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Books Like American Gods

Gaiman, 2001 · #3 on the Epic Fantasy 101 Booklist · 102/120 · adapted for screen

Shadow Moon walks out of prison into the service of a con man named Wednesday. A war is brewing between America's old gods and its new ones.

Mood8Theme9Structure6Further reading8Creative details9Real-world blend10Divine influence10Climax and fights5Epicness6Genre standard8Originality8

Its strongest scores: real-world blend and divine influence. The five books below have the closest scores across all eleven criteria.

If you liked American Gods, read:

  1. Moonheart

    de Lint, 1984 · #30 on the list · 87/120

    Two friends in a sprawling Ottawa house find a doorway to an otherworld of Celtic and Indigenous spirits, and an ancient enemy behind it.

    Close on mood, structure, real-world blend, climax and fights.

  2. Mythago Wood

    Holdstock, 1984 · #15 on the list · 94/120

    In an English wood after the Second World War, a man finds the forest bringing myths to life from his family's unconscious, including the woman his brother loves.

    Close on mood, theme, structure, further reading.

  3. The Anubis Gates

    Powers, 1983 · #9 on the list · 97/120

    A scholar of Romantic poetry travels back to 1810 London to hear a lecture by Coleridge. He is stranded among Egyptian sorcerers, beggar kings and a body-switching werewolf.

    Close on mood, further reading, creative details, real-world blend.

  4. Percy Jackson

    Riordan, 2005 · #11 on the list · 97/120

    A twelve-year-old with dyslexia and ADHD discovers he is the son of Poseidon. He must stop a war among the Greek gods, who are alive in modern America.

    Close on structure, further reading, real-world blend, divine influence.

  5. Puck of Pook's Hill

    Kipling, 1906 · #25 on the list · 89/120

    Two Sussex children summon Puck, the last of England's fairies. He brings them Roman soldiers, Norman knights and other figures from the island's past.

    Close on mood, theme, structure, further reading.

Featured pick

Acenes of Sparta: The Dragon Slayer

Manolis Tsongas, 2026 · #5 on the list · 101/120 · for adults and mature teens

A dragon is the real reason King Leonidas and his three hundred died at Thermopylae. Sixty-two years later the gods send a Spartan boy of the agoge to kill it. The book takes lessons from tragedy and the cost of sacrifice, as is the Greek way.

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How the scores work: each book is rated 1 to 10 on eleven criteria; real-world blend and climax and fights count double, for a maximum of 120. See the full Fantasy 101.