Customer Reviews

Aztec-20mxdp

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(21)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Gary Jennings was an author known for his great historical novels, based on enormous and thorough research, very sexually active characters, developed in a level that few writers can master, and unusual situations brought to light by an uncommon and skillful style of writing. I think "Aztec" is his masterpiece, but "The journeyer" and "Raptor" are not that far behind.

While reading "Aztec", I was totally transported to the "one world", back in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries of the christian era. Mixtli was a great character. His life was a great life. Jennings's readers were so appaled by his tale that they were left wanting more. Almost two decades later, their wish was granted. Of course, to be better than "Aztec" was a nearly impossible task, and not even Jennings was able to do it.

In "Aztec autumn", a sequel of sorts, Mixtli briefly appears, but the main character this time is Tenamaxtli, one of Aztlán heirs, who have to cope with his land being invaded and ruled by the spaniards. Tenamaxtli has revenge boiling in his heart, and he will conceive many plans to make the white smelly devils go back to where they came from.

The book starts well enough, and for a time I thought "Aztec autumn" would be as great as "Aztec". But this book lacks the presence of many of the great secondary characters that peopled its predecessor. Tenamaxtli is interesting enough, but he's surrounded by cardboard characters. Many of them appear only briefly. The subplots are also not very great. Many reviewers complain that some of those subplots are sorry excuses for overrated sexual experiences; I don't entirely agree with them, because I understand that sexual scenes were a very strong part of Jennings' writing style, but this time those scenes were not as greatly written as the ones existent in his three masterpieces. Also, the ending in "Aztec autumn" seems very rushed, as if the author himself got tired of his book and just wanted it to be over.

But when we're dealing with historical fiction, there are not many authors that can deliver a fantastic book like Jennings does - Noah Gordon and Ken Follett come immediately to mind. To go back to the One World / New Spain in the 1600s one more time was worth the reading. That's why this book deserves a 4-star rating.

Grade 7.2/10

Aztec Autumn suffers, like many sequels, by comparison to its predecessor, Aztec. One has the strong impression that the author knocked off this tome for one and only one reason: money. While the previous novel was impressive for the obviously immense research done to complete it, Aztec Autumn relies on implausible plot twists, magic, and the author's obvious prejudices for its effect. A fatal flaw is the author's choice of a mass murderer as a hero; any reader with a sense of justice begins rooting against the "hero" soon into the novel. Still, there is a certain amount of history interspersed with the author's prejudices, and fans of Aztec may want to read this mercifully short book just to get it out of their system.

If I could pick 3 1/2 stars I would have.

I enjoyed Aztec Autumn. It is not one of my favorite books and I don't think it is quite as good as Aztec. Reflecting on the that statment, how many sequels can claim to be as good as the original? There was something about Aztec that I find unplaceable. A sort of je ne sais quoi that Aztec Autumn unfortunately lacks, and while it does not make up for it, the book tries its hardest to by filling up every instant with action. With both this book and its predecessor, the endings left me thrilled yet high and dry at the same time. My only complaint of this book as an independant book is that, like Aztec, it is somewhat unbelievable, not so much in its greatness but in the characters' greatness. It is a good book, but not Mr. Jenning's best by far. If you haven't read Aztec read it and if you haven't read Raptor, then well, read that!

Well, the Spanish Conquerers of Old anyway.
Another great book by Gary Jennings, and though it did not grip me as much as Aztec did, I did really enjoy it.
In the second installment of the Aztec series, Jennings follows Mixtli's son thru the now almost conquered Aztec empire, and although we all know the outcome of that I still deep down kept wishing that Tenamixtli somehow would magically change history and kick those spanish conquerers out of what is now Mexico.
In typical Jennings style the book is at times extremely violent and sexually graphic, but is very well written and researched. If you loved Aztec, you'll enjoy this one as well.

Gary Jennings' AZTEC was a stunning epic of blood and gore - a fascinating study of the fall of the Aztec empire told in first person from an "eye witness". Unfortunately, this much awaited sequel, AZTEC AUTUMN, is not as well thought-out as the first book. The story is formulaic in the now familiar Gary Jennings style (see JOURNEYER and RAPTOR) - the hero loses his virginity at an early age; experiments with incest; brags about being uncircumcised; and has sex with first - the great love of his life (who always dies) and secondly - with the second great love (who always dies). I'm sorry but I loved Jennings' JOURNEYER and AZTEC, but it's hard to forgive the blatancy of his formula in AZTEC AUTUMN - the roots are showing! Clearly AZTEC AUTUMN is just a retread of the far better earlier book - but is sorely lacking in a re-write or two to make the reader overlook how systematic is his formula.

In Aztec, Jennings came close to producing a modern prose epic,a panoramic picture of an infinitely interesting, sadly vanishedculture. Aztec Autumn, unfortunately, cannot measure up to the earlier effort. If Jennings had had more artistic sense, he wouldn't have released it, but there were probably so much pressure from his publishers and his literary agent that he couldn't help but try to cash in on his earlier success. The most telling weakness of this novel is Jennings' reliance on gratuitous sex scenes to keep the story moving. This device was beginning to wear on me in Journeyer, but by this stage it is beyond banal, and I am by no means a prude. He was simply running out of ideas, so he succombed to the Harold Robbins school of best-sellers. If you want to read a truly dumbed-down version of Aztec (one of the greatest "reads" of all time) fork over your money for this one.

I have always loved historical fiction, and "Aztec" is the best novel I have read. It sent me on a quest for all Jennings' works, two of which I purchased used as they are out of print ("Raptor" and "The Journeyer"). I truly enjoyed "Aztec Autumn", but it lacked the depth of "Aztec". Still, I suppose it is a must for "Aztec"-lovers.

I learned from this site that Gary Jennings died on February 13, 1999. Does anyone have any information about his death? I was truly saddened to hear about it and I can't believe that there won't be any more Jennings novels to follow "Aztec Autumn".

AZTEC is the best historical novel I've ever read. Thus, AZTEC AUTUMN can't possibly match it. But it comes pretty close.

The shortcomings: it doesn't cover the same sweeping segment of history that the first one does...it's wedging a story into the middle of the story we were told in the first book. It treads some of the same ground, particularly when it comes to lurid sex. The first book was packed with sex too, but, dare I say it, those scenes had a bit more context. THe ending is not entirely satisfying, but part of that is because history didn't exactly turn out all that satisfying either, if you're a fan of the Aztecs!

The pluses: The action and battle scenes are bigger and better. We get to see the Aztecs get some revenge, finally. (The book mostly follows an effort to drive out the Spaniards.) And it's always great to visit with familiar and much-loved characters.

I highly recommend the book, but ONLY, ONLY, ONLY if you've read the first one.

AZTEC AUTUMN is a sequel to Gary Jennings' earlier novel, AZTEC. Even so, it stands alone. The primary character of the first book makes his only appearance, at his execution, in the first chapter of this one. From that point, the story is told from the viewpoint of the burned heretic's son, an Aztec prince from an area not subjugated by the Spanish. When he learns of his true identity, the prince (Called Juan Britanico because his Aztec name is too difficult to spell) vows to wipe the Spaniards from the American continent.

Most of the book is concerned with Juan's adventures in preparation for leading his revolution. The actual revolution, in terms of battles and such, is left to the very end. As such this is more the story of a man's life instead of a war chronicle. We learn the joy and concerns of Juan and his people. Along the way, we also learn something of the native cultures of the Americas in the generation that lived through the conquistadors.

This is an entertaining book, if somewhat graphic in terms of sex, cruelty and violence.

I must confess I am mystified by the negative reviews of this book. Yes, there's sex, violence, sex, gore, sex, historical research galore, and . . . oh, yes, some sex, too. But the book has so much more than that.

First of all, it's based, very loosely, on historical fact. There really was a rebellion against the conquering Spaniards, led by a native from Aztlan named John the English, and yes, it very nearly did succeed.

The rest is fiction of course, and full of the kinds of in-your-face native culture descriptions that were so delightful in 'Aztec,' complete, as before, with incest, human sacrifice, fantastical myth, bloody warfare, and lots of graphic sex of all sorts. But isn't that why you read it?!?

'Aztec' was great, but it did have it's weaker moments. First, the constant interruptions to show the Spaniards' reactions to the narrative got a bit old after while. Second, the supposedly mature narrator seemed very immature in his delight in scandalizing his listeners. Third, the story sprawled all over the place, covering as many different types of settings and cultures as possible-- there wasn't any central core thread of plot to carry you through. And fourth, the reason for telling the story is rather suspect-- would the Spanish King really want to know all the gory details of the lives of the natives prior to his conquest?

'Aztec Autumn' improves on the original in all these respects. There IS a central thread of story to string it all together-- the story of an imaginative and moving, if failed, rebellion. There are no scandalized listeners. The narrator does not delight in shock. The interruptions are fewer and less intrusive, and this time they actually make sense in terms of why the story is being told at all.

To summarize then: tighter, more focused storytelling; more sensible framework for the narrative; an even stronger basis in historical reality. All this without sacrificing the 'guilty-pleasures' aspects of the presentation.

This sequel is BETTER than 'Aztec,' which is saying a lot.