American Gods

I was very much interested and entertained by American Gods, I've always been a fan of both Neil Gaiman's own writing style as well as the genre of contemporary urban fantasy as a whole., and this novel really seemed to sell a very simple concept in a unique fashion. The reader slowly learns more about the setting and circumstances from the story through the eyes of the protagonist, Shadow Moon. The whole idea centers around how all ancient gods, like those of ancient Egypt and Norse myth, all coexist, but have diminished in power simply because they lack worshippers and believers, so they live in the world closer to human than the deities they once were. This of course seems to reflect a deeper idea about how stories and myths only exist and have weight because of the people who tell them and keep them alive, just as the gods derive power through belief. I'm already a fan of seeing older fantastical characters and beings coexisting and living in the modern era, so I loved seeing how Neil Gaiman translated how mythological religious figures would live if they did so among modern day people.