American Gods

by Neil Gaiman

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

WINNER OF THE HUGO, LOCUS AND BRAM STOKER AWARDS

'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

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'This is about the soul of America, the idea that everyone came here from somewhere' NEIL GAIMAN

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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.

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**Includes a brand-new author preface, introduction to the author's preferred text, The Monarch of the Glen novella, reading-group discussion questions, an interview with Neil Gaiman and 'How Dare You', an essay on American Gods**

• ISBN10: 0755322819
• ISBN13: 9780755322817
• Publish Date: 19 September 2005 (first published 19 June 2001)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 13 March 2021
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Headline Publishing Group
• Imprint: Headline Book Publishing
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 752
• Language: English

Reviews

I read this book in two parts, up to Chapter 12 and then after 12. It was really good and I burned straight through it in two separate chunks. I'm still trying to sort out all the little nuances and I had to go and search for whom some of the gods were but it turned out to be pretty good in the end. I still think I liked the Graveyard book better but this is definitely worth a read.

[adastra]

I've first read this book when I was nineteen. Now, at age 29, it was finally time to read it again and it was every bit as amazing as the first (and second and third) time. Having visited the US many times since I've read this book last, I think I gained an ever deeper understanding for its mythology. Mind blown.

[Ben Pick]

Much better than the television show. It blends the metaphysical with the real world in a way that makes the story feel larger than reality.

[g2pro]

Another book that is headed to Show Time or HBO as a series.

[empressbrooke]

It's taken me a few weeks since I finished American Gods to review it, because I'm not quite sure how much I liked it. Its tone is extremely different from Stardust and Neverwhere; it's very dark, dreary, and cold, and it's difficult to root for any of the characters. No one is entirely sympathetic, although it's not as if any of them have really done anything wrong.

The premise of the novel is that as immigrants came to America, they brought their gods with them, and as America aged, its people no longer had a use for gods and abandoned them. It's fitting that the gods are now bleak and run-down. Shadow, the main character, is recruited by one of these gods to assist in a war against the newer gods - the gods of technology, highways, and the future. These newer gods are especially easy to dislike; they come across as sleazy and creepy.

I think this one is going to need a re-read relatively soon. It's so much deeper than a novel about warring gods, and I think I was ill-prepared for it coming off of Gaiman's lighter fare. There are so many themes running through the plot that I think I might trip over them trying to sort them all out.

Definitely recommended, but approach it expecting more than just a story.