(Reviewer Rating: 7.5 out of 10) This is the first novel that I've read by Neil Gaiman. I have read the entire Sandman comic book/Graphic novel series, and was impressed by it's vast nature and the modernization of the folklore and mythology. Though this does dabble in a similar vein, it is all together different in it's approach.
 You fumble along with Shadow Moon, the ex-con protagonist, at the whims of his new employer, Wednesday. (Those in the know will immediately recognize who this is, but I won't ruin it for those who don't.) They travel up and down the country, in odd nooks and crannies, but not so odd as to not be believable. Anyone who has done any amount of road traveling can attest to the strange and often out-of-place sites that pepper the American countryside. It's one of the primary reasons to go on a road trip in the US, and American Gods does it a well deserved justice.
A writing quirk of Gaiman's is his detailed back-story vignettes of ultra-minor characters, generally used to richen the story's atmosphere or explain some hidden consequence of actions long past. Though he only uses a handful of these excursions off the path of the story, they are interesting and poignant. They don't interrupt the story after the half-way point, but I was looking forward to a couple more.
Overall, a fun read, and good enough that due to a messy house, I bought a second copy when I got tired of searching for my other one.
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