American Gods

Rating:
Summary: If you loved Neverwhere and want more, look elsewhere
Review: I read Neverwhere in 2 1/2 days. I absolutely loved it. And I wanted more. So I bought American Gods as soon as it came out. Don't get me wrong, American Gods was good, but the sex scenes surprised me, and I felt like the ending sort of left me hanging. It was ok...not the best I've ever read, certainly not the worst, however. If you are into mythology, you might really like this one. My advice, if it intrigues you, go get it from the library before you spend the money on the hardcover.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book!
Review: I loved this book. It's not the BEST I've ever seen, but it's as close as you can get. Typical Gaiman style, though (maybe I've read too many Neil Gaiman books). What's great about this book is that it's detailed, but it's a really easy read! I don't know how he did it but he did. Hard to put the book down.

Rating:
Summary: Very Surprized
Review: Not by anything that happened, but by the style. I enjoyed Gaiman's verse...it contributed to what could have been a murky mess of a story and made it quite enjoyable. This is the first I have read by him. It will not be the last.

Rating:
Summary: Missing Gods
Review: I have enjoyed reading Neil Gaiman for awhile now. I first read his Sandman comics and then I read his novel Neverwhere. Gaiman has a knack for coming up with extremely clever ideas of a mystical nature and carrying them off with energy and atmosphere. I looked forward to much of the same with this novel, American Gods. Though not quite up to the level of his previous stories, there is much to like here. As always with Gaiman, the idea here is very clever; namely, that when the settlers from the Old World settled America, they brought with them their various gods. Since a god's "health" is maintained by the amount of worship received, the Native American gods were overshadowed by a new pantheon. The thrust of this novel is that the Old World Gods--Odin, Loki, leprechauns, etc.--are being replaced by technological/consumer "gods." (The television, for example, comes to life at one point.) But these old gods aren't going to go out without a fight. The story follows the adventures of a man named Shadow, a recently freed ex-con haunted (literally) by his recently deceased, cheating wife, who is hired by Wednesday, a creature Shadow slowly learns is a version of the god Odin. The two of them travel around gathering up the old gods into an army to battle the new gods. Needless to say, there are plenty of twists and turns leading to a surprise ending of sorts. There are problems here, however. One: the characters are interesting but only superficially. It is difficult to ultimately care about what happens to any of them with possibly a couple of exceptions. Two: the "gods" in question here are not any that most people would consider gods. The entire Judeo-Christian influence is pretty much ignored apart from some subtle imagery. I find it difficult to swallow a novel about American gods that ignores these influences. Still, the novel is a quick read and does present some ideas that are interesting to chew over. How dependent on worship is a god's power? What is the nature of sacred objects and sacred places? Is technology and consumerism taking over the role of religion in America? I just wish the characters had been a little more engaging and the story a little more energetic.

Rating:
Summary: title
Review: I've been a fan of Gaiman's for about five years, beginning with his Sandman stuff. I've read each of his other books (Neverwhere, Stardust and Smoke & Mirrors) as they were published and eagerly awaited the next. This is his newest book and, in my opinion, the best thing he's ever done. Bit by bit: Shadow: the book's main character. It begins with his release from a short prison term, a few days early, due to his wife's untimely death. With nothing tying him down, seemingly no reason to even continue living, he accepts a job from a stranger as an aid, chauffer, travelling companion, etc. While Shadow sometimes seems like a bit of a dullard, you can't help but love him. Even following him into places that seem boring, your interest never wanes. Easily the strongest of Gaiman's main characters yet. Wednesday: main supporting character. Shadow's employer. One of the American Gods, and one of fiction's all-time coolest characters. You can't not love Wednesday, even when he comes under fire late in the book. Supporting characters: one of the greatest casts of supporting characters since...well...ever, maybe. At least that i can think of. Anansi, Czernobog, the whole town of Lakeside. The supporting characters make the book just as much fun as any of the other, bigger elements. Atmosphere: in all these reviews, not once does anyone say Gaiman's prose is bad, and with good reason. He's a master at creating atmosphere, and the only times he's ever matched the atmosphere of this book are in Neverwhere and during The Kindly Ones storyline in Sandman. And the settings (Lakeside, Backstage, all the roadside attractions) make the book a lot more fun. All in all, this is one of the greatest books i've ever read. It's up there with Tristan Egolf's "Lord of the Barnyard: Killing the Fatted Calf and Arming the Aware in the Cornbelt" and Neal Stephenson's "Cryptonomicon". Oh yeah, and "The Stand". Read these books, you won't be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Bad, Bad Bad!!!
Review: I have never read Niel Gaiman before picking up this book. I do not plan to read him again. The entire plot is pointless, and absurd. The old gods are envious of the new gods. Who cares! If you like to waste time reading bad books then by all means pick it up, otherwise don't.

Rating:
Summary: Worthy of your bookshelf, lives up to it's hype
Review: I pre-ordered American Gods and looked forward to it's arrival. I was NOT disappointed and read it twice. You don't have to be a Gaiman fan to like it. I'm a reader of all types of genre. It's hard to find a new book that's engrossing and has a good writing style. American Gods is a good read, worthy of your bookshelf and lives up to it's hype.

Rating:
Summary: Very, very surprising. Hard to put down.
Review: The worst thing you can say about the latest novel from Gaiman is that it doesn't really break any new ground. The mixture of old myths in the contemporary world has been handled by many other authors, especially De Lint. The concept of gods requiring worship to exist and the consequences of being forgotten was covered by Terry Pratchett (who co-authored Good Omens with Gaiman and gets a acknowledgement for helping with this book), most notably in Small Gods. The good news is that the above is the only bad thing about this book. Gaiman has done a masterful job in depicting the downfall of myth and what we worship in its place. I was in turns shocked, saddened, elated, touched, and disgusted but I was always entertained. An otherwise dull weekend was spent obsessively turning the pages...I could not put this book down. American Gods is a book worth your time. It is more polished than Neverwhere and light years better than Stardust. Gaiman is setting lofty expectations for his next novel. I can't wait to see if he reaches them.

Rating:
Summary: Neil, I love you.
Review: This is so brilliant. I hate that it ends. I am mad about Neil Gaiman, he is superlative. Buy everything he's ever writen, then buy it all for your best friend.

Rating:
Summary: All right
Review: I was intruiged by an artical in EW and so I read the book. The book was a huge dissapointment thought. There where some times that I found the book good, but it seemed to drag. The intial plot was good but I felt no empathy for Shadow. If you read this book and like it great, it's just that I didn't.