Let’s get this right out of the way: If you’re looking for a proper sequel to Neil Gaiman’s AMERICAN GODS, his short story in the LEGENDS II anthology is it. ANANSI BOYS is not.
That’s not to say ANANSI BOYS – the eagerly awaited GODS follow-up – is bad. It’s just vastly different in story and tone, although it still deals with forgotten gods living in the present day.
You could almost call this one ENGLISH GODS’ SONS, as a genial Londoner known as Fat Charlie experiences massive life changes when his father unexpectedly dies during a karaoke performance. Fat Charlie doesn’t know his father that well, because he grew up being embarrassed and humiliated by his actions; then he finds he doesn’t know him at all, learning his father was actually a god – namely Anansi, the crafty spider of many a folktale (and minor character in GODS). Fat Charlie also doesn’t know he has a brother, an equally tricky bastard named Spider, who intrudes on his life and muscles in on his fianceé.
As Fat Charlie is reluctantly drawn into the truth and their world, his life turns topsy-turvy, to the point where he’s accused of several felonious crimes and tripping into other dimensions filled talking animals. Unlike GODS, the scope of ANANSI is neither epic nor suspenseful. The plot that’s there is minimal, and pat in its end. Much of the novel plays like a romantic comedy (though not particularly an all-that-funny one), only entering full-on fantasy territory in the last third.
We also don’t get fully realized characters this time around. Whereas the strong Shadow of GODS was someone whose story you wanted to follow – and so much that you didn’t want it to end – Fat Charlie is too wishy-washy and passive for us to know much about him beyond those terms. The Anansi angle isn’t realized to its fullest potential, as Gaiman weaves in a couple of the arachnid’s most famous tales, but then stops doing so.
Again, it’s not that ANANSI is bad – it’s just that it’s merely pleasant. I have the highest respect for Gaiman after GODS, CORALINE and his comic-book work, but we know he has greater GODS stories in him than this merely good one.
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A friend loaned me a copy of Anansi Boys a while ago. I’m a big Gaiman fan and I’ve been meaning to get to it for a while, but it sounds like maybe I should give this one a pass.