A review by bbrassfield
American Gods by Neil Gaiman

5.0

I just finished re-reading Neil Gaiman's American Gods. I read the original when it was new around 2001. This summer I read the author's anniversary text which adds upwards of 10,000 words. Honestly I do not think the added words added much to the story. I did appreciate the additional historical episodes but really the drive of the novel still comes from Shadow after he meets up with Wednesday, who is Odin but not Odin. See the last last chapter to wrap your mind around this. American Gods is still great. Engaging characters pulled from the pages of world mythology and reimagined, or simply brought to America. As much as I enjoyed Gaiman's remarkable creativity on display here, this time through I was even more taken by the love between Shadow and Laura. Their story is the heart of the novel and supplies the lifeblood for everything else that happens in the story.