Reviews tagging 'War'

American Gods: Author's Perferred Text by Neil Gaiman

55 reviews

wise_old_fishie's review against another edition

adventurous reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

it was well written just a looong read for me. the characters and events were quite interesting I grew quite fond of some of the characters, and you really did feel the time passing, events that happened weeks ago in the book really did feel like they'd happened weeks ago.

after i'd gotten half way through I wasn't going to let myself dnf it, but it really did  feel like an accomplishment to have finished it :p

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Trafficking, Murder, and War

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Incest, Blood, Kidnapping, Car accident, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, and Colonisation

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Stalking, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

paperback_jackalack's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

elliv's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Car accident, Murder, and War

Minor: Racial slurs and Vomit

maya_moksha's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.25

Vile

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Medical content, Dementia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

ashleythebookwhore's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

I’m convinced this whole book is a one-man con and we all got played. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Infidelity, and Car accident

Minor: Incest and Fire/Fire injury

elbell1012's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

 How much can you really separate the art from the artist? As an artist myself I know my experience, actions, and my very core affect what I create. I am my art and my art is me. So, I find the recent allegations against Neil Gaiman disturbing and heartbreaking. I was about halfway through this book when the news broke, and while my opinions on this book are not changed, I will no longer be supporting Gaiman by purchasing more books.

Anyways

This book was long and this book was meandering. I feel like it very easily could have fallen into Lord of the Rings territory (ploy droughts). I felt that Gaiman was able to keep the story moving at a clip, even though for a while it felt like nothing was happening. Things were happening within the nothingness if that makes sense?

I think my favorite parts of this were the vignettes of the Gods being brought to America by their believers and the story of Salim and the taxi driver. They felt both educational and entertaining. I’m not sure how much research Gaiman did, but I sincerely hope it was thorough. There were a few parts around halfway, and slightly before, that were a little icky, especially considering the SA allegations. Mr. Wednesday(old man, thousands of years old) screws a 17 year old and Shadow, who judged Wednesday for previously stated action, remarks on how beautiful a 14 year old would be in 10 years. That felt even more gross than it would have already all things considered.

The ending was this books saving grace. It felt a little “Twilight Saga” (iykyk), but I think it did it much better. I was a little confused on the ending, but maybe I'm too stupid for a book like this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Violence, and War

Moderate: Cursing and Suicidal thoughts

heckgoshdang's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

dwjo227's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

It was a very interesting read. The beginning and end became exciting and quick paced while the middle was kind of slow. Almost the opposite of what you’d expect. Interesting twist, but also kind of BS in an M. Night Shyamalan kind of way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Cursing, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and War

c4rn4ge's review against another edition

emotional informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Infidelity, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Drug use, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Colonisation

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Cursing, Suicide, and Fire/Fire injury

trying_ceratops's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I ended up liking this book by the end but the docked stars are for the pace of the book and the fact I’ve tried to read this 3-4 times before unsuccessfully and finally pushed through this time. The mythology is neat, there’s definitely some misogyny, and the character development is the main character is well done but takes forever. The middle felt like a nothing happened.  All that said, that should show how good the rest of the story is to get it up to 3.5. I know people who love this book and would argue its merits until they’re blue in the face, but I probably won’t re-read it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Cursing, Gore, Misogyny, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Cultural appropriation, and Alcohol