Anansi BoysNeil Gaiman I tend to read in author streaks, as you may have noticed. This one I liked a lot better than American Gods, which it follows. The evolution of tension between the two brothers to alliance against the outside danger is artfully constructed. Of course, you immediately suspect Tiger is the ultimate enemy, because throughout the storytelling interludes, Anansi and Tiger’s rivalry is repeated in many different forms, like a recurring theme in a piece of music. Those interludes were my favorite part of the book, because it was like Anansi himself was speaking to us, telling the […]

Smoke and MirrorsNeil Gaiman A collection of short stories. "Babycakes" is my favorite. It’s very short, but I really love the rhythms and pacing. Also, I like "Murder Mysteries" because I didn’t get the whole thing until I looked back at the American Gods review and reread the tactic I mentioned there… it’s the same thing. The murder mystery of the city of angels is really just a distraction.

American Gods Neil Gaiman After Neverwhere, this was kind of a disappointment. It seemed more like an exercise in showing off the various gods than anything else. I put it aside for several days in the middle of it, and when I looked back at the first 100+ pages, I thought, wait a sec, what even happened? There wasn’t a single disparate event I could point out, for plot progression. (Although, you know, I could be a bit too old-fashioned, expecting plot.) And why bog Shadow down at the funeral home for what seemed like a year? I did appreciate, […]

Neverwhere. Neil Gaiman. It’s hard to review this as a whole book, because it’s hard to think of anything but the ending. Heartbreaking, and beautiful — probably because it strikes terribly close to the bone for sci-fi and fantasy lovers. Hidden in the darkest corner of our soul, what Richard is given is our heart’s desire, what we want more than anything else in the world. But for us, unlike Richard, it is impossible. There is no doorway in the wall. That’s the heartbreaking part. The beauty is that he does, and through him we get a brief, vicarious flash […]