Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated American Gods in Books
Jan 25, 2022
Book
American Gods ( American Gods book 1)
By Neil Gaiman
After three years in prison, Shadow has done his time. But as the days, then the hours, then the hours, then the seconds until his release tick away, he can feel a storm building. Two days before he gets out, his wife Laura dies in a mysterious car crash, in apparently adulterous circumstances. Dazed, Shadow travels home, only to encounter the bizarre Mr Wednesday claiming to be a refugee from a distant war, a former god and the king of America. Together they embark on a very strange journey across the States, along the way solving the murders which have occurred every winter in one small American town. But they are being pursued by someone with whom Shadow must make his peace... Disturbing, gripping and profoundly strange, Neil Gaiman's epic new novel sees him on the road to finding the soul of America.
This is one book that has always intimidated me it’s one of those that you so want to read but not sure you’ll get it! Well I’m glad I finally got round to it as I loved it. I have to admit I watched the tv series first but it didn’t take anything away from reading the book. It was exactly what I expected although I had a few very strange dreams while reading it. Definitely recommend especially if like me you’re a bit apprehensive.
The Haunting of Hill House
Book
The best-known of Shirley Jackson's novels, and the inspiration for writers such as Neil Gaiman and...
Songs of Love and Death: All-Original Tales of Star-Crossed Love
Book
N this star-studded cross-genre anthology, seventeen of the greatest modern authors of fantasy,...
The Moth: This is a True Story
Neil Gaiman, Catherine Burns and The Moth
Book
With an introduction by Neil Gaiman Before television and radio, before penny paperbacks and mass...
Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life
Book
Instantly heralded for its "masterful" and "thrilling" portrayal (Boston Globe), Shirley Jackson...
The Sleeper and the Spindle: Winner of the Cilip Kate Greenaway Medal 2016
Book
A thrillingly reimagined fairy tale from the truly magical combination of author Neil Gaiman and...
The Complete Fiction of H. P. Lovecraft
Book
Another fantastic edition in the Knickerbocker Classic series is The Complete Fiction of H.P....
The Monarch of the Glen
Book
A special illustrated edition of The Monarch of the Glen by bestselling storytelling legend, Neil...
Dreams and Shadows
Book
In the debut novel DREAMS AND SHADOWS, screenwriter and noted film critic C. Robert Cargill takes us...
Cynthia Armistead (17 KP) rated The Distance Travelled in Books
Mar 1, 2018
A few minutes later, I stopped, looked back at the title and author, and tried really hard to figure out where this book could have possibly come from, because, um, wtf? A guy is sitting in his kitchen, minding his own business, and a pig comes sailing through the window? A live pig? Right. Then he starts checking the thermostat and it is pretty clear that he must live in hell. Oh, and the pig sits down and helps itself to his cereal, sitting upright in the chair and using the spoon.
That's before things really get odd.
I have no objection to a few fnords, but I generally know what I'm getting into. I suppose that when a novel apparently puts itself onto your e-reader, you just deal with whatever happens.
So maybe I shouldn't be complaining about the fact that there isn't exactly a happy ending, because the ending isn't as unhappy as it could have been. But I LIKE happy endings. In fact, I have a thing about them, in that I tend to choose my reading with a very strong preference for them. That's one reason I'm unlikely to be reading any more Neil Gaiman (I know, I know, he's such a good author - but he's depressing as hell, too).
Let's be honest here: Savory is not Neil Gaiman, and there wasn't a really happy ending. The ending didn't wholly suck as much as it could have, but there wasn't any goodness and light. Or redemption. Or reward. No love. Just - blah.
So I don't know what else Brett Alexander Savory has written, but I probably won't be looking too hard at any of it. The book did keep me reading for about an hour and a half, though, so Savory did better than many other authors could. Kudos for that!
I know he put this novel, at least, out under a Creative Commmons license, according to the copy on my e-reader. I don't know if any of his other material is licensed that way or not, but I give him thumbs up for being part of the CC movement.

