To make this the premise turns intangible political entities (nations) into strictly bordered spiritual containers. Would there be an Odin in Belgium and Luxembourg? Or does all of Europe get one Odin who is different from the American Odin? I find it politically disagreeable to suggest that every country (or even continent) has different God-avatars. Or is it each continent? Gaiman’s not quite clear about that. Here’s the unique twist in American Gods that caused my political antenna to start twitching-every God (like say Odin) has an “avatar” of him or herself in each country. Okay, I’ve heard the ratio-of-worshippers-to-power idea before so that’s not so original. The plot: there is a building power struggle between the old Gods (Norse, Native American, pagan, etc.) and the new Gods (Technology, Television, Money, etc.). The basic idea: the more worshippers a God has, the more powerful they are. But Gods help me, the more I read, the more I hated American Gods.įirst off, while the premise sounds interesting the more I thought about it, the less I liked it. For those who love this book-and I know it is many-please forgive the sarcasm to follow as I blaspheme against the beloved Gaiman. How on Gods’ Earth could a book about Gods walking on the Earth among mortals be so pedestrian? Somehow Gaiman managed to turn a potentially cool premise into something boring. I find myself shocked at the awards this book has won and the praise heaped upon it.

Neil gaiman gods