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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I'd give this 3.5 stars if I could. This is the first time I've read a book by Neil Gaiman, who I've heard many great things about. There are some really special parts of this book--intriguing and unique and thought-provoking. But I found myself wishing that Gaiman had an editor with a stronger red pen, as there were too many sections that seemed superfluous and unnecessary to the story as a whole and, if anything, mucked up the larger themes. He reminded me a bit of Stephen King in his writing style, and though I generally prefer King, I will probably give another Gaiman novel a try at some point.
Although the book is expertly written and fairly easy to understand, however, I felt somewhat disappointed based on what I was expecting from this book. The main character, Shadow, has to be one of the least developed characters I have ever read about. I know that it was part of his character to have a 'nothing to live for' attitude, which I will admit lead to some interesting dialogue and choices on Shadows part, it ultimately made for a very bland and unrelatable character. This book is made of many side stories which seemed to really drag on without a point. A lot of these side stories don't seem to ever have a point or get resolved until the end of the book. That being said, I did have to give it three stars, not two. This was because despite this, the book is well written, with interesting philisophical and social statements intertwined with the characters, and it ended very well. I don't know if I would necessarily say that part three made it all worthwhile but it definitely was one of the highlights of the book.
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
Took me two tries but this is the book that convinced me that novels can be powerful and moving and inspired me to keep reading more despite struggling with it (being dislexic) and for that I am forever grateful.
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
๐ฆฌBook Review๐บ๐ธ
American Gods
Neil Gaiman
๐
โ๐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐จ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ค๐ณ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ญ ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถโ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฎ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ข๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ซ๐ฐ๐บ ๐ช๐ต.โ
Gods live among us, growing stronger the more they are worshipped. In this world, the old gods are locked in a battle with the new. At the center is Shadow, freshly released from prison, who finds himself drawn into a fantastical and often surreal journey.
I read the authorโs preferred text, which Gaiman himself describes as more meandering than the original version. Iโd agree with that. Itโs a book that crosses genres โ romance, murder mystery, mythology, folklore, and more. At times, I found it hard to track where the story was going or how the threads connected, but this is definitely a book where you have to just go with it and trust it will all come together in the end.
There are many characters to follow, chapters that drift into the past, and dream sequences that blur the line between reality and myth. Some passages are unexpectedly tender, others dark and unsettling.
โ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฑ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ต, ๐ข๐ด ๐ช๐ง ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ-๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด.โ
And yes โ there are moments that are outright shocking, like the infamous scene of a woman consuming a man with her โwomanhoodโ ๐ณ
Overall, I had mixed feelings while reading โ sometimes intrigued, sometimes frustrated โ but by the end, I appreciated the ambition and originality of what Gaiman created.
โญ Verdict: Strange
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes