American Gods / Anansi Boys, Neil Gaiman

I wanted to love this. I was impressed by it - especially by the breadth of the whole thing, and the way it examines belief and retells the mythology with twists and parallels - but I didn't love it. I didn't really like it that much, although it gripped me and pulled me along and I read it in under a week. I can't quite put my finger on what I didn't like. The hardness and bleakness, maybe? I expected those, so... sigh I don't know. Anyway, it's a solid 4/5, and definitely recommended for people who like bleak myth-based fantasy because it's excellent on its own terms - but I'm still, strangely, a bit disappointed.

What prevented me from rating this book higher were the "new gods". TV? Internet? The Railroad? Sure, most people I know watch what I consider the be an insane amount of TV. But they hardly worship it. This didn't ruin the book for me. I merely found this to be its weakest aspect. I'm sure Gaiman could have expertly addressed this weakness if he had seen it as such.