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Read-alikes

Books like American Gods, according to Reddit

Not an algorithm's guess and not an editor's opinion: these are the books Redditors bring up in the same discussions as American Gods by Neil Gaiman. It appears in 131 indexed threads — the overlap below happens mostly in r/printSF.

12
Read-alikes found
338
Shared thread appearances
131
Threads with this book

The read-alike list

Ranked by co-mention strength — how often each book shares a thread with American Gods, normalized so ubiquitous books don't dominate.

Cover of Good Omens #1

Good Omens

Terry Pratchett

An angel and a demon who've grown fond of Earth team up to stop the apocalypse neither of them actually wants.

16 shared threads praised
Cover of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell #2

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Susanna Clarke

Two rival English magicians revive magic itself, and neither can predict what the fairy they bargained with actually wants.

18 shared threads praised
Cover of The Lord of the Rings #3

The Lord of the Rings

J. R. R. Tolkien

A gardener, a burglar's heir, and seven others walk a piece of jewelry to a volcano because destroying it is the only way to stop a war.

31 shared threads mixed
Cover of The Fifth Season #4

The Fifth Season

N. K. Jemisin

A woman searches a dying continent for the daughter her husband stole, while the world ends again on schedule.

35 shared threads praised
Cover of Storm Front (The Dresden Files) #5

Storm Front (The Dresden Files)

Jim Butcher

Harry Dresden, Chicago's only wizard listed in the phone book, takes a double-murder case that ordinary police work can't touch.

16 shared threads mixed
Cover of Dune #6

Dune

Frank Herbert

A duke's son survives his family's betrayal on a desert planet and becomes the prophet who leads its people to war.

57 shared threads mixed
Cover of The Eye of the World #7

The Eye of the World

Robert Jordan

A farm boy's village burns in one night, and the Aes Sedai who saves him says the Dark One marked him before he could walk.

18 shared threads mixed
Cover of Gardens of the Moon #8

Gardens of the Moon

Steven Erikson

An empire quietly marks its own soldiers for death, and the gods are already choosing sides before the Bridgeburners find out.

21 shared threads mixed
Cover of Hyperion #9

Hyperion

Dan Simmons

Seven pilgrims journey toward a monster that grants one wish and kills everyone else, and each tells the story of why they came.

49 shared threads mixed
Cover of The Three-Body Problem #10

The Three-Body Problem

Liu Cixin

A Chinese radio astronomer's decades-old reply to an alien signal puts Earth on a collision course with an invasion fleet centuries out.

35 shared threads panned
Cover of A Game of Thrones #11

A Game of Thrones

George R. R. Martin

A direwolf litter found beside a dead stag opens a decades-spanning war for the Iron Throne with no guaranteed survivors.

16 shared threads mixed
Cover of Red Rising #12

Red Rising

Pierce Brown

A miner's son fakes his way into the ruling class's brutal war-games academy to bring down the system that executed his wife.

26 shared threads praised

The overlap, in numbers

Where each pairing actually shows up. Click through for the full Reddit verdict on each book.

  1. #1 Good Omens by Terry Pratchett — 16 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
  2. #2 Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke — 18 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
  3. #3 The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien — 31 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
  4. #4 The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin — 35 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
  5. #5 Storm Front (The Dresden Files) by Jim Butcher — 16 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
  6. #6 Dune by Frank Herbert — 57 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
  7. #7 The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan — 18 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
  8. #8 Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson — 21 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
  9. #9 Hyperion by Dan Simmons — 49 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
  10. #10 The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin — 35 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
  11. #11 A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin — 16 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
  12. #12 Red Rising by Pierce Brown — 26 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF

Books like American Gods — frequently asked

What do Redditors read after American Gods?+

The books most often brought up in the same discussions as American Gods are: Good Omens by Terry Pratchett; Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke; The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. This ranking counts 338 shared thread appearances across 131 threads — it reflects what commenters actually pair together, not editorial picks.

How is this list ranked?+

We scan Reddit comments for book mentions and count how often two titles appear in the same thread. Books that keep showing up alongside American Gods — mostly in r/printSF — rank higher. A minimum of 3 shared threads is required, so one viral thread can't fabricate a match.