American Gods

By: Neil Gaiman

Narrated by: Neil Gaiman, Dennis Boutskiaris, Daniel Oreskes, Ron McLarty, Sarah Jones

Length: 19 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

The definitive American road novel with over a million copies sold.

AN ACCLAIMED, EMMY-NOMINATED TV SERIES ON AMAZON PRIME VIDEO

WINNER OF THE HUGO, LOCUS AND BRAM STOKER AWARDS

After three years in prison, Shadow Moon is free to go home. But hours before his release, his beloved wife is killed in a freak accident. Numbly, he boards a plane where he meets an enigmatic stranger who seems to know Shadow and claims to be an ancient god - and king of America.

Together they embark on a profoundly strange road trip across the USA, encountering a kaleidoscopic cast of characters along the way. But all around them a storm of unnatural proportions is gathering.

War is coming, an epic struggle for the very soul of America. And Shadow is standing squarely in its path.

NEIL GAIMAN.

WITH STORIES COME POSSIBILITIES.

©2001 Neil Gaiman (P)2011 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

"To give him his full title: Neil Gaiman, Architect of Worlds, Svengali of Plot, Shaman of Character, Exploder of Cliché, Master Craftsman of Style, Dreamer Laureate of the Republic of Letters." (David Mitchell)

"Original, engrossing, and endlessly inventive." (George R.R. Martin)

"Brilliant and unique." (Guardian)

Strange, slow moving, story

The characters in American Gods are interesting and the reading performance is superb. American Gods deals with the weird, the strange, and the unreal - all of which I like. However, I also like stuff to actually happen, and this novel kept me waiting too long between the main events. The plot was too slow moving for my liking. It kept me interested until the end, but only barely.

A bit disappointing but good fun

I expected more of this novel as I loved Good Omens & the Sandman series. It wasn't funny like Good Omens & it didn't have that same high fantasy quality as Sandman. But it was pretty good - the really morbid bits were my favourite, they were edgy. I enjoyed the performances though I thought many of the female voices were breathy & overdone. But this is not a women's book - it borderline failed the Bechdel test. I can only think of one sustained
conversation between women & it was mainly about Shadow. I felt some of the 'ethnic legends' sections were a bit co-opted, too. The idea that the gods were with the slaves in Santo Domingo but that people didn't have enough belief in mainland America (for a revolt) was super dodgy.

Overall a bit disappointing but pretty good fun.

So so

I had a hard time staying with this book. I felt dragged along, too far in to put it down, but not really committed.

Wanted to like it

Struggled to finish it. There were some brilliant scenes but the story was lacking something.

Tedious to the extreme.

I haven't read Gaiman before but bloody hell, he rambled on and on. Brilliant narration which kept me going but I would definitely not recommend this book.

An interesting tale and well read

This is an interesting story and the narration is very well done. However I did not find the story to be moving and once over the initial premise it just plods along at a relaxed pace. So yes it was good, but not the brilliance I was expecting from the other reviews.

Warning: lots of vulgar language and explicit sex!

This is my first Neil Gaiman book and I’m not sure if I liked this book.

There are two parts of this book that I really didn’t like. The first being the very vulgar language and the explicit sex.

However, I understand why there needed to be so much sex in this book. Ancient gods were often worshiped by having sex with temple prostitutes.

The storyline was an interesting one. Even though I was really uncomfortable and put off by the vulgarity, my curiosity about where this story would go, kept me going.

I’m not sure if I will read/listen to another Neil Gaiman book.

All the narrators did a really great job.