A review by sticks_33
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
This is a book that I've been wanting to read for a while and finally picked it up this year. It's a good book but not great. The saving grace was the lead character, Shadow. He is the sole reason I rate this book as highly as I do.
To be fair, if you are well-versed in mythology, you will probably enjoy this book much more than I did. I'm not a mythology fan and the references/behaviors of the gods were mostly lost on me.
If you haven't read a Neil Gaiman book, I highly recommend Neverwhere as a first read instead of American Gods. It's an amazing book. Unfortunately, I can't say the same about AG.
Spoiler
I found the gods, particularly the new gods, to be a depressing commentary on our society. There was very little to like about any of the gods. I found myself not really rooting for any of them.To be fair, if you are well-versed in mythology, you will probably enjoy this book much more than I did. I'm not a mythology fan and the references/behaviors of the gods were mostly lost on me.
If you haven't read a Neil Gaiman book, I highly recommend Neverwhere as a first read instead of American Gods. It's an amazing book. Unfortunately, I can't say the same about AG.