--- description: Find out why Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman is on TIME's list of the best fantasy books of all time title: 'Good Omens' Is on TIME's List of the 100 Best Fantasy Books image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2469417d8f612b8b/698a1324db29874973265e82/Good-Omens-Terry-Pratchett-and-Neil-Gaiman-100-best-fantasy-books.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Oct 14, 2020 # Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  For the most part, the fantasy genre has been defined by solo creators itching to plant their personal flags in the literary landscape—a divergence from that is what makes _Good Omens_ so special. This novel, which tells the story of a bungled Biblical apocalypse and the hijinks that follow, was co-written by two titans of British genre fiction: Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. _Good Omens_ follows an angel and a demon, both of whom have spent a long time on earth and have grown accustomed to what the material world can offer. When Hell sets the Antichrist baby upon the world, marking the beginning of the end of days, the angel and demon strike up an unlikely bargain to keep Revelations from revealing itself. Little do they know that an accidental switcheroo left the infant Antichrist in the care of strangers. [_Good Omens_](https://time.com/5502310/books-made-into-movies-tv-2019/ "undefined") as a story is a solid idea on its own, but it is thoroughly elevated through the collaboration of these two authors. When it was published in 1990, Pratchett had already established himself as the king of comedic fantasy, and Gaiman had begun his ascension into the nerdom pantheon following the 1989 launch of his _Sandman_ comic series. _Good Omens_ brings out the best of the two authors, while dulling some of their less-desirable individual quirks. The collaboration kept Gaiman from getting too far up his own scholarship, and focused Pratchett’s usual firehose of jokes. What sprang from this once-in-a-genre alliance is an extremely good, and wildly entertaining, fantasy. —_Peter Allen Clark_ **Buy Now:** _Good Omens_ on [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/4973/9780060853969 "undefined") | [Amazon](https://amzn.to/36JDFkb "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-fantasy-books/5898465/good-omens/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-fantasy-books/5898465/good-omens/"},"headline":"'Good Omens' Is on TIME's List of the 100 Best Fantasy Books","datePublished":"2020-10-14T21:26:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:43:36.210Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-fantasy-books/5898465/good-omens/","keywords":["Books","list"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2469417d8f612b8b/698a1324db29874973265e82/Good-Omens-Terry-Pratchett-and-Neil-Gaiman-100-best-fantasy-books.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2469417d8f612b8b/698a1324db29874973265e82/Good-Omens-Terry-Pratchett-and-Neil-Gaiman-100-best-fantasy-books.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-fantasy-books/5898465/good-omens/","name":"'Good Omens' Is on TIME's List of the 100 Best Fantasy Books"}}]}] ```