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    American Gods [TV Tie-In]: A Novel
    American Gods [TV Tie-In]: A Novel
    American Gods [TV Tie-In]: A Novel
    Audiobook20 hours

    American Gods [TV Tie-In]: A Novel

    Written by Neil Gaiman

    Narrated by George Guidall

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Now a STARZ® Original Series produced by FremantleMedia North America starring Ricky Whittle, Ian McShane, Emily Browning, and Pablo Schreiber.

    Locked behind bars for three years, Shadow did his time, quietly waiting for the day when he could return to Eagle Point, Indiana. A man no longer scared of what tomorrow might bring, all he wanted was to be with Laura, the wife he deeply loved, and start a new life.

    But just days before his release, Laura and Shadow’s best friend are killed in an accident. With his life in pieces and nothing to keep him tethered, Shadow accepts a job from a beguiling stranger he meets on the way home, an enigmatic man who calls himself Mr. Wednesday. A trickster and a rogue, Wednesday seems to know more about Shadow than Shadow does himself.

    Life as Wednesday’s bodyguard, driver, and errand boy is far more interesting and dangerous than Shadow ever imagined. Soon Shadow learns that the past never dies . . . and that beneath the placid surface of everyday life a storm is brewing—an epic war for the very soul of America—and that he is standing squarely in its path.

    American Gods © 2015 FreemantleMedia North America. All rights reserved. Artwork © Starz Entertainment, L.L.C. Starz and related services marks are the property of Starz Entertainment, L.L.C.

    Editor's Note

    Dark & otherworldly…

    Not just for the fantasy lover, realists will also relate to this dark and otherworldly criticism of American idolatry and deeply emotional tale of love lost.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateNov 11, 2003
    ISBN9780060735586
    American Gods [TV Tie-In]: A Novel
    Author

    Neil Gaiman

    Neil Gaiman is the New York Times bestselling and multi-award winning author and creator of many beloved books, graphic novels, short stories, film, television and theatre for all ages. He is the recipient of the Newbery and Carnegie Medals, and many Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, and Will Eisner Awards. Neil has adapted many of his works to television series, including Good Omens (co-written with Terry Pratchett) and The Sandman. He is a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR and Professor in the Arts at Bard College. For a lot more about his work, please visit: https://www.neilgaiman.com/

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    Reviews for American Gods [TV Tie-In]

    4/5

    12,565 ratings581 reviews

    What our readers think

    Readers find this title to be a mixed bag. Some reviewers found the book to be dry, with bland characters and unnecessary dialogue. However, others were engaged by the great themes and message of the book. They praised the riveting prose and the fantastic blending of fantasy and mythology with the modern world. Overall, readers found the book to be entertaining and intriguing, with a well-earned ending. The book was described as amazing, interesting, and masterfully crafted. While there were some criticisms, the positive reviews outweighed the negative ones, making this a mostly positive summary of the title.

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      There's no way I could ever review this book. On the surface, it's a book about Shadow and gods of other cultures. But it's so much more and yet it's just that. Gaiman has written a book that is extremely readable. However, the book is deep and inhaling the book isn't an option.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 1/5
      another highly recommended one I could not get into...

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      Shadow is an inmate, who has been passing the time learning coin tricks. At the beginning of the novel he is nearing the end of his prison sentence, and looking forwards to going home to see his wife, Laura, and his friend, Robbie. When both his wife and friend are killed in a car accident a day before his release, he is let out early and goes home to the funeral. Along the way he meets a mysterious and powerful man named Mr. Wednesday, who wants to hire Shadow. Mr. Wednesday is actually the god Odin, and he is rallying the old gods of various world mythologies to fight against the new gods of America - the gods of TV, electronics, cars, etc. American Gods isn't my favourite Neil Gaiman book. There's a lot to love about it: the sheer multitude of myths and gods he brings in are endlessly fascinating, and I love the little historical and mythological bits of information scattered throughout the book. He also made me interested in reading Herodotus. It just seemed to go on for so long though, it's quite slow paced and bleak. All of the side-stories about history and gods, and their interactions with humanity, are interesting . . . but some will rip your heart right out and stomp on it. Not that that's a bad thing, but it felt like a lot after nearly six hundred pages. I didn't connect with the character Shadow, and I didn't care about his personal story half as much as I cared about all the short stories the gods told. The side stories - like the one about the gay Arab businessman traveling in New York for the first time, who falls in love with a cab-driving ifrit with flaming eyes - caught me more than the main plot. Its definitely a meaty, complex novel and probably well worth re-reading in a couple of years. Maybe at that point I will be able to enjoy it more, but for the moment I found it overwhelmingly bleak and sad.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Gaiman is great at creating worlds, but his characters are one-dimensional.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I've followed Neil Gaiman's blog for a long time, finding it interesting to peer into the life of a fairly well-known author, despite the fact that until now I'd never read anything of his except for a handful of Sandman comics (illegally downloaded, no less). I bought American Gods sometime last year, but it kept getting pushed further down my to-be-read pile for various reasons.And the problem with having a book staring down at you from the shelf for so long is that you develop certain expectations, which are invariably wrong. American Gods wasn't precisely the kind of book I thought it would be, nor was it quite as good as I thought it would be. I thought it would be a little more... epic, but instead it had quite a casual feel to it, like a run-of-the-mill Stephen King novel from the 90's.A few days before his three-year prison sentence is up, Shadow's wife is killed in a car accident, and he is released early. On the plane on the way home he meets the enigmatic Mr. Wednesday, who offers him a job. It soon becomes clear that Wednesday is an old and ancient god, trying to assemble the many other ancient gods, the immigrant gods, against the homegrown American deities representing television, the internet, the media, drugs, cars, shady government agents and every other element of modern American mythology. A battle is coming, and Wednesday wants to win.The fundamental idea is that gods run on belief - that they need us, not the other way around. If people stop believing in them, they'll grow weak and eventually cease to exist. It's a common theme in Terry Pratchett's work, an author Gaiman has worked with closely in the past, but I don't know which (if either) of them came up with it. It's also clearly about immigration - that America is a land of immigrants, from the Muslims and Asians of the 20th century, back through the Eastern Europeans in the 19th, and the African slaves in the 18th, right down to the prehistoric nomads who crossed the Bering Strait, all of them bringing their gods with them. America is a melting pot, and thus we have Norse gods mixing with Hindu gods, Anansi hanging out with Czernobog, Eostre working with Horus.On the flipside of the coin we have the idea of modern America as a legendary, fantastic place. Neil Gaiman is British, not American, and as such he grew up in a world bombarded with American media and culture, and his ideas about America being a wholly unreal, mythical place struck a chord with my own. There's a certain power to names like "California" and "Las Vegas" and "New York." To somebody like myself, they're powerful icons, symbols of something huge and vast and powerful. And that, too, is what American Gods is about: symbols and metaphors and imagery. Because that's all that religion is, as Shadow says at one point, and if the book wasn't more than 600 pages long I'd flip through it trying to find the verbatim quote. But this idea felt under-developed; Shadow spends most of the book around Minnesota and Illinois and Wisconsin, that blurry part of the Midwest that is actually the least legendary part of America, the most unknown, the most humdrum and ordinary.Or maybe that's just my unfair expectations again.This is a pretty rambling review; it's two in the morning and I'm out of practice. Is it a good book? Yes, it is, although not a great book. It wasn't as good as it could have been, given the very interesting ideas it was forged on, but the majority of it was entertaining, albeit it slowly-paced, and the conclusion was wholly unexpected and very satisfying. I also feel like there were a lot of things that weren't hidden away, not quite obvious, as one would expect from a book about symbols and allegories; my opinion may very well improve after another read. But it's a thick book, and that to-be-read pile is awfully tall...
    • 5/5
      One of the most interesting books I have read. I LOVED the ending and how everything made sense.
    • 2/5
      Have no idea why so many people enjoy this book. Incredibly dry. All the characters with the exception of Wednesday are bland beyond belief. Much longer than it needs to be and a complete waste of a good idea. “Let me write a book about gods in American but strip nearly all of the mythicism away and make the entire plot driven by dialogue through the characters.” SO MUCH TALKING AND UNNECESSARY BANTER. Two stars because the ending was halfway decent
    • 5/5
      Spellbinding! Yes, it’s long and yes, there are many detours, and yes you probably won’t get it all immediately, but it’s so worth your trouble. Gaiman has a wonderful way with words; not haughty but more challenging than the average author. He has so much to say about life, about will, about imagination and power and who really holds the power. America is a special place and it takes an immigrant like Gaiman, I think, to really absorb and process and make it available for others.
    • 5/5
      This was simply amazing I've never had a book keep me so intrigued like this has. I loved it
    • 5/5
      Phenomenal book and the voice actor is beautifully articulate and very diverse!
    • 5/5
      I am a new reader of Neil Gaiman's work; and I will forever and ever be a huge fan!!! He has brought me back into the fold. I was getting bored with the same type of books and stories. A lot of the same stuff regurgitated by different authors. This man is truly a gift to those of us that love books! I am so happy he chose to share his amazing talent with the rest of the world!
    • 5/5
      This book is fuckin awesome, I thuroughly enjoyed every page
    • 5/5
      #tw: runaway related death of child- if experienced that- skip this one and the show. Book discusses but not graphic. If loss of loved one in MVA- skip the show.
      —-review: It’s a study in American culture, wrapped in storytelling. Many layers that will be dissected and studied in years to come. The story itself is a bit complicated if unfamiliar with Norse mythology. And the story archs seem to be more subtle than recent commercial fictions. So it may feel “off” as it’s read. But it isn’t. It’s a reread for sure. I finished it in two days, and listening to full cast now.
      If you want to understand the fuller scope I recommend 1- read his Norse mythology text first- to tie the players in smoothly and 2- be sure to listen to the interview. If you’ve watched the show first, know they don’t follow the same storyline. A point of much contention w the author and screenwriters on the show. Not that the show is bad- it’s a great story, but misses much of the literary features from the book.
    • 4/5
      This wasn't my favorite of the Gaiman books I've read so far. I loved the first half, but didn't care as much for the last. The Wednesday con stories were great, and I loved the characters. I would have liked to have read even more about each of the Gods characters, they were wonderful. The whole concept was so interesting to me, all of the Gods of the past vs the current Gods of todays world. Well written and fast paced with all the quirkiness I've come to love in all of Gaiman's books.
    • 5/5
      great story, love the twists and turns. enjoy seeing america in a different light, and contenplating how the gods humans create interact with the passing and changings of humanity.
    • 4/5
      Gods take a road trip, visit the House on the Rock.
    • 5/5
      T ar JB w was sz and z MC o
    • 5/5
      This was one of the best books I've ever read in my life. I highly recommend it to anybody.
    • 5/5
      Love this novel. This was a re-read for me and I will still retain the book. Great world-building and I am waiting with bated breath for the series *crosses fingers*
    • 5/5
      This story is so odd, it meanders, and intertwines, and plods, then careens forward. Overall I enjoyed it, the mixture of a road trip, and the dreamscape interludes that peek in along the way, and the Gods we learn about, it makes me want to learn more about them. So many different cultures have brought a mythos, or theos(?) and they've all found different ways to be, and to grow.
    • 5/5
      Masterfully crafted. Would love more stories based on the same premise.
    • 5/5
      spectacular use of imagery. Gaiman crafts a masterful story full of relevant thematics.
    • 4/5
      An amazing book . It was a great read
    • 4/5
      Interesting book! I really enjoyed the storyline between Shadow and the other characters.
    • 3/5
      I liked the different characters and found them easy to follow
    • 5/5
      Though just as competent as all of Neil Gaiman's writing, this novel lacks the whimsy and the light-hearted macabre of Gaiman's other works.
    • 5/5
      Neil Gaiman is a master. However this audio version is worth listening to only if you can stomach the glaring insult that is every male character having complex character-based inflections, while every female sounds like the same haughty whisper. I honestly can’t tell if he feels sarcastic towards female characters or if he thinks all women are salty and dully sarcastic.
    • 5/5
      Wow. The boom was amazing and the ending was well earned. Absolutely am amazing.
    • 3/5
      I liked this book enough but not nearly as much as I wanted to like it. It took me a really long time to get into the book, at least 200 pages, and it took me months to finish. I was happy with the end but it was not something I would every choose to re-read.
    • 3/5
      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.