After three years in prison, Shadow has done his time. But as the time until his release ticks away, he can feel a storm brewing. Two days before he gets out, his wife Laura dies in a mysterious car crash, in adulterous circumstances. Dazed, Shadow travels home, only to encounter the bizarre Mr Wednesday claiming to be a refugee from a distant war, a former god and the king of America. Together they embark on a very strange journey across the States, along the way solving the murders which have occurred every winter in one small American town. But the storm is about to break...Disturbing, gripping and profoundly strange.
Why read – I have read a few of his other books, and I was recommended this one, which I borrowed from a friend.
It took me a while to get into this book, and the size of it was a little daunting. However Gainman's easy style and gripping plot line got me hooked. It was easy to read and get into and despite being fantasy, his slight deviation from our reality was easy to grasp and very understandable. You could tell that it was an extended edition as Gaiman has a habit of going off on a tangent, and thats where I found myself drifting from the plot. But easily and quickly got back on track.
This novel takes a very modern twist to an old plot – the idea that there are gods for everything, from the media, and the internet, to the traditional god of love, and god of war. Each walking among us like regular guys but with powers that are only seen by the select few. The idea is appealing, but somewhat you loose the individual personality of the gods. And when Gaiman tries to include their background in short sub stories this just does not tie in well with the story.
Despite my reservations I think this is one of the best Gainman books I have read so far, and although not a major fan of this type of genre I did enjoy this novel. You can tell that he is more of an imaginative thinker than a fantastic story writer and he can loose himself in parts and this can be off putting to the reader, where he goes off on a tangent or he looses the thread of the story. However the ideas he puts across you can get the idea.
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