Books by author: Neil Gaiman

I quite enjoyed this, moreso than Gaiman's previous novel Neverwhere and his graphic novel Sandman: Season of Mists. I'd place American Gods somewhere between the styles of Clive Barker and Stephen King. Gaiman touches on the mythologies of many cultures, and he constructs an interesting plot around them. This is good, but not quite great, fantasy.

In Anansi Boys, Gaiman revisits a world somewhat like the one he created in American Gods. It's a present day where gods walk among men, largely forgotten, living lives as immortals, except when they decide to die for a bit.

Gaiman seems to be trying very hard to be funny, though not quite in the slapstick manner of Good Omens. It's still a very British style of humor, and as an American reader, I see the jokes, understand them, and think "that's mildly amusing," but there's nothing here that's laugh-out-loud funny. It's neither serious nor humorous, and it doesn't quite work.

I keep hearing such great things about Gaiman, but I've yet to be dazzled by him. I feel like I ought to be squarely in his demographic, so it makes me wonder if he's been coasting since Sandman.

A very dark, but wonderful, children's tale.

Disappointing, but adequate.

Neverwhere is an enjoyable, light fantasy confection. It reminds me a bit of Clive Barker's Weaveworld in places. It doesn't quite qualify as good literary fiction because too many of the fantastic elements have no good reason for being included (I think this may be a problem with Gaiman's writing in general). I did, however, quite enjoy the book.

This was my first exposure to the Sandman comic book series. It is clear that Gaiman has fleshed out a very interesting universe, but these particular chapters are apparently not the best introduction. I'm interested in reading more, but I'm not going to rush out and buy another $20 collection.

Neil Gaiman's fiction is a bit hit-or-miss for me. Sometimes he blows me away (e.g., American Gods), and other times (e.g., Anansi Boys), he's not that interesting. I saw the movie Stardust a few months before reading this book, and I liked the movie quite a lot. Happily, the book lives up to the movie, and Stardust is in the running for my favorite young-adult fantasy novel. And there are enough differences between the book and the movie to make it worthwhile to seek out both. Good stuff.