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No denying that this one is a big boi. A long boi. Extra extra page boi.

But was it worth all that paper?

for my video review of the big bois in my life.

The Written Review:

Gods die. And when they truly die they are unmourned and unremembered. Ideas are more difficult to kill than people, but they can be killed, in the end.

The Old Gods - brought over by immigrants. Wild, fantastical tales of elephant-headed men and trickster spiders. Of power and lust. Of fear and worship.

The New Gods - created by the immigrants' descendants. Gods of money, media and might. Newly formed out of the hopes, dreams and desires of a people who've long since forgotten the Old Gods.

A storm is coming.

The New Gods, though young and foolhardy, know what they want and they want to take the world from the Old Gods.

Caught in the crossfires is one, very human, ex-prisoner named Shadow.

The ideas Neil Gaiman comes up with are simply stunning.

It's hard to describe this book - it's all-encompassing. This story feels so old and established - almost like it's a legend, passed down from generation to generation.

It crossed every genera - from romance to murder mystery to mythology - absolutely seamlessly.

I really loved all of the New Gods that Gaiman created.

There's The Technical Boy - God of the internet and computers.

The Black Hats - Gods of Conspiracy theories and shady ideas.

And, my personal favorite, Media - the Goddess of the Television.

"The TV's the altar. I'm what people are sacrificing to."
"What do they sacrifice?" asked Shadow.
"Their time."

And of course, because it's Neil Gaiman...there's a bunch of weird sex thrown in...because reasons.

Literally, one of the Old Goddesses ate a man alive with her "womanhood". Another time, Shadow was really injured and was healed through painfully descriptive sex magic.

Aside: Does anyone really know why Gaiman always does this? Can't we have one book where everyone keeps their clothes on?

And, if that wasn't confusing enough, in between the man-eating labia and sex-bandaids...we get absolutely adorable quotes like this:

What I say is, a town isn’t a town without a bookstore. It may call itself a town, but unless it’s got a bookstore, it knows it’s not foolin�� a soul.

or this:

The house smelled musty and damp, and a little sweet, as if it were haunted by the ghosts of long-dead cookies.

Sometimes, I really want to know what goes through this man's head...and then again...maybe not.

Still, this was an extremely interesting read and one of the few Gaiman books that I enjoyed from cover to cover!

Audiobook Comments
Extremely well-read by Dennis Boutsikaris, Daniel Oreskes, Ron McLarty, and Sarah Jones. Each major character had a different voice actor/actress and it really enhanced the audio. The accents sounded accurate (to my untrained ear) and the whole book was immensely enjoyable to listen to!

The Finer Books Club - 2018 Reading Challenge: A book based in your home state

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