noticed how often free will appears through routine while friendship remains unspoken.

The book leaves enough room for disagreement about free will, especially around the footnotes, which made my own reaction more precise.

I can forgive the uneven parts because the footnotes gives free will a form I can still picture.