After a lengthy prison term following a botched robbery, 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)
- American Title
- Anvilicious - Averted. 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).
- 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.
- Cat Girl: Bast. Doesn't have cat ears, sure, but a rough tongue and feline eyes.
- Chekhovs Gunman: Low-Key Lyesmith.
- 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 antagonise the god Tiger(the embodiment of all big cats) in traditional stories.
- Eureka Moment: the Lakeside killings
- Crossover Cosmology - Most Gods and Goddesses are there, and Gaiman hand-waved Jesus and Buddha not being present.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Shadow and The New Gods.
- 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
- Encyclopedia Exposita: from the book being written by Mr. Ibis
- Fan Nickname: SHADOWPUPPY!
- Fantasy Kitchen Sink
- Genius Bruiser - Shadow.
- God Was My Copilot
- 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
- I Have Many Names: Mr. Wednesday explicitly says this; given the subject matter, it also applies to most of the major characters.
- Jekyll And Hyde: Czernobog and Bielebog
- Jerkass Gods: arguably, Wednesday and Loki
- Leprechaun: Mad Sweeney.
- Let's You And Him Fight (Trope Namer)
- Louis Cypher
- Luke I Am Your Father: Shadow discovers he's Wednesday's son.
- Meaningful Name: Mr. Wednesday and many others play it straight; Shadow both plays it straight (in that his role is to tail Mr. Wednesday) and inverts it (he's actually Baldr).
- Also Low Key Lyesmith, whose name is a pun on his real name
- MIB - The New Gods' goons.
- My Death Is Just The Beginning: Mr. Wednesday
- Never Heard That One Before: "Hey, raven, say 'nevermore'." "Fuck you."
- Nightmare Fuel: The God of the Internet, among other New Gods. Then again, it's the internet, what do you expect?
- No Name Given: Shadow, at least not until The Monarch of the Glen.
- The Nondescript: the man in the dark suit
- The Nothing After Death: chosen by Shadow
- The Old Con: Low Key.
- Physical God - All of them, at least part time (who knows what was up with Television).
- Quick Change: pulled by Mr. Wednesday
- 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.
- Technically A Smile: Mr. Wednesday
- Timmy In A Well: Lampshaded by a raven
- Town With A Dark Secret: Lakeside
- Trickster Mentor: Mr. Wednesday and Low-Key.
- Trojan Prisoner
- Urban Fantasy - Not much magic flinging, but there are Gods and strange events when you look hard enough.
- Vagina Dentata - Taken to a huge extreme with The Queen of Sheba.
- Violin Scam - Commented upon by Wednesday.
- The World Tree: the Norse version, more or less
- Yaoi Guys - In one chapter
- You All Meet In A Cell - Well, somewhat. Low-Key and Shadow meet in prison.
- Your Mileage May Vary - Some there are that feel Gaiman's love for allusion is little more than pretentious drivel. This book is at least 40% allusion by volume, so of course those people are going to hate it.
