American Gods by Neil Gaiman

I thought the story was beautifully told; the Gods of the Old World want to go to war with the Gods of the Modern World; Shadow is the errand boy for the Gods of Old.

I love how emotionless Shadow is; it makes him feel like an outsider, an observer, even though he's cast as the protagonist. His impartiality makes it feel like the Gods and Goddesses are more important, more active characters even though I know less about them than I do about him. I loved the balance of past and present, I loved that the fantastic moments slid so easily into reality.

This almost received five stars; it didn't because the ending wasn't as well thought out as the rest of the story. It was too abrupt. First, it surprised me that Shadow went from being an impartial third party to the hero in a matter of few pages. And the murder mystery aspect fell flat; I guessed what was happening to the children of Lakeside and who was behind it before it was actually revealed. So as much depth and mystery as Gaiman gave the war between Gods, he was not as clever handling the mystery of Lakeside and that was mildly disappointing.

Rating: 4/5

Original post date:

Mar 30, 12