Poyel Female, 20. Parma, Italy

It should be 3,5 stars, really.
This collection of short stories, although not as wonderful as "Smoke And Mirrors", is really a collection of jewels.
It demonstrates that Gaiman gives the best when he tells short stories (or not-really-long novels), when he can play with the characters, the ideas, the styles.
He is a storyteller, and he plays with this role, play with the stories to obtain the most astonishing results.

I gave it three stars, because Gaiman is always Gaiman, but truthfully they should have been 2,5.
The idea in itself, a war between old Gods and new ones, is marvellous, but in the end the book doesn't convince.
Maybe it's the fact that Shadow is disconnected from the Gods, a guy that stumbled on this war almost accidentally. It would have been more captivating, perhaps, if it had been told by the point of view of an insider, of a God.
And what's the point with the coins tricks? I grew tired of them way before the end of the book.
Still... it's interesting, sometimes haunting, sometimes chilling, cometimes intense, sometimes shocking.

Not at all convincing, but nonetheless pleasant.
It seems to me that, lately, wherever I turn I find Norse Gods; between Sandman, American Gods and this book I had my fair share of them.
The problem with this book is that, in spite of its lenght, it doesn't explain. Not enough, anyway. Things like the past of the Gods, what appened before, are just hinted at and nothing more.
And then... then some things just don't add up: how come Skadi knows Maddy is Thor's daughter when no one told her?
Why is Loki in the end just this brave and gruff character instead of the mean trickster without a moral?
And why no one realized sooner the Whisperer was the Nameless, when I guessed it hundreds of pages before the end?

Getting ready to a zombie invasion is not easy, not at all.
Brooks explores all the possibilities, all the metods of defence, of attack, and he's so accurate that everything seems absolutely real.
If it was not for the zombies you would be sure it was a completely serious book.
Or maybe it is. Maybe we really should follow its advices, buy a few weapons, stock emergency food, make sure we can destroy the stairs in our home at a few minutes notice. With the convinced way Brook is describing everything is not so difficult falling for it.
Who knows?

A few stories are really interesting and entertaining (I really enjoyed Polaris); most of them really reminded me of Poe's stories, without adding anything new.
I cannot understand how all the characters are basically the same, same studies, same way of thinking, same way of reacting... there is no difference between them.
And the only emotions they feel are fear and curiosity. They may loose their family, their friends, and they are never grieving. Never anything more than terrified or intrigued. There's no depth in them.
And more important: the notes! Ok, this is not Lovecraft's fault, but the notes are terrible: they should be avoided because they really interrupt the reading, and going back and forth between the pages is really annoying, but I can understand them if they are necessary. But most of the notes in Joshi's edition are useless, with uninteresting trivia information that everyone would have been better without (Saying that a character got his name from Lovecraft's uncle doesn't add anything to the story)