First and foremost, Neil Gaiman can actually write, which puts him ahead of 90% of the people on the best sellers lists these days. That alone is worth a positive review.

But this book is stupendous. It starts small in a prison cell with an unremarkable hero, and ventures out across America, revealing this nation and its psyche more than any recent work I've read. The format is odd--it alternates between the modern story and vignettes into the gods of the different cultures that melted into America, from pre-discovery to modern immigrants. Each vignette is well-imagined and offers an insight into America that would leave even a student of culture and anthropology impressed. Each ties together to explain the whole picture of what's happening in the novel. Several criticisms here have claimed it is just a bunch of stories, but it is much more than that.

This is one of the best imagined books I've ever read. It isn't always about pretty romances or graphic slasher/horror killings--although they are in here--so it may be different than some readers are used to, but it tells a powerful story that goes beyond the simple actions of the story. You will see America in a different light--sometimes better, sometimes worse--after reading this book, and if you don't, you've missed the whole story.

It is a spectacular mystical, mythical adventure, and I have enjoyed few books this much, and have been this impressed with the overall scope of even fewer. I can't imagine not loving it.

Oh yeah, don't listen with your kids. There is explicit, though not gratuitous, sex and violence that might offend some readers. Not one of Gaiman's childrens books.

I very much enjoyed this one! It took me some time to understand why he jumped from the present to another time, but it came together nicely into the story. I found it difficult to stop listening to. I put my iPod on while I ironed, washed dishes, besides the normal listening in the car t work. I very much like the direction Gaiman is taking in his writing.
His characters were always in development from beginning to end. I felt good and bad about Shadow's wife and was very impressed with her character's bravery and love.
Great book.

American Gods was my introduction to Gaiman, and what a first impression. This was one of those books that I only put down once or twice from cover to cover. I think I started it on a monday and finished it by that wednesday.

When I saw that it was available here, I spent a credit on it in a heartbeat. If you like fantasy...scratch that, no hobbits or goblins here, if you like old school mythology, think Edith Hamilton, you will love this modernization.

The narration was average, shined a lot in some places, but nothing amazing. Guidall does much better in the later books of King's Dark Tower series than he does here.

Neil Gaiman is a fantastic story teller, and if you dig weird fantasy and tight writing, you'll dig American Gods. There are some graphic scenes of sensuality, so be forewarned if you're uncomfortable hearing an old man read that stuff to you; that said, the elderly quality to Guidall's voice doesn't detract from his solid narration. Though slow at times, he knows how tales are meant to be told when being told rather than being read by the consumer.

I only got halfway through the audiobook because it was so boring to me. The basic concept of the story is interesting but the execution of it is a snoozer. I can see where others might have loved this book - it's likely a matter of taste. But for me it was hours of my life wasted, that I can't get back, listening to a boring audiobook hoping it'd start to get interesting at some point.