Read this on the flight to Burkina Faso and then over a few days. Entertaining and occasionally compelling but the writing was just not edited enough to really shine. I appreciated the central idea, but the execution left me unsatisfied. Occasional digressions (let’s see if I can list a bunch of old gods and imagine them in different characters that are semi-American) were just filler (equivalent of the old TV shots of plane taking off and then plane landing …. B-roll is that what they call it?). Shadow’s somnolence was never really explored. Because he did not know his true father, he did not know himself? Is that a thing that Gaiman thinks is generally important… I guess for fantasy writers that’s a general conceit. The boy who is really son of king. Finding your parentage is the quest.  Seems very self-centered for a modern novel. How about becoming a city planner instead?