american gods - neil gaiman

I'm not sure what I feel about this book. There's lots of very interesting and clever ideas, as well as a lot of great build up and foreshadowing to make some of the ending feel very impactful. On the other hand, it's very dense, and leaves a lot unexplained (which I guess is part of the idea and the aura of mythos it's going for). At times it also felt more like a description of events, rather than a story (although I guess that is also kind of the point, as it provides sharp contrast of Shadow before and after one of the main turning points).

It does some very clever things, especially with world building, and also has some clever twists. Still, I'm not sure if it's one of my favourite fantasy worlds, or one of my favourite stories. I enjoyed most of it but probably won't return to it.

tags: books

permalink | posted by nathan on Thursday, the 2th of September, 2021, when he should have been getting ready for bed