Rating: 
Summary: A Wonderful Beginning
Review: This was my first Neil Gaiman experience, and I can't wait to read much more of what he has created. This novel is not for those who want a short, quick entertaining read, because of the length of the novel and the many short detours. But it presents very interesting views of religion and the significance and value of a single life, along with lots of other stuff. The characters are solid and well-drawn. My only complaint is the name Shadow. It seems too much of a pet's name, especially when his wife calls him "puppy." My advice to a reader is to read this book as an experience, not a story, and savor every bit. Neil throws a lot of stuff at you, so be prepared. Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it, and recommend it to anyone looking for something different.
Rating:
Summary: Dark, disturbing, and brilliant
Review: Neil Gaiman has written another outstanding work here: dark, disturbing chronicle of the war of gods and cultures, a translation of Old World mythology to the highways and byways of the new. This is one of the best fantasy novels of last year, and stays with you long after you turn the last page. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: An Anthropologist's Dream
Review: I've read everything that Gaiman has put out so far. I've been a follower of the Sandman for years. I feel that I need to defend Gaiman in a few aspects where he has been slammed by other reviewers.
One thing that must be remembered is that while some of is wording seems strange and may take a second reading, he is writing as a British man, and not an American one. Americans and the British have a tendency to diverge on phrasing. Granted, he is writing about Americans, he still is not one, was not educated in America, and therefore was not raised with the language technique used in America.
Also, Gaiman is being called "too creative". When in fact, this is not the first book to feature gods and their interactions with humans and other gods. Give Gaiman some credit for having a unique idea and then researching it. There was an incredible amount of background knowledge that had to have been gained before the book could be written accurately.
Take the book for what it is--entertainment, and give the man some credit for his effort. Or, in the alternative, write your own book and try to make it better than Gaiman's.
Rating: 
Summary: Off the mark
Review: I liked this book but I didn't love it and that's where I have a problem. NO, loving every book you read would be great but it never happens. I am talking about the fact that this book had the potential to be one that you read and re-read and never forget; instead, I have already forgotten most of what I read. The premise is interesting and everything is very creative but it just seemed insubstantial in the long run. Am I sad I read it? No, it was easy to read. That is one thing that is great about Gaiman, he writes very well. It's just the story where things get muddied. I realize you must have suspension of disbelief but some things would happen that made absolutely no sense in relation to the main plot. Some feel this adds to the book but I feel it hurts the mood. There are better books out there, go read them.
Rating: 
Summary: A captivating story!
Review: Shadow is released from prison early after receiving some sad news. On his way home from prison, he is followed by a man whom he can't seem to shake. When this man, who refers to himself as "Wednesday", begins to appears uncannily at all places that Shadow travels, Shadow's interest in him him becomes more acute to the point that he finally agrees to take a job with him. Shadow is not entirely certain of what his job entails, though. This story walks a delicate line between reality and fantasy, incorporating characters who may, at first glance, seem normal but are not. In addition, there are many dreams that Shadow experiences that also make it hard to distinguish between fact and fiction in his life. Shadow, however, is a likeable fellow and one with whom the reader sympathizes and wishes well. It is for this reason that this novel succeeds so well. For every difficulty that Shadow faces, the reader is left hoping he'll make it through his bizarre experiences unharmed.
Rating:
Summary: A storm is brewing...
Review: I've been dying to read American Gods since I saw an interview with Neil Gaiman in the local paper. The premise of the book sounded really intriguing, and since I am a Gaiman fan from the Sandman comic series, I figured I'd give it a try. I've been waiting desperately to get my hands on it. Last week, I finally did. Was it worth the wait? You betcha. This is a truly marvelous book dealing with compassion, loyalty, relationships, deities, and how one man is affected by it all. This man is Shadow, a man who is in prison for assault. He is ready to be released and get back to his life when he gets word that his wife has died. He later finds out that the job he has waiting for him when he gets out is no longer there as well. Shadow is approached by a mysterious figure, Mr. Wednesday, who knows a lot about him. Wednesday offers Shadow a job as a driver who may have to do other "dangerous" things as well. Thus begins a long journey that will span the entirety of Midwestern American. At times, American Gods feels like a travelogue, at other times, like a road movie. Then, there are quieter times where it is a mystery of sorts. Some people may have trouble with the conflicting "styles," but all of these sequences fall under the overarching theme of the novel. As Gaiman mentions in his acknowledgements, he is attempting to "find America," and the representation in this novel is stunning. You really get the feel for small, middle America town living, where every town is the "home of" a semi-famous athlete or a state champion in some sport. The basic concept of the book is that immigrants to the United States (or North America in general, considering one of the interludes deals with immigrants from a few thousand years ago) bring their gods with them in their minds. Unfortunately for them, belief in them has been faltering for many years, and it's almost gone. It's been replaced by other gods: technology, media, Internet. Wednesday wants to fight back by gathering together the older gods and starting a war with the new ones. He brings Shadow along for a lot of these recruiting missions, and thus we meet some of the older gods. The characters in American Gods are just wonderfully portrayed. Even the minor characters are well-rounded and three dimensional. My favourites have to be Ibis and Jacquel, two characters that Shadow meets in Cairo, Illinois. They're undertakers, but they offer him a unique perspective on this whole thing. Then there are some Native American gods who are also quite interesting. Curiously enough, the most under-developed character throughout the book is Shadow himself. You don't find out a lot about him until the end of the book. You get snippets of information, but most of things you find out about him are through his actions in the book. You see a compassion that's hidden beneath the tough exterior. You see a loyalty to his friends, a sense of honour that even death can't destroy. I find him the most interesting character in the book, which is good because he's the central character. For me, there really isn't a flaw in this book. I've seen reviews that complain about the interludes or the sequence of events in Lakeside (a small town in Wisconsin), and how they don't "have much to do with the plot of the book." I think that's missing the point. The book is more than the war of the gods. It's about finding values. It's about moving beyond beliefs. It's about one man and how he reacts to these things. I think the Lakeside sequence is actually the core of the book to some extent. The ending of the war is a bit anti-climactic, but I didn't mind that for the same reasons. If you have any interest in mythology, run out and get this book. Even if you don't have an interest, I think you'll still value the experience.
Rating: 
Summary: Just plain boring
Review: I'm sorry. I don't know what other people saw in this book that I must have overlooked, but I found it a real yawn-invoking book. It's much too long and has far too many occasions where the story just meanders off into left field without really coming back. There really seems to be no point to this novel. Surely, it's interesting getting just a grain of information on numerous gods of old, but the trip is just too long and unfulfilling. When I finished the book, I put it down and muttered "What a waste of time" to myself. I really liked Stardust and Good Omens, but this book is nowhere near as good. It was an effort to read this, unlike most authors I enjoy (Tolkien, Terry Brooks, Pratchett, etc.).
Rating:
Summary: I really am happy that Gaiman started writing novels.
Review: I found _American Gods_ to be one of the best fantasy books I've read this year and I must admit that I was a little surprised to see so many negative reviews here. The book does meander, but I found the little plot cul-de-sacs really worth the effort they took to read-- it's a book about a kind of giant road trip, after all. Shadow is to be released from prison after a term with model behaviour, and he has every intention of going back to his loving wife Laura. But when she's killed days before he's supposed to get out-- his trip back becomes very different than the one he'd been waiting for. Instead of finding the America he left when he went into prison, he instead finds an America where the Gods walk the earth, people pull coins from the air, and the dead fail to stay that way. I love (and have always loved) mythology, so perhaps a part of why I loved every bit of the book as much as I did were all the references to the different Gods and Goddesses and their major characteristics. I had the feeling that Gaiman really loves his subject matter, and since I share that love, I was never bored.
Rating:
Summary: American Gods - not worth the time
Review: I am a fan of the Sandman series, but American Gods was a disapointment. It felt as though a good story had been overstretched.
Rating:
Summary: A Multilayered Masterpiece
Review: This is another one of those cases where I'd like to give 4 1/2 stars; since I can't I've decided to err on the side of caution rather than exuberance, and award 4 stars to this great work of modern fantasy, which is almost -- but not quite -- perfect. American Gods is a reinterpretation of the numerous myths and myth-figures of the Old World -- the Norse, African, Asian, Greek, and Egyptian pantheons, the pagan gods and faery-folk of the Celts and Picts, Nativa American spirit animials, and others. Enough gods to fill a plenitude of Heavens...and Hells. The novel takes these beings and places them in an American context (hence the title!) -- the first of many juxtapositions which make the story as brilliant as it is...but I'm getting ahead of myself. The actual tale centers on Shadow, a small-time ex-con of uncertain origin and less certain future, whose beloved wife perishes just as he is paroled. Drifting and heartbroken, he falls in with Mr. Wednesday, who hires Shadow to drive his car...and to do things much less beneficial for someone who's on parole. Wednesday, we soon learn, is none other than Odin, the Norse god, who is trying to organize all the Old World deities for a final, apocalyptic (what else?) battle against the gods of the New World: Television, Internet, and even undercover operatives of a shadowy Secret Agency straight out of The X-Files. It's this fight which is central to the novel...or is it? The more Shadow becomes involved with Wednesday's doings, the less certain he is of anything -- and by the time the novel reaches its stunning denouement, Shadow (and the reader) will understand that Wednesday's "holy war" isn't all it's cracked up to be. By then you will have been mightily entertained, amused, delighted, and horrified -- sometimes all at once -- by Gaiman's incredible tale. That isn't hyperbole, either. Gaiman has written a superb novel here, superior in just about every way to 90% of the fantasy that's out there. Only Tim Powers, Blaylock, and possibly Terry Pratchett are doing better work...and if Gaiman keeps doing stuff like this, he may very well outstrip them all. American Gods is imaginative as hell, particularly in its depictions of the Old Gods who make up the central supporting cast. They aren't seen as gods, but as just another bunch of immigrants, working dead-end jobs and eking out a bare-bones existence, because their native and unique "skills" no longer serve them in America. So it is that they take whatever work they can -- waiting tables, pumping gas, even prostitution. A Russian god works for a Chicago slaughterhouse. Several of the Egyptian gods work in Cairo, Illinois (where else?) as undertakers -- such a brilliant concept, just thinking about it brings a smile to my face. There is also a leprchaun who makes an early appearance, and is a hilarious distillation of all the Irish myths which populate our collective consciousness -- the hard drinker, the bare-knuckles brawler, the quick-tempered, coarse-natured ruffian. Being of Irish descent myself, I found this particularly amusing, if only because it's at once so far from the truth, and so close to it. The guy might have stepped right off someone's Notre Dame jacket. Another reason this book excels is because it works on so many different levels. On one level it is a mystery; on another it's dark fantasy; on yet another it retells one of the oldest myths, the god's death and rebirth, which crops up again and again in religions the world over. Gaiman has done his homework here and then some, and it shows in the numerous myths and myth-figures which occupy this novel's background -- everything from urban myths, to tall tales, to local heroes, can be found here. Sometimes they are blazingly original and subtle, as in the case of the numerous "Home Of This Great Athlete" signs welcoming Shadow to practically every town he visits. Sometimes they're blazingly obvious; I figured out the deal with the "klunker" long before I think I was supposed to. But that's one of the few flaws in a novel full of wonders and delights. Gaiman, a Briton by birth, writes American dialogue and characters with a facility that is scary. His prose is crisp, clean, and puts me in mind of Stephen King at his peak, imitating Harlan Ellison. Lines like "[He was] the same size and shape as a Coke machine" populate the pages, full of a descriptive wit which is rare in modern fiction. If you care about modern fantasy at all, then American Gods is for you. There are few novels in any field that I can reccommend more highly.
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