Shadow gets out of prison early when his wife is killed in a car crash. At a loss, he takes up with a mysterious character called Wednesday, who is much more than he appears. In fact, Wednesday is an old god, once known as Odin the All-father, who is roaming America rounding up his forgotten fellows in preparation for an epic battle against the upstart deities of the Internet, credit cards, television, and all that is wired. Shadow agrees to help Wednesday, and they whirl through a psycho-spiritual storm that becomes all too real in its manifestations

It took me forever to read this book, and as my first Neil Gaiman, that's not a very good omen.

I've never been a fan of mythology, so the story should have put me off from the start, but I decided to finish it, to see if it would get better in the end. Unfortunately, I couldn't shake the feeling that this wasn't a story for me. I didn't like any of the characters, and even the major surprise didn't manage to move me.

The only part I liked about the book was the idea that talking/remembering something/someone is the only way to keep it alive. Something touched upon in Promethea, by Alan Moore, that I read after this book.

[04/10/2006] Loaned to Patiblue