American Gods by Neil Gaiman Review

I knew very little about this book going in, other than the fact it was by Neil Gaiman and I've been making an effort to read more of his books, but despite having no context, I ended up really enjoying this novel! I would honestly recommend going in with as little knowledge as possible because the plot is absolutely fascinating and a joy to discover, but I'll do my best to offer a blurb with no spoilers. After Shadow is released from prison, he's immediately hired as a bodyguard and driver for Mr. Wednesday. From there on, he becomes twisted up in a journey revolving around ideas of old and new gods. I also want to be clear that this is an adult novel because I review both YA and adult books. While this is a wonderful book, it's definitely one that's only for people 18 and up. That's all I can really say without spoiling anything, so let's jump into the bulk of the review!

What I enjoyed about this book:

- The writing! Neil Gaiman's writing is, as always, an absolute joy to read. The surrealism within this book in particular was stunning and while there are a few sections that I felt weren't very relevant to the plot (more on that later), I usually didn't mind reading through them because the writing itself is just so compelling.

- The characters! I really loved Shadow in particular, but I also was always looking forward to when the next character would be introduced. Each of them were unique and interesting and most were morally grey, which created a really interesting dynamic between all of them. There are some side characters in particular that I really enjoyed his portrayal of, but that would be dipping a little too close to spoiler territory, so I'll avoid talking about them for now. Just know that I enjoyed every character in this book!

- The plot! There are a ton of interesting turns the entire way through and I always felt motivated to read just one more chapter or one more page to figure out what was going to happen next. It felt even more impressive because the pacing was a bit slow for my taste, but there was never a point in which I was disengage with the plot.

Aspects of this book that weren't for me:

- This is a very long book and while I know this is an expanded edition, there are a lot of scenes that seem completely unnecessary to the characters and the plot. While some of them are still enjoyable to read, it just adds so much length to the book that, by the end, I felt a little annoyed.

- The commentary about American culture felt a little bit too shallow at certain points? I know I just got done saying that I felt like this book was too long, but I would've liked to see a deeper dive into the cultural aspect of the story.

Those are the only real complaints that I have about this book, though! It was such an enjoyable read and I would absolutely recommend it to anyone interested in mythology and topics like religion and culture. This book really felt like the perfect mix of humor and surrealism. I gave this book 4 stars.

TW: Racial slurs, murder, death (including lengthy conversations about death), and war.