reviewed by
ELIZABETH CATO
I've come to the conclusion that Neil Gaiman is, like Shadow, a magician. He has charmed words onto pages and has told a story that has left me thinking of it long past THE END.
I was hooked on this book from the very first page. This story was told with such a smooth ease that I slid through the pages in forty-eight hours. I had to know what happened to these characters and I had to know how things were going to end.
This story could have easily gotten mired in myths and legends and gotten lost in there somewhere, but it didn't. It begins with the central character, Shadow, contemplating his three years in prison, which will be over in about a month.
Shadow's release comes sooner than expected, due to the death of his wife, Laura. It is on the way home that Shadow encounters a strange man whom he cannot shake.
The stranger, who goes only by the name of Wednesday, persuades Shadow to work for him, which Shadow agrees to do, but only after he attends Laura's funeral. It is at the funeral that Shadow gets his next surprise, that his wife had secrets.
Shadow travels with Wednesday as a body guard and a person who does what needs to be done. Wednesday, a self-proclaimed grifter, introduces Shadow to a host of characters that the longer Shadow is with Wednesday, the easier it is for him to accept them for the gods they are.
There is a coming storm and while Wednesday opens Shadow's eyes to the secrets of the world, he is also on a mission to rally the old gods, the gods who came to America with the early explorers and pilgrims, against the new gods of technology.
Before the final battle erupts Shadow finds himself in the middle, a pawn that will decide the final outcome. What he learns about both sides will take him to places he never thought possible.
Gaiman covers American culture clearly and precisely in this story. As an outsider looking in he sees everything that is bad and good about America and proceeds to breathe life into that culture through his words.
Come along for the ride, for this is a journey well worth taking.
