#american gods review

[unidentifiedwhistlingobject]

incredible commmonsensemedia review of the american gods show

[ladybugsbookishcorner]

American Gods by Neil Gaiman | review

Stars: ★★★

Summary: Shadow is let out of prison early after his wife dies in a car accident. With no one left for him in the aftermath of her death, he accepts work for a mysterious man called Wednesday. Work that has him travel across the U.S and meet many interesting people.  

also posted on storygraph

This is my third time trying to read American Gods, and this time I succeeded. I will say it’s because it’s an audiobook and I just casually listened whenever I walked my dog. Nevertheless, this really didn’t hit the mark for me.

First off, I didn’t really like the audiobook. It was fine, despite hearing it with a full cast it didn’t stand out to me (I did love Neil Gaiman coming in and narrating parts of it tho, and will say that any Neil Gaiman book is better told in his voice because you can tell he wrote it when he reads it). Second off, the first time I tried reading this book I got maybe 50 pages in. The second time I got a little bit further, but not very far.

And I should’ve realized that this book wasn’t for me. I absolutely love Neil Gaiman and have read some of his books and loved most of them. I like his writing style and the way his stories are fantastically absurd. He has this knack for storytelling that I, quite frankly, envy. However, this book lacked a lot of that.

Whilst I loved the thought behind it and found the concept very intriguing, it lacked something for me. The gods themselves are interesting enough and there’s many reasons to listen to their stories, but it fell short of what I expected. I was also told that the ending would make the whole book worth it, and yet the ending was annoyingly anticlimactic.

This was, unfortunately, one of those books I read and only come out of thinking ‘well, I read a book’. To me, there’s nothing special about it, and that kind of sucks considering the stories I know Gaiman can tell.

I do have the second book in this series (I did buy it not knowing it was a series, but my understanding is that they’re kind of standalones within a series, please correct me if I’m wrong), and I will read that. Maybe it’s not for me either, but because the author is Neil Gaiman I will give it a shot.

But this is also a PSA that if a book doesn’t work for you the first time around, chances are even if you end up finishing it in the future, your intuition that it wasn't for you was probably right.

[longlostlorian]

I should be collecting into a collage every single comment, message or review I get for Maelstrom asking for more of the story so that the publisher lets me realize my demon world sequel idea that I already fully scripted and did character designs for in which I make that lesbian worse

[thebuttsmcgee]

It still feels. Strange? that it took a literal 6 years for Villainous to be in the US, not including the (albeit appreciated) appearance during CN's literal anniversary, but honestly, I'm just glad that 2017 fans are just so relieved and happy that we finally got this.

It's taken cons, comics, interactive books, youtube extras of other cartoon villains, a cameo in a cn online video game, an actual mobile video game solely for the show, fans all across internationally, literal support from a few other countries before usa, the show hitting No1 in hbo max latam, a full blown crossover episode as well as being cameod in crossover nexus, a promotion with a candy manufacturer with official goodies, livestreams, halloween hbo max takeovers, official mascot costumes, and a HUGE internet background puzzle solving mystery that's still ongoing.

All for after 6 years, it finally comes to the usa officially on its own.

I really do fondly remember when these,

And the shorts themselves were all we had. It had even been a bit before alan ituriel had gone to cons and whatnot to publicly talk about the show and all that, I even remember the storyboarded live readings he did with fans.

All we had were these and fans' wild imaginations. Whether it was the Heroic au, or a western au, or a Neutral au, or a Jekyll & Hyde au, or a Swap!au, it all helped shaping the fanbase into what it is now.

Quite literally, none of this would have happened if not for the fans. All of what happened after the shorts, but especially It coming to the usa now, especially that.

It just feels serendipitous to see it finally happen, I cannot stress enough how satisfying it is. Congratulations again to Villainous, for surpassing the odds put against it! Mi lealtad se queda contigo!!!

[transpigeon]

the way people proudly admit to not understanding regional English (and ofc scottish and Irish and Welsh) accents is so embarrassing like I understand that if you have only ever heard English spoken in rp it might be more difficult to process regional accents but like. Don’t admit to that. Keep it to yourself

[bahoreal]

i fucking hate taking vitamin tablets right i think thats nasty as hell so instead i have vitamin gummies and those dissolvable lads u slap in your water and get insta yummy fizzie vitamin drink from :-) being an adult means im healthy and i take my vitamins in a FUN WAY

[todayisafridaynight]

stream tomorrow. ~3pm est. this fuckin site. if i dont get hit by a car by then.

[francisravel]

Upon finishing American Gods, I have never felt so inspired, so amazed, and so incredibly sure that what I want most of all is to be an author. What Neil Gaiman has done there. I just can't even... It's exactly what it says on the tin, a story about America, what it was, what it is, and how it really has never changed, and how somehow, despite that, it has changed entirely. Having lived in America all my life, and having traveled to many of the states myself, by plane, train, and automobile, it was something I could never put my finger on, but Neil nailed with a dart from across the dingy dive bar. America is vast, and it's not a good place for Gods. Not because of a lack of belief in them, or because the land is hostile, though that surely plays a part. America is not a good place for Gods because, when you're faced with the vast possibilities of what could be, and the horrors of what is, you can't help but be both terrified, and wonderstruck. It is unsurprising to me that this book won horror, fantasy, and science fiction awards. Because it is indefinable, and so is the America it portrays.

[soreheadinamblemood]

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[dude1818]

Started American Gods today. I absolutely adore this kind of cosmology (see my fascination with Matthew Swift). The actual story is fairly mid. Feels a few decades older than it actually is. I’m not that far into it yet, I guess

The main thing that caught my eye so far is Odin’s assertion that they came to a land with no gods, although they watched the birth of modern-age ones. That feels so blatantly incorrect. I guess that could be what the buffalotaur plot is about, the hidden Native American gods, but it seems really weird that none of the European or African gods know about them. Even if they don’t interact, they should still be the most aware of their presence

Also, I can’t stop thinking about the “I also choose this guy’s dead wife” meme whenever Laura shows up

[dooareyastudy]

Only God Forgives, Nicolas Winding Refn, 2013.

[vaguelysaunteringdown]

I just finished reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman! This book was SO GOOD, I would definitely recommend it if you’re a fan of his other works, or even just a fantasy fan in general. It’s one of his longer works (perhaps his longest, but I’m not quite sure) coming in at around 200,000 words if you read the Author’s Preferred Text Edition, but as someone who has read a lot of longer books I can assure you that it’s worth every word.

Unlike with a lot of books that length or longer, it didn’t have any parts that felt like that dragged on way too long or were generally uninteresting, I found that I could hardly put it down the whole way though! The characters were fascinating and the world-building was easy to follow, not to mention there were no lengthy lore-bombs, like a lot of fantasy novels have.

It’s an incredibly easy book to get into, and is an over-all very enjoyable read! I definitely will be recommending this one to my bookish friends!

[esportopedia]

Game of the Year - Elden Ring

Game of the Year – Elden Ring

Gaming Awards 2022 successfully behind us. During the lengthy show in Los Angeles, many awards were presented, culminating in the announcement of a very prestigious award. Game of the Year. The Game Awards 2022 is called the gaming Oscar. He can be proud of this title this year ancient ring from the Japanese studio FromSoftware. The action RPG beat out other nominees such as God of War Ragnarok,…

[kindledspiritsbooks]

My Month in Books: August and September 2022

My Month in Books: August and September 2022

Fire and Blood by George R.R. Martin If there’s one author I feel like I’m trapped in an abusive relationship with, it is George R. R. Martin. Yes he treats his female characters like garbage, kills off every character I love in increasingly brutal ways and has kept me waiting for over a decade for him to just finish The Winds of Winter already but goddammit when things are good, things are…

[calvinreadscomics]

I've enjoyed the previous two iterations of the American Gods comic adaptation, and continued to do so here. Generally, though, I would say the strengths of this story come from its ability to not interfere with the story of American Gods as it already exists, not from any ability to accentuate or build upon that story. Russell's script is competent and faithful to the source material. Hamptons art serves the story well enough. It clearly benefits from the use of a lot of photo reference, like a lot of American mainstream comics illustrators do, but has enough of it's own personal character. There's an extended dream/ metaphysical sequence in this issue which sort of summarizes Hamptons additions to the story: a few moments of abstraction and minor changes in style, such as directly service the storytelling, but mostly strict adherence to a literal representation of scenes as written by Gaiman. Competent, but not exciting. My favorite part of these comics are the excellent chapter covers by David Mack.

3/5