Great!

Things I think people should know about this book:

1) It's set in the same 'universe' as 'American Gods'
2) It's nothing like 'American Gods' - It's shorter and funnier.

So don't expect something like AG or you will be disappointed (at first - once you get into the story that wears off pretty darn quick!).

You'll enjoy it especially if you liked 'Coraline', 'Good Omens', some of the wackier 'Sandman' stories and Robert Rankin.

Enjoy!

plyck

Well that isn't something you see every day, a reference to Robert Rankin in a Neil Gaiman context.

Nope! In fact, you only see it twice in a four year period! Crazy.

quote:

Originally posted by plyck:
Great!

Things I think people should know about this book:

1) It's set in the same 'universe' as 'American Gods'
2) It's nothing like 'American Gods' - It's shorter and funnier.

So don't expect something like AG or you will be disappointed (at first - once you get into the story that wears off pretty darn quick!).

You'll enjoy it especially if you liked 'Coraline', 'Good Omens', some of the wackier 'Sandman' stories and Robert Rankin.

Enjoy!

plyck

I think you just made me the happiest girl in the world

I love robert rankin!

anyone who comes up with the title "the hollow chocolate bunnies of the apocalypse" has to be liked.

I just finished! I loved it! um... Cross between American Gods and Good Omens (it even had a footnote or two)

my two favorties! yes! im getting it from borders during the week.

I bought this yesterday - only the second time I've bought a hard -cover. (the first was Neverwhere).
Anyway, it was my tribute to the last day of summer, and I blew off all of my responsibilities for the day, and read outside of a cafe in the sun.

Of course, this meant I worked until about 9pm to make up for it, but it was nice to have the afternoon with 'Anansi Boys' all the same.

BTW, I'm onto ch. 3, and it's as great as I could ever expect. Love the opening dedication, how cute is that?

Isn't it though? I got my copy last night and have been dying to get back to it, unfortunately work has been getting in the way. However, I plan on having a nice little sit down with Fat Charlie this evening. *grin*

i'm so happy that i can finally read others' posts about anansi boys and understand what theyre talking about.

it is just me or did everybody else find it funny as neil says its a funnier book/story than american gods. i found it to be almost evenly horrifying and funny at most points. Not as laugh out loud , remember the bit where crowley/azriphale did/said... but bittersweet/dark funny. Oh well, i enjoyed reading it as a whole and at last i can say i've read it.

Hin

I just finished this. It's fantastic. Massive thanks to Neil for another beautiful story.

It's a really comfortable story to read, you just sort of find yourself sinking in... it's less like plunging into the cold water of the fantastical than say Neverwhere was (though I have to say I loved that about Neverwhere), and more like this notion that magic is happening sort of languidly floats around in your head while your reading, and that's just perfectly natural and why are you even thinking about it anyway? The same sort of feeling I got from American Gods. Love it.

/applaud the laid-back Caribbean feel to the entire story, and to creating (yet again) really brilliant characters... I'd like to read more about the Anansi Boys it must be said =)

Eldias

Wonderful book, really. I found it predictable in parts, but I also found that I didn't care that it was predictable. Like a good Anansi story, it didn't matter than I knew how it was all going to come out, what mattered was the way we got there. Which was with style, panache and a sense of humour that veered from understated to droll to slapstick without missing its mark.

Hmmm ... we ought to post some reviews on Amazon. There are some very grumpy ones up there now, from the kind of folks who didn't like American Gods because it wasn't Sandman, and who like this one even less for the same reason.

I enjoyed it a lot, and I think it will introduce a lot of other people to Neil, which is a Very Good Thing, IMO. It manages to be fantastic and otherworldly without being unapproachable by the SF&F illiterate.

And of course, it's funny. I've gone back and re-read the ending 3 times already because I enjoy it so much.

- Cho

The book was a disappointment to me. The first half was compelling and very funny, but then it seemed like the book started to fall apart. Particularly the last third, on the island, seemed to be written by a different and much less interesting writer. Completely arbitrary plotting, fewer jokes, a stupid sub-Stephen King-like psycho killer character, and fewer lyrical sequences. Didn't care much for it at all. :-/

quote:

Originally posted by mtxx:
The book was a disappointment to me. The first half was compelling and very funny, but then it seemed like the book started to fall apart. Particularly the last third, on the island, seemed to be written by a different and much less interesting writer. Completely arbitrary plotting, fewer jokes, a stupid sub-Stephen King-like psycho killer character, and fewer lyrical sequences. Didn't care much for it at all. :-/

Why am I not surprised at this reaction? (You're quite predictable, you know.)

grace

quote:

Originally posted by monkg:
Why am I not surprised at this reaction? (You're quite predictable, you know.)

grace

I don't get it. I'm predictable in what way? That I don't like the last thirds of new novels written by Neil Gaiman? It just doesn't seem to me like he's able to sustain his admittedly impressive style for the length of an entire novel. And it's not like I'm the only person on the board who don't like his novels that much.

Now annoying board-newcomers attacking ME for dissing a Gaiman book, THAT'S as predictable as anything.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: mtxx,

I did think the ending third of the book was rather different from the first bit. After Fat Charlie gets his lime, the tone becomes rather more earnest, although I was still able to find the funny in spots, and I really liked the mystical bits.

The tone seems to change for me in the middle, with... (this is the non-spoiler forum isn't it? This might be a good thing to spin out into the spoilers forum.) ...with what happens to Mrs. Livingstone. The change of tone near the end, on reflection as it didn't occur to me at the time, is a mix of an Anansi Tale and a Tiger Tale. As it appears that Tiger has the upper hand, the story most definately changes into a Tiger tale, and the tone follows that lead

Maybe the same skewed universe, and I find that universe wonderful, but I re-read AG before I let myself read AB, and the 'Boys' is a MUCH lighter book. Not anything less for it, I thought it was (for me) not so thought-provoking and not as full of Hmmm? moments. I don't remember ever reading anything Gaiamn wrote that I didn't gush over, just thought AB was less dark.

MTXX

Quick question. Are those 13000 posts you have all from this site?