American Gods by Neil Gaiman

American Gods can be said to be many things. At its core it's a book about Shadow, a recently released ex-con, and the job he takes for the strange Mr. Wednesday after his wife dies the day he's released. Of course, Mr. Wednesday is no mere mortal, and a job that starts off as just a hustler's errand boy turns into a much more complex situation, one where the entire fate of America's gods is held in the balance. In this novel, Gaiman is at the top of his game. The story is absolutely riveting-I picked it up at 3, and didn't put it down until 11-with twists that I never saw coming. Parts of the book might turn off some people (I will never think of the Queen of Sheba in the same way again), but for me, they just served to add to the already haunting quality of the work. Gaiman's writing has this kind of reserved harshness that is both beautiful and heartbreaking. With lines like, "Huge, dizzying clumps and clusters of snow falling through the air, patches of white across of iron gray sky, snow that touches your tongue with cold and winter, that kisses your face with its hesitant touch before freezing you to death.," it's hard not to fall in love. Everything in this book, from the characters to the plot, has this sort of quiet quality in it, which, at the right moments, explodes into periods of pure heat and emotion. Shadow shows this the most, with his transformation from quiet mourner to desperate fighter. There very few problems I had with the book, such as the fact I felt I didn't really feel Shadow as a character up until the very end. He had was a little too quite, and I couldn't get that distinct a voice off of him. Then again, that's probably just the way Gaiman meant for him to come off as. All in all, American Gods is an awe-inspiring work that needs to be read to truly taste its power.