Agree, "Modern" Gods would have been a better title - I'll check out Simmon. But I still think if you are going to call a book "American (or Modern) Gods, then they should be explored further.

The premise of the book being that gods derive existence and power from belief in them and the worship of them -- hell, the gods that Americans really do worship - internet, TV, "information", sports (which is an entire pantheon to itself), sex, etc -- those gods should have been *mindbogglingly* powerful in comparison to the ancients.

Just read the review of Ilium - about to hit "buy" and download to my nook/tablet/phone...

God I love (worship???) e-readers; always having your books with you is awesome....you know, for those long breaks on the old porcelain throne at work...heh heh...

Agreed. It was an interesting premise, but it was not fully explored, and as a reader, you never get that "oh shit, what the hell just happened?" moment.
Another excellent series by Simmons is the Hyperion cantos. There are a number of "oh shit" moments and the ideas are explored much more thoroughly. The Tree of Pain and those fucking symbiotic anti-death crosses that get sewn into your body...

I'm a huge Neil Gaiman fan, and I thought American Gods was excellent, although I was left with the feeling that it never quite lived up to its potential. To me, it seemed like the story tried to bite off more than it could chew and tried to be epic in scope, particularly with the final battle between old and new gods, and personal, with Shadow and Laura and Wednesday. I particularly enjoyed the Shadow and Wednesday relationship. It's one I definitely have to go back and re-read at some point, because I still feel like I missed a bit (I read it two years ago).

Nevermore, on the other hand, is my favorite Gaiman.

Agreed 2WL - bit off too much.

I think of a scene early in the book where a prostitue/goddess literally consumes her "john" with her lady parts...pretty vivid scene, pretty powerful moment that you would think portends something more with this character...she was, at best, a minor character. She get's another mention, but hardly is she a majot character to deserve such a scene. She was like the Darth Maul of American gods: Lotta potential, fell way short...

But the bottom line for me is, given the premise of where gods derive power, there is no way that Wednesday and Loki are able to pull the wool over the eyes of the new gods, because the new gods have all the power, and therefore there is no way that the new gods don't have the war anyway just because Shadow calls it off.

I did like, however, how Wednesday shows up again as Odin when Shadow visits him in the epilogue (or whatever it was)...

I'll try Nevermore, 2WL - I see lots of Gaiman love on the web, and I didn't dislike A.G. - I just *wanted* to like it a whole lot more.

'Night gentleman -- perhaps I'll read more interesting thoughts and comments from you and others tomorrow...

Off to start Cory Doctorow "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom" since I'm visiting Disney later this year...

I read this last year on the recommendation of my Literature teacher sister-in-law who thought it would be "my kind of book". It was, sort of ... I have read much better psuedo science fiction/literary semi-fantasy. I am sure Gaiman and his followers consider it neither. Not a bad read, some parts better than others ... but left me kind of underwhelmed

I visited Lookout Mtn last summer with this book in mind, it really was an excellent place for a climactic battle.

I really enjoyed the book, though the ending did fall a little flat. But the first 2/3 were fantastic.

R.A. Lafferty.

I for one really did like it! Power derived from worship is one thing, but the young gods don't know how to wield it. While the old gods are less powerful, they are more cunning. Everyone loves the David vs Goliath stories, but keep forgetting the thousand victories of Goliath. We love the stories where the protagonist(s) win despite overwhelming odds, especially if they do so by being smart and not just by being lucky.

"but the young gods don't know how to wield it...." Actually, all indications are the young gods were going to decimate the old gods, had the battle actually played out...though, on the other hand, it seemed rather simple to kill a god...uh...run them over with a car, shoot them, knife through the head....i.e. none of them seemed especially "god like" at all, other than they can go "behind the scenes" at will...

Yeah, I found the book to be somewhat of a let down but have been afraid to criticize it since it is so popular.

?? Afraid to speak your mind honestly? <sigh...> Modern America at it's finest...

I read it not too long ago. I thought it was really good, actually. I liked the critique of american... lack of culture, with the bits about paul bunyan, and that one place they went, the "neutral ground."

I honestly feel all of Neil Gaiman's books never quite live up to their premises. Good, but not great. Original, but not quite. Etc.

I really enjoyed American Gods. I haven't *read* it, but listened to it on Audio Book & the narrator is great. Hearing someone read the book to you (while driving) is a wonderful way to get some reading done in an otherwise busy schedule.

On topic: Shadow - given that nearly all the other characters in the book are archetypes of some sort or other, what does he represent?

I liked it. It wasn't Greatest Of All Time good, but good enough that I've read it a few times.

Shadow is Everyman. Everyone has a shadow, anyone can cast a shadow.