After a lengthy prison term following an assault conviction, a man known only as Shadow is ready to be released back into society. He's not a bad man, and wants little more than to go back to his beloved wife Laura, a workaday job at his friend's gym, and their quiet, simple life.
But things aren't that simple: Shortly before being released, Shadow discovers that Laura was killed in a car accident and gets out early. Suddenly at loose ends in the world, Shadow finds himself sharing a flight with a seedy old con man who asks to be called Mr. Wednesday. Wednesday is strangely interested in Shadow, and offers to hire him on as a bodyguard and accomplice; Shadow, with nothing left of his old life and nothing better to do, agrees.
Shadow runs errands for Wednesday and travels into the very heart of America, visiting its small towns and meeting its people and its old, forgotten gods, struggling to stay relevant in the modern era. But unbeknownst to him, he has a much larger role in the oncoming conflict than he thinks...
A novel by
Neil Gaiman, interesting for its examination of the intersection between myth and Americana. It is interspersed at various points with stories of immigrants who brought their gods and their beliefs to America with them, and the gods themselves have integrated just as well as their former worshipers. The novel brilliantly elevates the ordinary and the everyday to mythic status, finding significance in the smallest of things. This quality is exemplified by its protagonist, Shadow, who is both the eternal everyman and something more, something special.
The novel directly inspired White Wolf's tabletop roleplaying game
Scion.
Tropes featured include:
- A Fete Worse Than Death: Lakeside - the only reason why it's been kept alive was because Shadow's neighbor turns out to be a kobold killing people to try and keep the town together.
- All Myths Are True (No, seriously, all of them)
- Alone With The Psycho
- American Title
- Anvilicious: Subverted. It appears to be a warning against technology... Then you find out Wednesday and Loki have been manipulating both sides.
- A Storm Is Coming: Repeated by Mister Wednesday and Mad Sweeney.
- Batman Gambit
- Bavarian Fire Drill: Mr. Wednesday robs a bank (or, rather the people who are trying to make deposits at the bank).
- Truth In Television: Based on a real-life con that Frank Abagnale Jr. claimed to have once pulled off
- Also Life Imitates Art, since some people actually tried pulling the same con after reading the book.
- Bi The Way: Sam.
- Black Helicopters: The Valkyries.
- Came Back Wrong: Laura's a zombie.
- Casanova: Mr. Wednesday, in addition to conning men, loves the art of seducing females via something as simple as asking for Christmas gifts. And he looks like an old man, understand.
- Cat Girl: Bast. Doesn't have cat ears, sure, but a rough tongue and feline eyes.
- Chekhovs Gunman: Low-Key Lyesmith, who is both the God Loki and Mr. World.
- Chess With Death: Checkers, actually
- Well, he is the Czech death...
- Clap Your Hands If You Believe: The gods all operate on this principle. It's also the main reason why they're dying out.
- Continuity Nod: Sort of. At the World's Largest Carousel, Mr Nancy displays amusement at the prospect of riding a lion statue. This is a reference to Anansi's tendency to antagonize the god Tiger (the embodiment of all big cats) in traditional stories.
- In Cairo, Delirium and Barnabe from The Sandman make a brief appearance.
- Eureka Moment: the Lakeside killings
- Crossover Cosmology: Most Gods and Goddesses are there, and Gaiman hand-waved Jesus and Buddha not being present.
- Justified in that the story is about gods who have lost their believers. You couldn't say that Jesus lacks for believers in America. (Wednesday mentions that he saw Jesus hitchhiking by the highway near Kabul. No one was picking him up.)
- Dark Is Not Evil: Shadow.
- Day Of The Week Name: Mr. Wednesday
- This is also a Chekhovs Gun, since Wednesday stems from "Wodan's Day" and Wodan is a different name for Odin.
- Deal With The Devil: One of them, anyway (the truth about the town of Lakeside)
- Deus Sex Machina: Shadow's wet dream with Bast is another turning point for the protagonist.
- Divine Parentage: Shadow
- Dropped A Brigid On Him: Basically the plot of the book.
- Encyclopedia Exposita: From the book being written by Mr. Ibis
- Evolutionary Levels: Mr. Town is convinced that the people he works for and against aren't gods but merely mutant freaks.
- Fan Nickname: SHADOWPUPPY!
- Fantasy Kitchen Sink
- Foreshadowing: The Christmas conversation (It's a two man con).
- Genius Bruiser: Shadow.
- Gods Need Prayer Badly: The reason why the old Gods are dying, and the new Gods have arisen.
- The Heartless: Many of the gods
- Hell Hotel: The hotel at the center of the United States
- Helter Skelter Scenario: Wednesday and Loki are manipulating both the old and new Gods so they can draw power from the inevitable battle.
- I Am Who?
- I Have Many Names: Mr. Wednesday explicitly says this; given the subject matter, it also applies to most of the major characters.
- Incredibly Lame Pun: "I was just rotting away where I was." - Laura
- Not to mention that one plot critical incredibly lame pun.
- Ironic Echo: "This must look so undignified."
- Jekyll And Hyde: Czernobog and Bielebog
- Jerkass Gods: Considering the god's resemblances to humans in this book, it can be expected.
- Kansas City Shuffle: Wednesday and Loki's entire plan relies on misdirection, and none of the Gods realising they are being played.
- Leprechaun: Mad Sweeney.
- Let's You And Him Fight (Trope Namer, but not actually an example)
- Living Forever Is Awesome
- Luke I Am Your Father: Shadow discovers he's Wednesday's son.
- Meaningful Name: Mr. Wednesday and many others play it straight; Shadow also in that his role is to tail Mr. Wednesday.
- Also Low Key Lyesmith, whose name is a pun on his real name. Get it? Loki Lie-smith? Please don't hit yourself too hard if you didn't figure it out too long before Shadow does.
- What god would want to be called "Nancy"? Anansi.
- MIB: The New Gods' goons.
- My Death Is Just The Beginning: Mr. Wednesday
- Needle In A Stack Of Needles
- Never Heard That One Before: "Hey, Hugin or Munin or whoever you are, say 'nevermore'." "Fuck you."
- Nightmare Fuel
- No Name Given: Shadow, at least until the quasi-sequel "The Monarch of the Glen".
- The Nondescript: The god whose name and appearance Shadow cannot remember, called by fans, the "Unknown God".
- The Nothing After Death: Chosen by Shadow
- The Old Con: Low Key.
- Our Zombies Are Different
- Physical God: All of them, at least part time (who knows what was up with Media).
- Quick Change: Pulled by Mr. Wednesday
- The Reveal: "It's a two man con. It's not a war at all."
- Science Is Wrong: Promptly subverted.
- Squick: Many examples: a man eaten by a vagina, the man-eating goddess being ground into a bloody smear by a limousine, almost any scene in the last half of the book involving Laura...
- Stepford Smiler: Media.
- The Stoic: Shadow.
- Sue Donym: Low-Key Lyesmith = Loki Lie-Smith
- Technically A Smile: Mr. Wednesday
- Timmy In A Well: Lampshaded by a raven
- Treacherous Advisor: Wednesday.
- Trickster Mentor: Mr. Wednesday and Low-Key.
- Trojan Prisoner
- Undeath Always Ends
- Urban Fantasy
- Vagina Dentata: Everyone who's read this book knows what this refers to.
- Villain On A Bus: Queen of Sheba
- Violin Scam: Commented upon by Wednesday.
- The World Tree: The Norse version, more or less
- Yaoi Guys: Salim and the ifrit.
- You All Meet In A Cell: Well, somewhat. Loki and Shadow meet in prison.
