Maria M M itibaren Horní Řepčice, Çek Cumhuriyeti
So this book was a complete love/hate relationship. I loved the story line and thought it had potential, but the hate part out-weighed the love, due to the language content. I don't enjoy reading the F-word that much!! So. . I didn't actually finish the book, I skipped to the end, per my sisters request after having seen the movie because the end of the movie and the end of the book are different. . .just so you know. I don't know if I'd choose to read another of her books. She may be a good writer for the storyline, but I don't think the language value is worth it.
It's taken me a few weeks since I finished American Gods to review it, because I'm not quite sure how much I liked it. Its tone is extremely different from Stardust and Neverwhere; it's very dark, dreary, and cold, and it's difficult to root for any of the characters. No one is entirely sympathetic, although it's not as if any of them have really done anything wrong. The premise of the novel is that as immigrants came to America, they brought their gods with them, and as America aged, its people no longer had a use for gods and abandoned them. It's fitting that the gods are now bleak and run-down. Shadow, the main character, is recruited by one of these gods to assist in a war against the newer gods - the gods of technology, highways, and the future. These newer gods are especially easy to dislike; they come across as sleazy and creepy. I think this one is going to need a re-read relatively soon. It's so much deeper than a novel about warring gods, and I think I was ill-prepared for it coming off of Gaiman's lighter fare. There are so many themes running through the plot that I think I might trip over them trying to sort them all out. Definitely recommended, but approach it expecting more than just a story.