20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Extremely enjoyable, but falls apart on subsequent readings, June 7, 2005
This review is from: Assyrian (Mass Market Paperback)
When I was a teenager, I absolutely loved this novel. Nicholas Guild's "The Assyrian" is probably one of the best introductions to Mesopotamia I can think of, and it propelled me to further study ancient Middle Eastern history, especially that of Assyria and Persia. This story is a colosally juicy read, with a fantastic amount of detail, and it mainly involves the adventures of the wronged yet virtuous prince, Tiglath Ashur, and his conflicted relationship with his brother, Esarhaddon, and his love for the lady Esharhamat, Esarhaddon's promised bride. There's lots of bloodshed, brutality, sex, and luridly described battle scenes, exotic religious rituals, and- most interestingly- visions of gods and other descriptions of ancient Assyrian spirituality. The Homeric/biblical style of the novel is flawless, and there is- thank God- no annoyingly preachy Judeo-Christian overtones. The inventive energy of the story is very engaging, and there's no boring exposition; nor does the plot seem to drag at any point, which is one of the biggest problems I have with epics of this sort.
However, I don't mean to say that "The Assyrian" doesn't have its share of problems. I've read this novel three times, and like such movies as "The Incredibles," this book does not seem to hold up on subsequent readings. Upon analysis and study, the number of cliches in this book are absolutely staggering. For starters, our hero Tiglath is dismayingly like a male Mary Sue (the fanfic term for a too-good-to-be-true protagonist). Not only does he have unusually light-colored hair and eyes, but he's brave, good, loyal, handsome, honest, romantic, etc. etc. In fact, I began to wonder: "does he have ANY faults?" His flawed half-brother, Esarhaddon, is a far more engaging character, and on my third re-reading, I began to wish that the story was about him, as opposed to the rather tiresome Tiglath. Also, Tiglath's girlfriend, Esharhamat, is basically Guinevere/Juliet in ancient Assyrian costume; she has no family or friends, her only reason for living is to be Tiglath's girlfriend, and what's more, given the lack of character development, there is absolutely no reason given for her and Tiglath's passionate love, other than that it's in the script. The other female characters fare no better, and are about as wooden as Pinocchio. Naq'ia, Esarhaddon's mother, is The Wicked Queen; Merope, Tiglath's mother, is basically the Good Mommy; Shaditu, Tiglath's sister, is the Hot Crazy Nympho who hangs around ghetto taverns to sleep with lower-class guys, a la Messalina; and Zabibe, the Arab spy who shows up in the second half of the novel, is the Evil Spy Chick Obsessed With S&M. The male characters are generally more interesting, although a number of them come perilously close to becoming the hoariest cliches imaginable- King Sennacherib is one of those distinguished-elder-statesmen types Sir Cedric Hardwicke always played in the 1950s, and Kephalos, Tiglath's slave, is pretty much the Clever Rogue Servant on hand to provide the comic relief.
Another thing which I find odd about the book is that Guild's depiction of royalty doesn't really make sense in a lot of ways. The portrayal of the royal harem in the beginning seems to have more in common with something out of a Robert E. Howard "Conan the Barbarian" novel, as opposed to an actual, believable home for the King's wives. There are hardly any children and no old people living in this place, the King's favorite wife- the evil Naq'ia- has, incredibly, only one child (with no mentions of any dead kids or miscarriages), and all the women in the harem, what's more, seem to be random girls pulled off the street, with no mention of noblewomen, princesses or political matches that had been made, i.e. in the manner of King Solomon's harem.
There is another thing which is very odd. Over and over again, we are told how all the royal princes- even the King and his chief general- sleep on the floor in pallets, which is ridiculous. They had plenty of beds at this time, and any cursory knowledge of ancient art or literature would tell you this. For example, King Solomon, who lived 400 years before this story takes place, would have never slept on the floor, and even a wealthy merchant at this period would have had a folding bed even when traveling. Also, Tiglath is considered admirable by his men for eating the same food as the rank-and-file when on campaign, and not having any luxuries about him; again, this is ridiculous. Ancient Middle Eastern royalty- just like the royalty of any period- did not live the lives of the great unwashed. They had fancy tents, ate good food off of gold plate, slept on beds and did not hang out with the enlisted. Neither would any democratic fraternizing have been considered admirable either; it would have been considered unfitting for a prince's dignity.
I know that I'm probably over-analyzing a popular novel, but it is an unfortunate fact that there are very few books of any literary merit whatsoever written about the Assyrians. "The Assyrian" is actually well-written; the constant incidents are entertaining, the style of the prose is a delight to read, and- his cluelessness about royalty notwithstanding- the author has generally done his homework. I just wish that there had been more thought given to the characterization, and that Mr. Guild didn't rely on cliches and stereotypes to portray this most interesting, and overlooked, period of ancient Middle Eastern history.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Magnificent read!, May 28, 2002
This review is from: Assyrian (Mass Market Paperback)
While reading this wonderful book for the first time I felt I personally took part in all the great battles and adventures of the protagonist of this book, Tiglat Assur!
The books contains everything that marks an extraordinary book:
A significant protagonist, some strong opponents, a great love story, a story full of intrigues, little cruelties and unforgettable battle scenarios.
In addition to all these singular incidents the author tries to emphasize why such an august realm as the Assyrian one which was the greatest realm of its time could perish!
If you ever find this book in any bookstor or library, then go buy it!
This is simply the best book I ever had the honour to read, better even than "The Lord of the Rings" by Tolkien.
You will find many fictional elements in book as well:
Different godhoods that really seem to exist, and a floridness atmosphere on all the places the plot takes place!
All the approximately 550 pages are fraught with tension and interesting information about the Assyrian realm.
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