This is a book I picked up at a Friends of the Library book sale. A great place to buy books - good deals and good cause. This book here is a sort-of sequel to Neil Gaiman's American Gods. As far as I can tell, it has nothing to do with that plot.
What we have here is Charles Nancy, an office worker in London, and how his life turns upside down after his father dies. In short order, he learns that A.) his father is a god, Anansi the Spider, B.) his childhood neighbors are witches and C.) he has a twin brother who he has never met and who evidently inherited all the god-related stuff from their father.
SPOILER WARNING!
SPOILER WARNING!
SPOILER WARNING!
I have good stuff and bad stuff to say about this book. I'll start with the bad, because it is just one thing. That thing is the pacing.
This book is just short of 400 pages long, and it takes forever to get anywhere. The plot-triggering-death happens quickly, basically in the first scene. The funeral follows swiftly afterward. Then the plot lags. There is very little forward motion for over one hundred pages. For some reason, I felt like reading all of them, thinking that the plot would pick up, but it just kept going and going, taking its time with lots of subplots.
--> how miserable Charlie's life is.
--> how Brother Spider abuses his divine powers.
--> How Graham Coat exploits his customers.
--> the history of the building that Graham Coat operates out of.
-->Rosie and her passive-aggressive rebellion against her mother.
Also, there are Anansi stories in the chapters. These are digressions where the narrator halts the main story to share a tale about Anansi.
In my opinion, the plot doesn't start moving until around the 200-page mark and doesn't truly get interesting until around 260. There are many digressions. For instance There is summary of the courtship of Charles's love interest's parents, and how disappointed they are that she became a police officer.
My personal head cannon is that Anansi is the narrator of this story, and he likes telling stories. All the stories belong to Anansi, and he wants to share as many of them as he can. Furthermore, his purpose in telling this particular story is to set up his sons with wives so they can give him grandchildren. The story mentions that checking on potential grandchildren is his motivation to stop pretending to be dead.
Now for the stuff that I like. This is a much longer list.
1. It is remarkable how engaging the story is. Even during the slog of the first part, the narration is engaging. Not necessarily entertaining, but it is intriguing. I didn't know what was coming next, because I kept expecting something supernatural or scary.
2. Once the plot picks up, and things start happening, it truly is fun to read.
3. The lime joke. That is a funny joke. I still smile when thinking about it.
4. The cosmology of the 'verse, the gods and witches and the power of song and stories, all of it is interesting. It makes internal sense. I liked reading about it.
5. Moreover, the change that comes over Charles Nancy when he figures out the thing about songs and stories was a nice payoff. That was a well-written piece of character development.
6. Graham Coat's descent into madness is creepy. It is one of the better uses of the trope Being Evil Sucks. Also, the pay-off about him being a "weasel" has a nice payoff.
The last thing is the Nancy brothers and their love interests. It is a big thing and complicated thing. I don't want to go into it, but I wanted to mention it. In short, I think it is undeveloped.
Trickster Eric Novels gives Anasi Boys a B.
Click here for my next book review: Curse of Strahd - D&D 5E module
Click here for my previous book review: Wandering Witch volume 2 (read for fun)
Brian Wilkerson is an independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor's degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).
His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback.
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