I actually found this part to be the most interesting. Things really started to kick into gear in regards to the overall point of the novel and more importantly it became more focused and hooked me with a pretty ballsy series of plot points. For one the plot involving a bunch of missing kids was rather dark but oddly appealing to me. I for one like stories that have the balls to talk about kids in danger or kids being killed. Not because I am a psychopath. Far from it. It just makes for a more thrilling story the fact that no one is immune or spared from the danger in the tale. Everyone's lives are at stake here. The men, the women, and the children. It really makes the events of the novel have even more impact. Think about it. What is one of the most horrifying things imaginable? The death of a child. The tragedy of the situation hits home to all of us.
In this part of the novel it also continued to bring in even more gods and regonizable names from literature and fables. Johnny Appleseed makes an appearance as well as the god of Easter. And no it isn't the easter bunny. I liked that Gaiman did not take that approach. There are things about this tale that could be considered silly but nothing as ludicrous as a talking easter bunny. Talking crows, but hey I saw that in Willow and I love that movie so it's ok.
The one twist in the plot I did not see coming though was the death of Mr. Wednsday. That was quite a shock. And the fact that this leads to a battle between the old gods and the new is a really exciting turn of events. It was at this point in the novel where the term "a storm is coming" which was repeated ad nasuem throughout the novel up to this point started to make sense and because of that became a great example of clever foreshadowing.
At this point in the novel too is where the fantasy elements of the story really started to come to a head. There were moments earlier like talking birds, a ravenous sex starved cat woman and other fantastic beasts, creatures, dead women, and gods but here it really started to click. I think the whole mentioning of Loki and Odin which are some of the most familiar gods helped with this matter. But maybe that's because I saw Thor recently and I had that flick on my brain.
There are many more surprising revelations in this block of the novel like Shadow being Wednsday's son for instance. That really came out of left field. But it also explained why someone of great power would select some ex con to help him rather than another god so to speak. Because Shadow really was a god. A god in hiding so to speak. Finding out the true nature of Mr. Wednsday and the fact that he is Shadow's father really made the death of Wednsday even more powerful.
The sacrifice that Shadow makes to help the win the war is also quite compelling, and the visual imagery of the land of the dead was striking and quite horrifying. Overall I like where this story is leading, but if I had any issue? It is almost too descriptive and detailed. It is easy to get lost in the story and as a result lose interest real fast. And the final battle? Really wasn't that epic at all. Especially for a battle between the gods. I know Gaiman is trying to ground this tale in reality, but if there was ever a time to go over the top it would be here. I hope the ending makes up for it but I was glad I read it once though. Some really powerful imagery.
Staying on the killing kids angle..To further illustrate why this is so crucial to a story's impact I wanted to share this scene from the underrated 1988 remake of The Blob.(Since I can't find the scene by itself here is a compliation of all of the death scenes. You will know it when you see it though)
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