American Gods: The Tenth Anniversary Edition (A Full Cast Production)

By: Neil Gaiman

Narrated by: Ron McLarty, Daniel Oreskes, full cast

Length: 19 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

Now a STARZ® Original Series produced by FremantleMedia North America starring Ricky Whittle, Ian McShane, Emily Browning, and Pablo Schreiber.

Locked behind bars for three years, Shadow did his time, quietly waiting for the day when he could return to Eagle Point, Indiana. A man no longer scared of what tomorrow might bring, all he wanted was to be with Laura, the wife he deeply loved, and start a new life.

But just days before his release, Laura and Shadow's best friend are killed in an accident. With his life in pieces and nothing to keep him tethered, Shadow accepts a job from a beguiling stranger he meets on the way home, an enigmatic man who calls himself Mr. Wednesday. A trickster and a rogue, Wednesday seems to know more about Shadow than Shadow does himself.

Life as Wednesday's bodyguard, driver, and errand boy is far more interesting and dangerous than Shadow ever imagined. Soon Shadow learns that the past never dies . . . and that beneath the placid surface of everyday life a storm is brewing—an epic war for the very soul of America—and that he is standing squarely in its path.

"Mystery, satire, sex, horror, poetic prose—American Gods uses all these to keep the reader turning the pages."—Washington Post

©2011 Neil Gaiman (P)2011 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

"This full-cast performance of the tenth anniversary edition of Neil Gaiman's American Gods (think director's cut) is one of the most mesmerizing audio experiences ever.... Ron McLarty plays a randy, crusty old Odin disguised as a white-collar con man to perfection. Daniel Oreskes's Shadow, the hero who doesn't know quite what he is, is masterful. Oliver Wyman, who did Mad Sweeney the Leprechaun, is a genius. Hats in the air for the whole cast, a flawless production, and a tour de force of a tale." ( AudioFile)

One of my "favorites"

Well written; compelling storyline; unique, crossing multiple categories; wonderful full cast performance! Definitely a keeper!

american gods is worthy of praise

i couldn't wait to come back to this audio performance. the narrators were believable without being over the top. the author brought us inside the world of old gods in a new world in an exciting and captivating way. its brilliant; thats all

Emile the hammer

there were many breathless moments, and the book brought back to life many of the thought people would call ancient. my favorite character in the book is Mad Sweeney. the author illustrated Perfactely the importance of the old Gods through mad Sweeney character bringing comfort to Essie McGowan after she died. with a moment like that you would choose side even though things turn out the way they did.

Needs a good editor.

This is a great book. I really enjoyed listening to it. It was the first full cast recording I've tried and I thought it was great. Made the descriptions even more visual.

There were some sections that just seemed like they needed a good editor. Some of the chapters in Lakeside seemed to meander off track a bit.

great read. much better than the show

really good story. Everyone except the guy reading "Shadow" was excellent . There's a lot more to the story than what the show hits on.

Amazing full cast production, must not miss!

Really amazing with a full cast, first time for me and it really was great!

Loved it

I was surprised how much I liked this. The narration was great and the story is awesome.

An American classic. But the "full cast" was mixed

First of all, I think this book should be required reading. It is a truly great novel and taps into the Joseph Campbell philosophy of the importance of myth and "the Hero" arguably more than any other novel in print. I almost feel that writing a review of the book itself is a waste of words, because it takes away time away from a more important message: go read this book. If you have, read it again.

So instead, I'll review the "full cast" approach to recording this story.
As far as I can tell, every single character who has dialogue in this book has their own distinct narrator.
Ron McLarty as Mr Wednesday was great.The actors for the Russians, and Mr Nancy really stood out for me.
But Daniel Oreskes as Shadow, the most important character in the book, was mixed.
I think the problem is that he may have performed snippets of the dialogue out of sequence without having a chance to read the surrounding text.
There were amazingly tense scenes that he read as light hearted and cheerful. There were moments of extreme grief where he sounded bored.
There was one fight scene where he was described as drunk and out of breath. The other actor in that scene read his lines as such... inebriated and huffing a little between lines. Mr Oresces lines were read with no such "acting", and I found that distracting.
It's a shame too, because Daniel Oresces is a very experienced actor of stage, big screen, and quite a lot of television. I believe that if he'd been given the time and context to explore this character instead of just reading random lines, he would have been so much better. He's got a deep, resonating voice that reminds me of Vin Diesel... an actor who's most acclaimed work has been his voice over roles.
Anyway, this is a great book and this reading of it has some text that's not included in the other recordings, so it may be your best bet in any case.

Found excuses

I found myself coming up with excuses to spend time in my car to listen to the next chapter

Out-freaking-standing

What did you love best about American Gods: The Tenth Anniversary Edition (A Full Cast Production)?

Fantastic story, great writing and the "Full Cast Production" was awesome, added immensely to the storytelling. Can't wait to see what Shadow does next.