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Community comment are the opinions of contributing users. These comment do not represent the opinions of Port Moody Public Library.
Jul 16, 2018isaachar rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
Another great example of modern literature by Neil Gaiman. American Gods is an amazing work of fiction with a large amount of history, mythology, religion, fantasy and horror blended into a tale about the journey of an ex-con named Shadow. The audiobook version is done in an audiodrama format, and all of the voice actors did amazing jobs in their roles. As per usual with Gaiman novels, it's the small things that stick out the most in his stories. Behind the mythology in this novel were a number of instances of theoretical archaeology. The 'cut away' stories on how some of the gods arrived in America all tie into unproven theories and possibilities that are still come up every now and then in archaeology and paleontology. The story of the building war between the 'old world gods' of humanity and the younger deities representing what modern American venerate or fear (the internet, computers, traffic, conspiracies, television, media) was interesting, but it was the smaller things in the background that kept me reading. The ending was not entirely predictable, though some people might want to have seen more happen 'on screen' rather than allusions to it in the background. My only complaint is a chapter Gaiman intentionally left out to avoid stepping on any toes. It's included at the end of book, where Gaiman explains that he couldn't 'fit' it into the rest of the story. In my opinion, it very much fits into the story. In fact, it would have made the overall story resonate much more. I see why he made the choice to leave it, but it could have made an incredible book even more so.