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After having come to appreciate Neil Gaiman's voice as expression in the delectable Anansi Boys and other treats (MirrorMask and select episodes from The Absolute Sandman), I thought I'd give American Gods another shot. Years ago, after it had first been released, I purchased it on the strength of rave reviews. I got about two-fifths through and just lost steam. The book is not exciting. Still, maybe it was worth it, so I began anew a couple months ago and read the thing through over the course of a week and a half.

In some ways, American Gods is a bit of a prequel to Anansi Boys (a fact I found encouraging). The real world, it seems is populated by a number of the lords and deities of myths long dead. Anansi lives and breaths and wears a funny suit. Odin wanders this mortal plain - with a taste for young Nordic girls. Czernobog, Loki, Kali, Baldur. They all play their parts. Fighting a war against forces of pop expression in an unforgiving, godless land.

Gaiman approaches the work in an understated manner with an eye for detail that amazes in its scope. Things that you hope and beg to see wrap up really do wrap up. And in the end, everything is mostly satisfying. It was well-crafted and is a quality piece of fiction. Still, it's a rather sleepy work and despite its technical grandeur, I just couldn't really say that I loved it. It just didn't have the heart.

Plus, if I never read another scene in which a woman swallows a man whole into her vagina, I will be able to say I led a charmed life.