#22 American Gods

Hah! You may have thought that I had gone but it turns out I still have access to this site. Plus this is a prime demonstration of procrastinating because I truly hate revision.

So hello anyone! How are you getting on? Lockdown isn't the greatest but I hope you've found a good book or new series or even a new hobby to enjoy. Now, of course I have read other books since my last post, but this is book has been on-going since 5th January. It was a gift from Cardiff University Book Club (of which I am now Treasurer of). As it was a Christmas present, I thought it was only right to finish it even though at sometimes I really did not want to...

Some may immediately recognise the title as it was made into an Amazon Prime series a couple of years ago. Or some may know it as the audio book that is 20 hours long or even the hardcopy that was published in 2001 by Neil Gaiman.

The book starts focussed around a man named Shadow, who is in prison for GBH. The more we learn about him and his life outside, the fonder we become of him and his quiet ways. It all goes horribly wrong for Shadow when the love and light of his life Laura dies in a car accident 3 days before he is due to be released.

Leaving prison and heading home, he discovers he is being followed and ultimately is approached by Mr Wednesday. It becomes clear quickly that he has a supernatural aura about him. Nevertheless, he provides Shadow with a job opportunity. With nothing else to do he accepts and they become a team.

Here is were the Gods come in...

It slowly is revealed to Shadow that all-powerful gods from different pantheons walk the Earth, with many residing in America (Mr Wednesday included). They are on a mission to recruit the old Gods to battle the new ones.

Now it may seem extremely climatic with the promise of a big war at the end, but it seems that 95% of the book is the preparing, 1% is the battle, and the other 4% is the tying of loose ends.

I would say that this book is a tad slow, yet has a good story line but also has a lot of excess information. There were times when I wondered what the relevance of this mini-story was or keeping track of which god is what and I am still trying to work it out now. So if anyone has read it, please message me so I can fully understand what I spent nearly 6 months reading.

All in all, I do think it is worth a read (or watch) if you have a lot of time... probably a great read for the start of lockdown...

hehe

Hx