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Book Review: American Gods (Gaiman)

It is a little hard to figure out how to review this. I thoroughly enjoyed it - the book was full of interesting characters, interesting ideas, and an enjyable story. It introduced me to new things without being overcomplicated, it made me stop and think about how our society values things. The ending wasn't completely satisfying, and I feel like some more background knowledge could have added some depth to my enjoyment, but I would recommend the book to most people. And everyone I explain the basic premise to seems to be interested: when immigrants came to America, they brought their beliefs of the gods of their homelands. And those gods began to exist here in a physical form. As people stopped believing, the gods' power began to decrease, and they started adopting more traditional human roles on the fringes of society. The main character gets out of prison and starts working for one of these gods, who thinks that a terrible event is going to be happening soon. And the setup doesn't really disappoint, the ideas don't fall apart as you learn more details, and you finish wanting to know lots more about what happened and who all those gods were. It is amazing how Neil Gaiman can blend his own ideas with actual places and actual myths and make it feel so seemless. I think it is my favorite Neil Gaiman novel, although I need to let it digest for a little while longer, to see how the ideas settle in.