American Gods

Neil Gaiman

Oct 2009 · Harper Collins

About this ebook

The storm was coming….Shadow spent three years in prison, keeping his head down, doing his time. All he wanted was to get back to the loving arms of his wife and to stay out of trouble for the rest of his life. But days before his scheduled release, he learns that his wife has been killed in an accident, and his world becomes a colder place.

On the plane ride home to the funeral, Shadow meets a grizzled man who calls himself Mr. Wednesday. A self-styled grifter and rogue, Wednesday offers Shadow a job. And Shadow, a man with nothing to lose accepts.

But working for the enigmatic Wednesday is not without its price, and Shadow soon learns that his role in Wednesday's schemes will be far more dangerous than he ever could have imagined. Entangled in a world of secrets, he embarks on a wild road trip and encounters, among others, the murderous Czernobog, the impish Mr. Nancy, and the beautiful Easter -- all of whom seem to know more about Shadow than he himself does.

Shadow will learn that the past does not die, that everyone, including his late wife, had secrets, and that the stakes are higher than anyone could have imagined.

All around them a storm of epic proportions threatens to break. Soon Shadow and Wednesday will be swept up into a conflict as old as humanity itself. For beneath the placid surface of everyday life a war is being fought -- and the prize is the very soul of America.

As unsettling as it is exhilarating, American Gods is a dark and kaleidoscopic journey deep into myth and across an America at once eerily familiar and utterly alien. Magnificently told, this work of literary magic will haunt the reader far beyond the final page.

Ratings and reviews

It's hard to write a review for a book like this without giving away half the plot because this story is so heavily plot driven. That said American Gods is a book that will force you to think and consider the message Gaiman is portraying. It's gritty and hard and dirty but in the end you come away feeling all the better for having read it. Amazing book and well worth a read or two.

One of the first books i read and one of my favorites by far... Page turner from the start, twists n turns throughtout , great plot , imaginative take on society's "Gods" today n correlation with past mythology.

Best fusion of global mythologies woven into an intense narrative. I love how Neil Gaiman makes the impossible so plausible. Also contains some of the deepest and most touching dialogues that I have ever read.

About the author

Neil Gaiman is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty books, and is the recipient of numerous literary honors. Originally from England, he now lives in America.