#i am going to read the sandman soon but i have resolved not to until my new room is done and i can safely shelve them

[trashreviewswithclare]

Deimos Works at Denny’s || Trash Reviews

Warning: this book is not trash. This review is trash. The book is lovely.

Do you ever start a book, love it, dive into it about two hundred pages and then promptly lose it?

Because I do.

I started American Gods by Neil Gamin early last year, and it was GREAT. I loved everything about it. And then I lost it in my room for months.

Fast forward to this year, and I picked out a book to kick this year off with a laugh. And then lost it immediately. I still haven’t found it. No big I guess, I have a giant “to read” pile so I picked up another one, loved it, and guess what?

Yep, that’s right, I can’t freaking find it.

But I did find American Gods right before I went on a car trip, and so I can FINALLY review that. Not like it came out in 2001 or anything.

Oddly, this turned out to be really timely for me because a) American Gods is scheduled to come back as a show for it’s second season soon! Yay! and because b) a few days ago I got to go to a LARP in Chicago that was very much American Gods and Sandman esq. (Side note: If you’re in the Chicago area and that sounds fun to you, check out Empyrean- only three spots left for new characters this cycle!) Basically, the mood is strong.

Neil Gamin might be from the UK, but dang, he gets America. Really gets it. The diners, the cities, the way people come here and make up whole identities for themselves, the hidden history, the quiet sense of entitlement, even our bizarre roadside attractions. He gets us. And he appreciates it in a way that sees it for what it is but isn’t overly critical or glorifying, like the way a celebrity’s best friend from before they were famous might see them. Like “yeah, that’s just X, they’re ok”. And there is something very comfortable about that.

Also super cool, the way that the Gamin manages to portray the gods as human and divine, and possessing many forms at once. So like Anansi the spider is a spider, but also a man in a yellow suit, but also sort of a centuar-spider, but also many other things to reflect the way any human has ever imagined him. And how the gods have different forms in different countries. So like, American Kali is not the same as Indian Kali, though they’re the same deity.

Downsides are that I am disappointed in Laura, I thought the resolution of her character was going to be different, but I’m not unsatisfied with it. Also the mystery around shadow in how it was resolved. I was sort of pitching for him to be a sort of new god himself, or like not quite a new god, more of a reoccurring being made up of mankind’s desire to believe in someting or their disbelief, but he was not. Actually his revealed identity was kind of a let down. Not that I’ll spoil that for you.

I will tell you that if you’re like me and you didn’t catch on to Low-Key Liesmith being Loki... well... at least there are two of us now.

I’d give this book an 9, 8 for content, 1 extra because I really liked it. Where it lost points was where it took from some more familiar tropes at the end and let me down with human character resolutions. I’d still recommend it, but with the understanding it is NOT A BINGE READ.

Empyrean was also great for the record. It’s happening in Chicago on a series of different nights throughout the year. It’s lowkey as far as having to have a lot of costume stuff, and you don’t have to write your own backstory which is nice. The LARP is all happening organically in a small space having to do with people who were totally normal until they found out they were the eternal spirits of a concept doomed to be controlled by fate forever and have now decided to fight back. Who they become, what they decide to do, and how it actually happens is all up to us, the players. If you like mythology, and you like LARP, and you’re in the Chicago area- why not try it out? It’s a blast and everyone is super nice. Plus if this is your first game, it’s got the advantage of you being able to dress like a person in modern America and not needing any special weapons or really anything but yourself to participate (those latex weapons are pricey yo).

Next time: We’ll be looking at Good Omens, also by Neil Gamin, because that’s what I’m in the middle of and because it is also coming out soon! So far it’s hilarious.

And if you’ve seen my missing books? Tell them to come home. Thanks.

#trash reviews #american gods #book reviews #urban fantasy