Review: American Gods

American Gods by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Major spoilers here.

Wow. Really not sure what to make of this. I love the premise, and the general idea throughout the book, although I kept feeling more could have been done with it. For the number of Norse gods throughout, and even the appearance of ancient Egyptian gods, it seemed odd to have barely anything from Ancient Greece or Rome, or even old Chinese and Hindu gods.

The prose is very Neil Gaiman, which I always like. And the story seems full to the brim with symbolism, clear up to the protagonist, the son of God, being hung up, pierced in his side, and resurrected thanks to Easter.

I did not see the twist with Hinzelmann in the end.

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Review: Norse Mythology

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really didn't expect to enjoy this all that much when I first started it, despite being curious about Norse Gods (it was the only compendium of Norse mythology I could find at the moment), but I'm very glad I stuck with this book. In many ways, Neil Gaiman is the perfect person to retell these stories. His style is quite simple and very fairy-tale like, which is how these stories end up feeling.

It's also good to see how familiar names, like Odin, Thor and the Valkyries, all tie into each other.

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