Cyn Newman

This is a wonderful book, and it will take an honored place on my small shelf of books recommended for anyone interested in an ethically non-monogamous lifestyle. That said, I'm glad I purchased the ebook as well as the Audible version, as I feel a need to go back and read it again with special attention to sources, tables, etc. I do hope that [a:Jessica Fern 20144014 Jessica Fern https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] writes more, as she brings a lovely enthusiasm to her craft.

I'm trying to remember whether or not I've read any of Gaiman's other novels before, and I'm fairly certain that I haven't. I read [b:Good Omens 12067 Good Omens Terry Pratchett http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266659394s/12067.jpg 4110990], but that was co-written with [a:Terry Pratchett 1654 Terry Pratchett http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1235562205p2/1654.jpg], and the collaboration was genius. I know that the entire world seems to love Sandman, of course, but I'm just not a fan of graphic novels. In fact, it took me a while to realize that the Good Omens co-author and the Sandman author were one and the same. I've certainly read some short stories, too. The most memorable, “Snow, Glass, Apples” was reprinted in an anthology I read recently. I find it disturbing, so I won't re-read it. Well-written, of course—it wouldn't be so very memorably distressing if it weren't so masterfully done! (I found the text online if you care to read it, but please understand that the story deals with pedophilia, necrophilia, and incest here. It is the polar opposite of all things Disney.) Snow White was never one of of my favorite fairy tales, and Gaiman definitely pushed it much farther down the list.In any case, I don't know what I was expecting from Gaiman, but American Gods wasn't it. I like stories with happy endings, and within the first few chapters I was fairly sure that there wouldn't be one. Is Gaiman fundamentally opposed to joy, or is it just happiness that he doesn't allow?The novel is epic. It is masterful. All that stuff from the big critics is dead on. The book could be used as the backbone of a mythological scavenger hunt if a teacher were willing to run a very unstructured but engaging course that way. I certainly enjoyed that aspect of it, and it made me glad that I was reading it on my iTouch so that I could look up anything I liked online at any time, no matter where I happened to be (which was almost always at home or somewhere else that had wifi access, happily). I seldom want to see illustrations in any book, but yes, I think I would like to see good pictures of some of the characters Gaiman described in this one. On the other hand, without artwork I spent time imagining what the characters looked like based on the descriptions. I don't normally stop to do that, as such matters as seldom relevant to a plot, but these beings caught my fancy. Not enough that I would sit through an entire graphic novel, I'm afraid, but if I saw one now I might flip through it to see how the artist's renderings compare with my versions.I'm seldom able to identify an overall Theme to the books I read. Most of them, honestly, are fluff. I'm fine with that. I read them because they entertain me. American Gods is different. It is entertaining, but it isn't light or fluffy in the least. It definitely has an easily identifiably Theme and Tropes and all those elements that I recall from long-ago classes, the sorts of things that put me off from my original English major because I hated tearing other author's works apart instead of writing anything original. (Now, I begin to understand that we were being taught to recognize what makes for good writing so we might have some hope of possibly creating some of it one day.)I somewhat timidly conclude that American Gods is the first piece of Literature I've read in a very long time, and well worth the time spent reading it. (I find it rather amusing that it would be British Literature, despite its title, due to the author's nationality.) I'm not going to state the theme, because that would be a spoiler, and I hate putting those in reviews—but it's something that I see as a Truth, and one that needs to be stated far more often, especiallly today. It's even more interesting that it took a Brit to say it.The book is dark, although it does have some very bright spots in it. I will acknowledge that I was going through a particularly bad time with regards to my health when I was reading it, but I still think it might be best for some people to read this one when in a fairly positive state of mind.

I finally got around to reading A Game of Thrones, despite the fact that the series still wasn't finished when I started, because the television series was starting. [a:Sam Chupp 11847 Sam Chupp http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1219698183p2/11847.jpg] really wanted to watch it, and I didn't want to see it without having read the book, so I gave in and started reading.He had repeatedly warned me that it was really dark, and indeed it is. I think he said that there are no wholly good characters. So far, at least, that isn't quite true. It may be something that becomes more accurate as the other volumes unfold. There are certainly no simple characters, or plots—but then, I remember enough of Martin's earlier work (on the Wild Cards series and such) that I wouldn't expect anything else. People aren't simple, or purely black and white, so why would characters in good fiction be that way?The best way I've found to maybe tell protagonists from antagonists so far is to use the chapter names as guides: the people whose names are used as chapter names are either protagonists or survivors. I'm not sure which. Catelyn and Tyrion are the only people from the “older” generation who have chapter names. No, wait—I just thought of someone who kills my theory. I can't say because that would be a spoiler.I did find several incidents in this first book disturbing. I don't like it when bad things happen to children or animals. Cersei would be a fun character to play, although I suppose she'll get her comeuppance at some point (or I hope she will). I've tried thinking of her as a woman protecting her children, but that's not helping.If you're easily disturbed, don't read the book (or watch the television series, apparently). Just - don't. You won't be happy with the opening scene, and it sets the tone for the rest of the book. But if violent war and political scheming, incest as a dynastic strategy, and very occasional creepy supernatural happenings are okay with you, it's a very well-written book.