American Gods

Rating:
Summary: A great American work, written by a "Brit"
Review: American Gods is by far one of the greatest books written about America. Ok, so it isn't exactly the most accurate book, but it's certainly, in an odd way, believable. The characters are realistic, and those based on Myths, legends, or folk-lore are accurate.

The idea's been thrown around before, that when a belief in a God dies out, so does the God. Gaiman threw in a unique twist by having the Gods tied into the country they were brought to and having them struggling to get by just like any average person.

The book takes you all across America, during many different time periods, following Gods and Pixies and other creatures of myth and legend on an unbelievable journey for survival that Gaiman writes so well you'll find yourself believing that the whole thing could have or did happen.

Overall, this is one of the best "Fantasy" books I've read in a long time, and I think that anyone interested in fiction of any kind will enjoy American Gods.

Rating:
Summary: Starts out Great...
Review: You have to be a certain type of reader to enjoy this Gaiman work. I have only read one other of his, "Neverwhere" and I recommend that one highly! But this one has soooo many twists and turns, you feel like you are a rat in a giant maze.

The main character, Shadow, lacks depth, and Gaiman segways into so many side stories in order to bring the plot together-you tend to feel like, "Gee, is this ever going to get to the point?" Overall, I would've rated this higher, but I just didn't enjoy it as much as "Neverwhere", the plot is very slow and runs into so many walls, you get a headache reading it! Not to discount Mr. Gaiman's writting skills, he is superb at his craft, but I just couldn't get into this one, and had to force myself to finish it. You can try this one if you want, but I would suggest getting it from a friend or the library. But, if you want to read some better work by the author, get "Neverwhere", it is a much better read that moves a lot quicker.

Rating:
Summary: Gaiman's Best Novel to Date
Review: This is probably the best book I've read this year. Mr. Gaiman has some brilliant ideas in his head, and luckly for us he also knows how to put them on paper. After reading Neverwhere and Good Omens, I had high hopes for this book. Well, the expectations were met and far exceeded. This novel literaly has everything. It is a road-trip, mystery, romance, fantasy novel. And let's not forget about the characters. Shadow, Wednesday, Mr. Nance, Mr. Ibis, Laura, Mr. Town, ect. The list goes on and on. All of these characters are real. They all have real motivations; none of their actions came off as forced to me. I highly recommend this book to everyone.

Rating:
Summary: entertaining and not too gory
Review: American Gods is essentially a fine summer read for someone who likes things a little on the dark side. It's not a horror book exactly, though it has a similar sense of dread and high body count (it tends to stay away from the detailed discriptions of death and dismemberment that most post King and Barker horror writers go for nowadays, which I personally find refreshing). I guess the best word for it is dark fantasy. The story is entertaining, with enough twists and turns to keep a reader interested. It does seem to be reaching for some deeper ideas about man and his religions, but comes up a bit empty on the philosophical front. Who needs a philosophy book at the beach, though? It's a fun book, nicely told, and full of nice little tidbits of information about ancient gods and mystic beliefs. This is a nice mainstream selection for fans of Charles de Lint or Tim Powers. Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: A Superb Novel!
Review: I first heard of Neil Gaiman from his excellent comic book series, Sandman. The tale of the being that represents dreams, Morpheus, a "god" of sorts.

In his novel, American Gods, he's taken the old gods of legend and transported them to America where they have faded away and now simply exist. When our main character Shadow gets out of prison, he learnes his wife and best friend are dead and that his old life is completely gone. So he takes a job for the mysterious Wednesday who takes him on a trip across America rounding up his allies, the fellow old gods, and Shadow learns he is much more of a key player in this saga than he ever thought.

This novel is outstanding and I reccomend it especially to anyone who likes Stepehn King or Dean Koontz. Fans of King's The Stand or the Talisman will love this one.

Rating:
Summary: One of Gaiman's Best
Review: Shadow is realeased from prison a couple days early for his wife's funeral he has no sense of purpose. As luck would have it he meets a man named Wenesday(if you know any German you will see that this a clever joke) This guy has a job for him and the result is a very good(if long) book.

I liked this book, seeing the old God's duke it out with the new Gods and those parts are very intersting but it falls apart in the last 50 pages and thusly leaves a sour taste in your mouth.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting but not Neil's best
Review: American Gods is a dense work, a compendium of mythology both past and present. It was not as accessible as his other books, specifically "The Neverwhere" nad "Good Omens" and not as enjoyable. The tone of this novel is much darker and I miss the humor of his previous works. Still it is an interesting read and I guess it may work better if the reader had solid background in Norse, Slavic, Egyptian, etc mythology, which I do not.

Rating:
Summary: Gaiman just gets better...
Review: In American Gods, Neil Gaiman continues to write what he does best--adult fairytales about the monsters, spirits and deities that hide in the corner of modern civilization. From the world dreams to the London subway system, he explores the various anthropomorphic facets of human existence with elegance and a dry wit.

This time out, his playground is the United States of America. Like many of his tales, the protagonists are on a quest, but end up travelling farther in their own psyches than in the physical(?) world. In this case, atop the backdrop of a divine conflict--the old gods and demons immigrants brought to the American continent versus the new gods of money and telecommunications--Shadow comes to terms with who he is.

I found this to be right up there with his other novel, Neverwhere, and probably surpassing that one in originality of concepts.

Rating:
Summary: a modern master storyteller
Review: well, if you want comic books ask neil, if you want screenplays ask neil, if you want short srories ask neil, if you want...you get the idea. a storyteller in every sense of the word, neil writes stories in whatever form the muse tells him to, and everyone of them is brillant in their own way. this one is perhaps his longest, aside from the sandman books. It is also one of his best. the characters are alive (even the dead ones) on the page. it is just plain good. read it and change your world view a bit.

Rating:
Summary: More cheese than WI...
Review: I would have loved to give this a much higher rating. However, I was completely disappointed by the plot. Gaiman had a great idea going and could have done much better. Most of the "twists" turned out to taken from daytime soap operas. I guess the first red flag was when (and, trust me, I'm not giving away any of the plot here) Laura came back from the dead... And our main character was not even remotely suprised. Really now. I felt the characters were devoid of all... um... character... extremely flat. However, the idea behind the book was great. I just wish Gaiman made up his mind on wheather or not this was going to be humorous or serious (would have been much more enjoyable if he didn't try to be so serious). If you were disappointed as I was with this book, try Good Omens.