Rating: 
Summary: Original and refreshing
Review: I looked forward to reading this Bram Stoker award winner and having finally finished it, I was glad I did. Although I think a lot of the middle could be trimmed down and a few of the psychedelic dream scenes edited, it was a satisfying read. The beginning really pulled me in and was quite powerful. Thankfully, the ending was just a powerful and made a nice bookend to the tale. Neil seemed to wander at times, but he always managed to steer back on course. Be warned -- this is not light reading. Nor is this a horror novel (I'm not sure why it was nominated and won the Bram Stoker award) Also, strangely, the idea of the plot is very similar to J. Michael Straczynski's RISING STARS comic book series. If you want a book to pass the time, American Gods is not the one. It is deep and thoughtful and makes the reader work for the treasures Gaiman hides inside.
Rating: 
Summary: The...Review
Review: "Racism's bad, mm'kay? White men are evil, mm'kay?"Mr. Gaiman has an artless style that's pleasing to the modern ear. What's not so pleasing is his dependency on trite liberal cliches to prop up his story. All of the non-white non-male gods are helpful to Shadow; Odin, Loki, and the new gods(all white)that Shadow is supposed to fight, are not....
I would like to see a liberal like Neil Gaiman write a story where a non-white human is the obvious bad guy; one who is bad "just because". Here's why-it would be refreshing to my book-lover's soul to see every type of human carry the weight of antagonism.
Leave aside the fact that the character of Shadow doesn't change AT ALL from the first page to the last. Leave aside the fact that aside from a few pages here and there, the author doesn't say anything that resonates with the reader. No major insights into the human condition, no sympathetic pangs or joys for the reader to indulge in, just a lot of nothing, except for a minor introduction to gods and goddesses from lesser known pantheons.
Mind you, after all is said and done, I still got a lot of pleasure from this book. I've been a fan since his "Seasons in the Mist" story-arc in Sandman. It's just that the "anti-white male" thing has been done to death in this culture. Its time to grow up. We are all equally good, and equally bad. ALL of us....
Rating: 
Summary: American Junk
Review: I bought American Gods because of all the hype and because I had read Neverwhere and loved it. All I can say is that American Gods was a failure... I can handle machco, but the writing was poor and poor writing is unforgivable. Where was his editor? I especially loved lines such as "She entered the room through the door." So? She was in a funeral home. What was she going to do, pop in through the window? Neil Gaiman is not a great writer; he is an opportunist taking advantage of a book-buying public no longer capable of reading anything more sophisticated than a three line blip thrown across a televison screen. I wasted my money. Boo hoo.
Rating:
Summary: very good
Review: Very good story, with complex characters. There is a suprise twist ending wich is always refreshing. This book really makes you want to learn to do coin tricks though.
Rating:
Summary: Not bad, but not what I was expecting
Review: This novel was an odd thing for me to get through. For a few pages, the book would have me in its claws. After that, however, something would shake me out of my trance and I would struggle to regain my enthusiasm for a chapter or so. It's hard to put my finger on exactly why this book fell short for me. The characters were entertaining and the story moved at a decent pace. One thing I noticed that Gaiman does in this book is he describes someone getting shot in the face with the same intensity as he would someone sitting in a cafe with their legs crossed, sipping a cup of stale coffee. While the words are undoubtedly well chosen, the mood is somehow stifled. No exclamation points, no terse wording to suggest the rapidity and urgency of the situation. Maybe that's what held me back a bit.
Overall, American Gods proves to be a good read. I hate using the word 'good', but it's the only worthy word that comes to mind.
Rating:
Summary: fascinating and engrossing thriller
Review: First: this is the first Neil Gaiman book I have read. I'm not a big reader of science fiction, but I had heard good things about his writing and the premise of the book was intriguing. Just released from prison, Shadow learns that his wife Laura has died, and takes up with Loki, somewhat against his will. Shadow is a bit of an enigma and his backstory-- how he came to be in prison, details of his love for his wife-- are revealed slowly and heartachingly. He is much smarter than he seems at first. He gets drawn into Wednesday's battle with Odin, who is in fact an ancient, a battle that will restore the gods to their proper place in society. Many of the gods are rather down-at-heel-- and some of them seem to be new ones-- Media-- a weird incident with the Dick Van Dyke show where Shadow sees Dick beating his wife. And Shadow's wife Laura does not stay in the grave, but hangs around, decomposing, to help him. None of this is fully explained, which is beautiful. Gaiman assumes a very intelligent reader, which I appreciated. He convinces us that he (Gaiman) knows his mythology inside and out, and the power and terror of some of it sticks with me even now. As a whole the book was intelligent, unpredictable, interesting-- and tragic. I withhold one star only because the book was very much a downer-- and maybe that's not fair. It's almost a new genre, a "noir fantasy." Really a great read, and unforgettable, nightmare imagery.
Rating:
Summary: Not as good as I expected
Review: People had been raving to me about this book for years, so I finally tried it. These themes have been well-trodden for many years, and I honestly think they've been handled better elsewhere. Tim Powers has played with similar themes (notably in his creepy Declare) and the result was incredibly compelling. I even found myself comparing this book to Adams' The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul, and preferring Adams' take on Odin. It's not that the book isn't well written..it is, and it's fun identifying the various gods, but it all seems too familiar to me.
Rating: 
Summary: On the Road with Odin
Review: Only the Gods are real. And in Neil Gaiman's "American Gods", they have been brought over from distant lands only to be cast aside and foresaken for the new symbols of progress; the modern worship of the profane.
Shadow is the nickname of our protagonist, whose journey through America is quite unlike any other committed to literature. It is a circus of road-side attractions (portrayed comically here as ancient "places of power") among fantastic but strangely believable characters who all originate from the old myths and beliefs of those who had come to America. Everyone from Loki to Johnny Appleseed gets at least a brief nod.
Shadow's metaphorical journey is a deeply personal tale, like seeing a man walk through his own dreams and make decisions based only on the reality of the dream. Every situation and bit of dialogue, despite it's frequent absurdity, feels deeply real and uncontrived. Indeed, "American Gods" succeeds as being a true fantasy novel in it's artistic aspirations and it's uninhibited sense of reality, without giving in to the silliness and formulaic versions of many post-Tolkien fantasy writers. It speaks to the imagination, while also speaking to the question mark that is America.
"American Gods" is like walking through your hometown with a tour guide, who can point out the things you didn't know and rebuke the things you thought you knew. It is a gem of modern literature.
Rating:
Summary: Not a waste of time, but not what I had hoped for.
Review: I won't summarize the book, because that's been done. Overall, the book was good and I didn't feel like it wasted my time, however it wasn't everything I had hoped for in the novel. The characters were well done, and you felt for them -- that much I enjoyed. The biggest problem I had with the story was the choppiness in which the characters were introduced. Without trying to spoil the book, the characters are introduced in obscure ways in that I didn't even really know they were being introduced until they were finally fleshed out as the chapters introduce them by giving their general biography -- sometimes millions of years ago without letting you really know what character is being introduced. However, maybe it was my own problem that I didn't understand this device until later in the book, but it made me a little jaded. Overall, it is a good book and I do recommend it. Maybe it would be better after the second read.
Rating: 
Summary: OK book but not half as envolving as I thought it would be.
Review: I had read you couldn't put the book down, that it was insightful that the story was amazing and thought I didnt hate the book, I kept waiting for something interesting to happen and it never did.
I read the book To the Vanishing Point a few years ago and it was simular and I enjoyed that better.
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