Rating: 
Summary: Decent, but NOT great...try Tim Powers instead
Review: I usually don't feel the need to write reviews (especially of works I did not particularly enjoy.This book is NOT great and it will NOT make you "think." The protaganist, named Shadow (something I found annoying for reasons I cannot explain), is a one-dimensional, walking plot coupon...he does little but whine and wander from one contrived meeting to the next. Stupidgenius6554 seems to equate disliking this book with stupidity. I emphatically disagree. Disliking this book is indicative of nothing more than good taste. The dialouge throughout is terrible, as are the ham-fisted exposition and the one-dimensional characters. The novel reads like a comic book without pictures. Gaiman tries to craft a modern fantasy that challenges the reader and for that I give him three stars. However, the flaws are, as I have mentioned, numerous and very damaging. Also, the entire feel of the novel is ground that has been well-traveled by truly great writers such as Tim Powers and his "steampunk" peers (all disciples of Philip K. Dick, the master of modern fantasy...see "The Man in the High Castle" among others). In short, as a novelist, Gaiman makes a great comic book writer.
Rating: 
Summary: More than a Great Book
Review: I've read many reviews complaining about the pace and the one dimensional characters of American Gods and I'd have to disagree. I read this book last year and, frankly, it's one of the best books I've read in a long time. The pace is a little slow, sure, but really think about it, this book gets really involved, and if it didn't go a little slow, after you'd finished the book, you'd be sitting there thinking, "Ummm... what?" For, me this wasn't one of those books that you can eat up in a day or two and have the same regard for it. I read it over the span of two and a half weeks; each time I picked it up, I looked forward to a nice, relaxing/ not really that brain relaxing/ more like "Wow, that was awesome" at times, reading but I digress. This is the book that first introduced me to Gaiman, and after the read, I was hooked. To read this book, you have to understand that it's not just a thriller; it's also about the growth of the main character, Shadow. At the start of the story, he's very one dimensional (on purpose) and through out the story, he grows. Wednesday, another main character, completely surprised me in the end. This is not a book to just skim, each and every little side story is important in its own way. It's called imagery. Character background. Each of the side stories gives you a better understanding of the characters or the plot. I think the most fantastic thing about this book, is how every thing fits together at the end. It's very rare that one can find a writer who has the skills to straight forwardly start the story, then branch it into twenty different directions, bring it back in, branch it out again, and then tie it all up in a neat little package at the end. Neil Gaiman is either a total writing genius, or a messed up wacko with issues who enjoys entrancing and fascinating people while at the same time, disturbing and grossing them out. This is a great book, a classic (in its own demented way), and if a high school sophomore can understand and love this book --along with at least twenty other class mates--, then any one with an open (and maybe a little twisted) mind can also enjoy it. Seriously. It makes you think (oh no, thinking...)
Rating: 
Summary: boring nonsense
Review: A fat road novel that goes nowhere fast. How could this awful book have won the Hugo?
Rating:
Summary: Good writing, slow pace, moderate characters
Review: I thought Mr. Gaiman's writing was very competent, but as others have said, the pacing is pretty slow and the characters are not very deep. I didn't connect with the protagonist, but the character of Wednesday was worth reading about. I also agree that the absence of representation from modern organized religions seemed like an omissions, but of course the American Gods in the novel are important ones: Media, Money, the Internet. I have a feeling a short story could have told the tale of the conflict, and that the short story was stretched across America's roads, mostly stopping off on out-of-the way small towns and points of interest. Read if you are a fan of Gaiman, borrow if the premise sounds interesting.
Rating: 
Summary: Mythology in the making
Review: Gaiman's Sandmen graphic novels and comics exhibited a fertile and grand imagination. What's interesting about Gaiman's massive book are all the influences he sites and thanks at the end; Harlan Ellison, Terry Prachett and many, many others. Those influences are telling in American Gods. You can just about see the influences leaking through the cracks including Ellison's Deathbird story cycle. What it most reminds me of, though, is a cross of Stephen King's The Stand and his Gunslinger series. Gaiman still manages to create a work that is uniquely his own despite the melding influences evident in his work. American Gods focuses on an interesting premise; when people stop believing in gods do they die or just retire? Gaiman's novel posits a conflict between the gods of old (Odin a number of mythological gods from Celtic culture and many, many others)and the gods modern America has created; the gods of the media and technology battle the gods of older, forgotten cultures. Caught in the middle of this is a cypher of a character named Shadow. Just released from prison for an assault, he's looking forward to seeing his wife and resuming his old job at a work out facility. Suddenly, he's faced with no past or future; his wife is killed in an accident and the job prospect dries up. He's recruited by a character he meets on an airplane ("call me Wednesday"). Wednesday seems to know more about Shadow than Shadow himself. Although he isn't interested at first, the job and character intrigue him. He takes it and suddenly finds himself thrust into a weird world of gods who have become con artists to survive and a pawn in a battle between the forces of what was and what is. Gaiman's style throughout most of the novel reminds me of Stephen King. That isn't necessarily bad; Gaiman's strength is in his use of metaphors and similes. It's in his ability to tell a story with a convoluted narrative without the reader losing track of the point of origin and the point of destination. Again, the similarities are more to Ellison and King than any of his other contemporaries. What American Gods lacks, though, is strong character development. Shadow is merely a cypher for much of the story. Yes, we know things about him but he's more important for what he represents (a character for the reader to identify with as the narrative becomes stranger) than what he is. In King's finest work his ability to distill and create memorable characters can outshine some of the silly plots. While Gaiman is still finding his way with creating complex characters that function within the tapestry of the narrative, it doesn't detract from the strong metaphorical stories he creates. I wouldn't say that Gaiman has arrived as a novelist yet. He shows considerable promise. While there's still some debate as to whether American Gods deserved the Hugo Award for best novel, I can't think of a better structured, dense and entertaining narrative for the year it was nominated. I'm looking forward to Gaiman's further novels. Hopefully he can mature into the writer his work promises he'll become. From all indications, I'd say that it's a safe bet he'll be writing entertaining, interesting stories for some time to come.
Rating:
Summary: Hard to believe people are reading the same book...
Review: I bought this on the strength of it's reception of the Hugo award and was initially very excited to read it. However, I ended up very dissapointed. As many others have noted: the characters are weak; the writing is poor; and the plot is about the most plodding I have read in a long time. The last point is perhaps the worst ... it was just not an entertaining read. This book is not a page turner. I note many other reviewers at the other end of the spectrum: a 'seminal' novel, a dark sense of humor, amazing allegory, 'you have to think to read it', etc. I just can't relate to these...I find it difficult to believe they were reading the same novel. I particuarly don't understand the 'humor' aspect of many comments...I found nothing funny at all in here, not in the least. If you want funny (and an excellent book overall), I would recommend Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson.
Rating:
Summary: A read for the intelligent
Review: Frankly, it seems as though either you really like this book, or you don't. I read some of the online reviews on Amazon, and a fair number of people blatantly insulted it. I would like to take time to rebuke that. First off, this book is not for the weak of intellect. It requires some thinking. People brush off the main character, Shadow, and say he is to one-dimensional. Well, maybe if those people understood the book and managed to finish it, they would realize that that is the point. Wednesday is the interesting character, and the book shows Shadow's growth. A lot of readers said it was too long and the pacing was bad, but I must disagree. I'm sorry if you are used to reading picture books or books for seventh graders, in which you just get plot, but believe it or not, most books out there have something called, "supporting details" and "plot advancement" which make it more interesting. If you don't like reading books with "imagery" then stick to The Berenstein Bears. Granted, some scenes seem like non-sequiters, but Gaiman is using this device to show you the different views and approaces to the new world by different gods. Gaiman is wonderful at making you feel as if you are there, which takes some pretty lenghty but talented writing. This book involves journeys and adventures, more then in the world, but also within a self. People are used to reading Gaiman for his "Sandman" series,and they are surprised when they find a well-written novel instead. If you like comics and expect a comic in novel form, forget it. Stick with Batman. This is not a book for someone with no attention span. It makes you THINK.
Rating:
Summary: lost in america? or lost in the pages?
Review: In my reading adventures, when I skip pages or scan-page, its a sign that though the basic plot is interesting, an editor might have been a good idea. There were just too many things going on. He could have plotted the whole thing in the 'perfect' little town on the lake and it would have been interesting and a tight story - I would have cared more about the characters. Instead, we get a hugely rambling dustbunny of a story that meanders between mythic road trips, horror and philosophy. It succeeds in some places and fails in others. For anyone with a basic interest in mythology or folk tales, the characters were pretty obvious. It was easy to see what Gaiman was up to. However, some of the best parts of the books were the little 'mini novels' within the book telling how different beliefs got to america - I think I found them satisfying because the main book was not providing much movement or closure. Also, I cannot take the characters at their word that there were no gods in america before the old-worlders came. It took me about a week to finish this one. Though I did not at any point feel the urge to drop it, I didn't feel my usual drive to complete. So a mediocre work from Mr. Gaiman - his first book I felt this way about.
Rating:
Summary: Decent read, if a bit self-indulgent
Review: An entertaining tale, creatively told, with a great premise, I felt a little underwhelmed by the end. Part of that is definitely the hype effect as I'd heard so much about Neil Gaiman being this amazing writer that it was next to impossible for him to blow me away. The stakes were too high for that. The book does suffer from a bit of self-indulgence as Gaiman throws everything he can into the 588-page...epic? Road trip? Love story? That's another part of the problem. The book is ostensibly one man's story being told against the backdrop of some rather grandiose events, but at times it feels like it's actually a patchwork of random short stories that couldn't quite stand on their own. And the ending falls somewhere between cheap bait-and-switch and outright letdown. Getting there is fun, though, not unlike a two-week relationship full of (...), drunken philosophizing and a clean, no-strings-attached parting of ways, self-respect still intact. I'd hesistantly recommend it for those looking for something - different? - but with a hearty caveat emptor.
Rating:
Summary: Actually a 4.5 star rating, because of the pace
Review: STORY: The man known as Shadow gets released from prison only to find his wife is dead. Not knowing what else to do with his life he finds himself getting sucked into a world under our own, unknown to most of mankind, where the gods of old are preparing to wage war against the gods of new. MY FEEDBACK
This was an amazing story. I was just caught up into the magic and expertise of the world created by Gaiman. This truly felt like one of the most original stories I've read in a long time. My only complaint is that I felt like this was a long book which is why I didn't give it a full 5 stars. Luckily, just when I was getting tired of a scene/situation, things would change and something new and unexpected would occur. A nice mystery mixed with magic, myth and folklore. From the books that I've read that have won either the Hugo, Nebula or both awards, I have to say this is one that I feel really did deserve the awards won. Like his Sandman storyline, this is one that will keep you wondering what new surprises will happen next. Get it.
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