Review: American Gods

American Gods by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was the sort of book that once I got into it, I couldn't put it down. We were actually doing a road trip while I had it in my hands, and I'm not a reading-while-riding type of person (car sickness, what a burden to the readers of the world) but I pushed on, during all the daylight hours we had, it was that good...
The story starts with a guy named Shadow, he's in jail for reasons that aren't too clear (a robbery gone wrong) but he's due to be released. Lucky for him, he gets released early, by a day. Unluckily, it's because his wife has died.

She doesn't stay dead though, through a pile of twists and problems.

Shadow meets a whole slew of people, who aren't quite what they seem. They are the old Gods, the ones that were important and worshipped, but not in America. They're fading, they're bored, they're trying to make a living. They were brought over by people who are long dead, and Shadow appearing in their lives is making things worth living for again.

The one who has found him, who offered him a so-called job, is Wednesday, an old guy with a glass eye, who clearly is one of them, but which one? And what is he planning?

The new gods, the ones who people worship in America (you know the ones, big TV, cars, the things that matter these days to most) are tired of the old gods trying to still be relevant.

A war is starting, has been on the edge of happening for a while, and somehow, Shadow, is at the middle of it, thanks to his boss putting him there.

All in all, it's a fun story, with twists and turns, and oddly familiar, with all of the gods that you've probably heard of at some point in time, along with some that had me curious as to who they were supposed to be.

View all my reviews