Review of 'Neil Gaiman American Gods 5 Books Collection Set' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
I think it set, I'm not a Gaiman fan. The problem I have is that he has fantastic ideas, and great plots...but it's ruined by an inability to coherently put it all together. He's all over the place. This particular story made me excited then random unnecessary scenes would come up. Characters would setup their scope, then he'd have them do something that feels unnatural to that character. But this seems to be his style.
Review of 'Neil Gaiman American Gods 5 Books Collection Set' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
I picked this one up because of the TV show that's currently out. Full disclosure I don't like much in the fantasy genre. This book was no exception. It was ok, but it's just not my cup of tea. Kinda like listening to someone else explain their crazy dream. Interesting, but ultimately doesn't do anything for me.
Review of 'Neil Gaiman American Gods 5 Books Collection Set' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Strange book. Nothing quite like it. Probably why I enjoyed reading it. I probably would give 5 stars on premise. 3 or 4 for the story itself and 3 for the characters.
Review of 'Neil Gaiman American Gods 5 Books Collection Set' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
It's all a metaphor, from the beginning to the end.
Synopsis: The old gods are the ones brought to the North American continent by travellers, migrants and immigrants, long before the continent was even called America. They feed on worship and thrive on sacrifices of their followers, but they don't do well in America, because people don't worship them, are forgetting them, and the old gods grow older and die forgotten. The main character, Shadow, is actually human, hired by one of the old gods, who calls himself Wednesday, to help recruit the old gods against the "modern gods" that people worship nowadays: Internet, cars, credit cards, computers, TV, phones and everything symbolizing modern times. The conflict seems inevitable...
With all the gods marching through the pages of the book, it's natural to think that it's all about religion. It isn't. And you don't need to be an immigrant to …
It's all a metaphor, from the beginning to the end.
Synopsis: The old gods are the ones brought to the North American continent by travellers, migrants and immigrants, long before the continent was even called America. They feed on worship and thrive on sacrifices of their followers, but they don't do well in America, because people don't worship them, are forgetting them, and the old gods grow older and die forgotten. The main character, Shadow, is actually human, hired by one of the old gods, who calls himself Wednesday, to help recruit the old gods against the "modern gods" that people worship nowadays: Internet, cars, credit cards, computers, TV, phones and everything symbolizing modern times. The conflict seems inevitable...
With all the gods marching through the pages of the book, it's natural to think that it's all about religion. It isn't. And you don't need to be an immigrant to grasp the ever-present conflict between old and new, past and future. I just never came across such a neatly woven allegory.
There is a huge amount of mythology, legends, fairy tales and bonfire stories told masterfully through a cast of unlikely heroes. If the idea of aging gods scheming and scamming through life to scrape for a meager existence isn't attractive by itself to make you read it, there is fantastic dialogue to amuse the reader as well as many clever and funny twists. For someone who likes long tales like myself, this book is a gold mine. At the end, all the stories seemingly not connected throughout the novel, finally come together.
There could have been a touch more romance, earthly or divine, I don't really care, but even without it, I thoroughly enjoyed the American Gods.
Subnote: I read this book as a part of "1 Book 1 Twitter" book club (though I'm not certain if it can be called a book club, but it made me and about 50,000 others read it at the same time). Looking forward to the next one. You can join it on twitter by following @1b1t
Review of 'Neil Gaiman American Gods 5 Books Collection Set' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
American Gods, by Neil Gaiman, is the story of Shadow, a large man, just released from prison, who suddenly finds himself a central player in a brewing war between the forces of old power and new power.
Gaiman is a very clever writer, and there are ideas and imagination aplenty here. All in all I found this novel to be very entertaining. I will admit that it took me a little while to become involved with the central character of Shadow. He’s kind of an enigma even to other characters within the novel who we expect to know things we don’t. This leads to a kind of remoteness that is sometimes a little hard to overcome.
The story is sprawling as the characters travel to and fro across America. There are many characters introduced seemingly at random meetings who then re-appear later and we learn that the earlier meeting was …
American Gods, by Neil Gaiman, is the story of Shadow, a large man, just released from prison, who suddenly finds himself a central player in a brewing war between the forces of old power and new power.
Gaiman is a very clever writer, and there are ideas and imagination aplenty here. All in all I found this novel to be very entertaining. I will admit that it took me a little while to become involved with the central character of Shadow. He’s kind of an enigma even to other characters within the novel who we expect to know things we don’t. This leads to a kind of remoteness that is sometimes a little hard to overcome.
The story is sprawling as the characters travel to and fro across America. There are many characters introduced seemingly at random meetings who then re-appear later and we learn that the earlier meeting was far from random. I would recommend staying alert while reading to best be able to make all the connections. Also, there are many scenes involving mystical experiences where the line between reality and un-reality blurs.
I personally found it very amusing that one of the climactic moments occurs at one of those uniquely American tourist attractions at the Tennesse-Georgia border called Lookout Mountain. I visited there a few years ago with a friend and remember the experience well.
This would be a great read for anyone who has an interest or fascination with pagan or other world religions and is entertained by stories built around those differing religions. As well as being a fun book for anyone who simply enjoys a good adventure.