Neil Gaiman's American Gods

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I just finished reading this supernatural thriller/road-trip novel, and I was surprised I didn't like it more. I've heard of Neil Gaiman for years, both for his novels and his Sandman graphic novels. And I know he's buddies with Terry Pratchett, whom I really love. So I was all set for an amazing experience with this novel.

Part of the problem is just taste. The book is pretty episodic, and I'm not a big fan of episodic. Once the plot stage is set, the two main characters go on a road-trip across the country, meeting up with old-world gods working as janitors and funeral-home directors in town after town. This takes up a good 3/4 of the book and is too repetitive for me. Good premise, and it's well written; it's just too much of the same.

I did really like the premise. And I loved the ending, which wraps up a murder mystery with a philosophical revelation in one. And it explicitly does not embrace the romanticization of the old gods that one might expect. I just wish the middle had been tighter.
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