American Gods (American Gods, #1) in Building a SciFi/Fantasy Library

Dec 28, 2009 Edie Kestenbaum rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-read-2010

Wow. This is absolutely one of the best, if not the best book I've read this year.
Where to start, where to start....ah yes, the plot. Which, by the way, was extraordinarily creative. I love the way that Gaiman merges the old and timeless with the modern and original, so that readers feel as if two familiar landscapes have blended. The characters have a depth that makes them feel alive, and the settings, such as Yggdrassil, the world tree, are instantly imagined.
The style of Gaiman's writing ...more

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Dec 30, 2019 Keith rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: audio-books

The intro to this book made me set the bar pretty low because it seemed like the author was trying really hard to be "deep". This was one of those books that everyone tells me is one of the greatest ever and I have to read it but I always put it off because I figured I would hate it. It started off pretty strong for reasons I can't explain. I think I enjoyed the idea of the book in the beginning of different gods power rising and falling dependent on belief. The promise in the beginning of the b The intro to this book made me set the bar pretty low because it seemed like the author was trying really hard to be "deep". This was one of those books that everyone tells me is one of the greatest ever and I have to read it but I always put it off because I figured I would hate it. It started off pretty strong for reasons I can't explain. I think I enjoyed the idea of the book in the beginning of different gods power rising and falling dependent on belief. The promise in the beginning of the book faded to boredom about 1/3 through for me and stayed there.

As cool as I thought the various gods idea was in the beginning, it didn't make much sense to me. They mention the god of plastic if I remember correctly and there is a god of media. Wouldn't those gods be all powerful? What about the god of money? It seems like almost all of the characters in the book would be completely irrelevant once you open the door to creating deities out of things that aren't worshiped in the traditional sense. The gods on Shadow's side are mostly obscure gods long forgotten and apparently they are going up against the gods of plastic and media? It would be like a single ant taking on the US military. The difference in power would be so immense that it makes the plot laughable. The rules Gaiman sets up are just too ludicrous and inconsistent to enjoy this book.

I also didn't catch the rules for there being numerous iterations of the same deity based on geographical location like (view spoiler).

The ending was really dull. (view spoiler)

There is a scene where (view spoiler).

The audio book is extremely well done except for a couple of the female voices that were painful. It was also really annoying having to constantly hear one of the characters be called "puppy". ...more

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Oct 08, 2008 tash rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: multiple-rereads, classics

I loved this book. It is well-written and has a good pace to it. Shadow, the main character, has a lot of depth to him which adds to the strange flavor of this novel. I really enjoyed figuring out what god each person represented, and it was a great perspective to see the multiplicity of cultures, and thus, gods, that America's culture soup has given forth. The climax was a surprise for me, I totally did not expect to see any of that coming, although I was so engrossed in reading it that I did n ...more

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Aug 07, 2011 Will rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, sword-and-laser, favorites, audible, hugo-award, nebula-award

Very entertaining. I listed to the 10th Anniversary Edition via Audible with full cast. I usually do not read much "current time" scifi/fantasy, but this was worth it. A similar genre pick to read is Orson Scott Card's The Lost Gate. I am not sure which of the two I like better. Neil's is more fantasy and Orson's is more Scifi perspective. Interesting to read both and compare since the topics are so similar. ...more

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