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lanternatomika's review against another edition
4.0
Sometimes you just can't escape the shadow of who you are, amirite?
The Monarch of the Glen is a sequel novella to Neil Gaiman's epic American Gods. Side-stepping the note that the novel ended on, sadly, this book finds Shadow in Scotland. He's been backpacking across Europe for the last two years, wondering when he'll return to America. One night, sitting at a bar, Dr Gaskell recruits him to be a bouncer at a mysterious party going down at an abandoned old building, and Shadow really should've known better than to accept a job like that
Much like American Gods, The Monarch of the Glen essentially translates a mythological trope into a real-ish world setting. This is not Scottish Gods, and there's only one god in this book (to tell you who that is would spoil American Gods, but I can tell you it's not who you're thinking it is); rather, this book is more about the stories of monsters fighting men and how a history of such battles might lead to some interesting traditions in the present
This is a pretty short book that stays on point with the plot and I can't say much for spoiler reasons. It's a nice return to life with Shadow Moon, the man who doesn't like to talk but attracts conversation with every single person that passes him by. While I enjoyed the read, I wouldn't even say it's a must-read, but if you got through all of American Gods, you can stay on Shadow's journey for a bit longer
I also want to give props to Daniel Egneus for this gorgeous illustrations. They're a bit abstract and caught me off guard at first, but I came to dig this style a lot. Thumbs up for that
(Also, thanks to Headline for including a ribbon bookmark with this book, even though most people are gonna read through this in a single sitting)
The Monarch of the Glen is a sequel novella to Neil Gaiman's epic American Gods. Side-stepping the note that the novel ended on, sadly, this book finds Shadow in Scotland. He's been backpacking across Europe for the last two years, wondering when he'll return to America. One night, sitting at a bar, Dr Gaskell recruits him to be a bouncer at a mysterious party going down at an abandoned old building, and Shadow really should've known better than to accept a job like that
Much like American Gods, The Monarch of the Glen essentially translates a mythological trope into a real-ish world setting. This is not Scottish Gods, and there's only one god in this book (to tell you who that is would spoil American Gods, but I can tell you it's not who you're thinking it is); rather, this book is more about the stories of monsters fighting men and how a history of such battles might lead to some interesting traditions in the present
This is a pretty short book that stays on point with the plot and I can't say much for spoiler reasons. It's a nice return to life with Shadow Moon, the man who doesn't like to talk but attracts conversation with every single person that passes him by. While I enjoyed the read, I wouldn't even say it's a must-read, but if you got through all of American Gods, you can stay on Shadow's journey for a bit longer
I also want to give props to Daniel Egneus for this gorgeous illustrations. They're a bit abstract and caught me off guard at first, but I came to dig this style a lot. Thumbs up for that
(Also, thanks to Headline for including a ribbon bookmark with this book, even though most people are gonna read through this in a single sitting)
jasleeen's review against another edition
3.0
The mystery was woven nicely and it was a treat to know more about Shadow's life.
georgelathwell's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
4.0
joselito3's review against another edition
5.0
Very nice "short story"! Written along the lines of American Gods, I love the language and all the atmosphere that creates. 5 stars for sure!
I edit the review to thank also Daniel Egneus for these pieces of art. Makes the book even better!
I edit the review to thank also Daniel Egneus for these pieces of art. Makes the book even better!
aimeesbookishlife's review against another edition
4.0
Great short story featuring Shadow from American Gods. I listened to it as an audiobook narrated by Gaiman himself, and was gratified that he did the same voice for Mr Alice as he did for Croupe and Vandemar in the audiobook of Neverwhere.
jonnyrwhit's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
nickleby_shepherd's review against another edition
4.0
No real connection to American Gods other than Shadow. An enjoyable grey atmospheric short side adventure.
wizward's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
emileigh123's review against another edition
3.0
It was nice to have more of Shadow’s story but I felt like there needed to be a lot more explanation as to why it was happening.
tmleblanc's review against another edition
2.0
I will admit that I don't know much about Neil Gaiman or about his American Gods series, but I received this short story as part of the StoryBundle #14 - Truly Epic Fantasy Bundle a couple years ago. While I was between reads getting ready for vacation back in June, I was knocking off some of the shorter books on my #ShelfLove list and this one floated to the top of the list.
Thankfully Gaiman included a short introduction to the story and how it fits into the Amercian Gods canon. Without this, I would probably been completely lost. This story provides no background about Shadow.
I was not a fan of "Monarch of the Glen."
Fans of the American Gods series may like this continuation of Shadow's story. And while Gaiman did an excellent job of painting the Scottish Highlands and the strange people you might find there, I believe having more knowledge of the American Gods mythos might be needed for a reader to truly enjoying this haunting short story.
This review was originally posted on Second Run Reviews
Thankfully Gaiman included a short introduction to the story and how it fits into the Amercian Gods canon. Without this, I would probably been completely lost. This story provides no background about Shadow.
I was not a fan of "Monarch of the Glen."
- One plus...the book took place in Scotland and Gaiman was able to write the Scots accent (bluidy for bloody).
- One minus...I didn't know enough about the American Gods universe to truly understand why Mr. Alice was so interested in Shadow and why his actions in the story were so devastating.
- One plus and one minus...the story is short and it was fascinating. At least until near the end when I got completely lost as characters revealed themselves. Maybe I missed some nuance of the story that would have told me who a couple of people were before the last couple of chapters.
- One more minus (kind of)...there are times I really struggle with my eReader and this short story was one of them. the formatting was weird for this book at least when it came to the layout for the dialogue. As a result, if Shadow deigned to have a longer conversation with someone, I often had to track back through the conversation after the first pass and work through who said what because there seemed to be hard returns missing. It looked like this:
"A character says something to Shadow here," he said. "Shadow says something here.""The character responds to Shadow here."
Since I have read exactly one Gaiman novel before this (Stardust (and I saw the movie first)), I wasn't sure if this was a formatting issue with my ePub version of the book or Gaiman's style as a writer. Whatever it was, it was bloody confusing and frustrating.
Fans of the American Gods series may like this continuation of Shadow's story. And while Gaiman did an excellent job of painting the Scottish Highlands and the strange people you might find there, I believe having more knowledge of the American Gods mythos might be needed for a reader to truly enjoying this haunting short story.
This review was originally posted on Second Run Reviews