Reader Score
83%
83% of readers
recommend this book
Now a STARZ(R) Original Series - Season 3 premiere in January 2021
"Pointed, occasionally comic, often scary, consistently moving and provocative....American Gods is strewn with secrets and magical visions."--USA Today
Newly updated and expanded with the author's preferred text. A modern masterpiece from the multiple-award-winning master of innovative fiction, Neil Gaiman.
First published in 2001, American Gods became an instant classic, lauded for its brilliant synthesis of "mystery, satire, sex, horror, and poetic prose" (Washington Post) and as a modern phantasmagoria that "distills the essence of America" (Seattle Post-Intelligencer). It is the story of Shadow--released from prison just days after his wife and best friend are killed in an accident--who gets recruited to be bodyguard, driver, and errand boy for the enigmatic trickster, Mr. Wednesday. So begins Shadow's dark and strange road trip, one that introduces him to a host of eccentric characters whose fates are mysteriously intertwined with his own. For, beneath the placid surface of everyday life, a storm is brewing--an epic war for the very soul of America--and Shadow is standing squarely in its path.
"Original, engrossing, and endlessly inventive."--George R. R. Martin
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/
"American Gods manages to reinvent, and reassert, the enduring importance of fantastic literature itself in this late age of the world. Dark fun, and nourishing to the soul." -- Michael Chabon
"Provocative yet fun . . . Gaiman has applied his vast breadth of knowledge about all things mythological to a truly high concept." -- Entertainment Weekly
"Gaiman returns to the fertile killing ground that nourished The Sandman: that peculiarly American crossroads where pop culture intersects with religion, violence and death." -- Village Voice Literary Supplement
"Immensely rewarding . . . . Suffused with . . . powerful imagery and deftly painted characters . . . . A finely crafted novel of weight and significance [with] poetic descriptions, sharp-eyed criticism, and first-rate storytelling. There is much to enjoy, to admire, and to ponder in this unforgettable tale." -- Cleveland Plain Dealer
"Pointed, occasionally comic, often scary, consistently moving and provocative . . . . American Gods is strewn with secrets and magical visions." -- USA Today
"Mystery, satire, sex, horror, poetic prose-American Gods uses all these to keep the reader turning the pages." -- Washington Post
"Original, engrossing, and endlessly inventive." -- George R. R. Martin
American Gods is sexy, thrilling, dark, funny and poetic." -- Teller, of Penn & Teller
"American Gods is like a fast run downhill through a maze -- both exhilarating and twisted." -- Jane Lindskold, author of Changer and