American Gods - Neil Gaiman

⭐ 10.0/10

(Originally written by Tim)

I burned through this hefty book during my week off, and loved it. It's about a guy who gets out of jail and befriends a guy who is clearly not normal. He becomes wrapped up in a battle between the old gods and the new, as the old struggle for relevance and the new struggle for longevity.

The premise itself is what I found most interesting. Gods all came to America from the different groups of immigrants, but America becomes a godless land, obsessed with their own creations, essentially making new gods that never last. The story unfolds from the perspective of one guy, but there are several interludes about these gods coming to America and I found them all very interesting. The idea that the new world was founded on so much blood and suffering and how this shaped the future of the nation, physically and spiritually, was a lot to swallow. The story is fiction, but it is dealing with a very real America, and it blended the spiritual side with the physical side really well.

Despite all this, the book stays very light! It is funny, even if it quite dark and dreary. Several times I was not sure where it was going, or what character motivations were, but I was very pleased with how everything wrapped up and was surprised by several of the twists. It even has an effective "Scouring of the Shire"-esque ending, where after the main battle is finished the protagonist still has other personal battles to win.

If the 10/10 isn't clear enough, I thought this was an amazing book that will have a lasting impact on me. There is a TV show based on the book that has 3 seasons but was cancelled before it could be finished. I have a hard time imagining how this could be adapted, so I am excited to check that out.