Customer Reviews

Aztec Blood (Aztec 3)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

There seems to be a trend in book publishing these days in which unfinished manuscripts by deceased, well-known authors are finished by others and then published under the famous name. I've read several of these types of books, with varying degrees of interest. This last book from Gary Jennings, and another, unknown writer, is definitely one of the better collaborations. It captures extremely well the essense of Mr. Jennings' writing, so that there is a terrifice story line, and action aplenty! The background and history is given as well as can be done without diverting attention from the tale, and the knowledge inserted is, for the most part, not intrusive. I do wonder, however, what the finished product would have been like had Mr. Jennings managed to complete it all on his own. Make no mistake, though, I really liked the book, and am sorry that no others will be forthcoming from Mr. Jennings. His death is a loss to all of his fans, among which I number myself.

I am a major Gary Jennings fan, having read all of his novels. I liked Aztec Blood, what is lacked in writing style is what I expected when I bought the book. Gary Jennings didn't write the book and therefore, I did not expect an exact copy of his writing style. This novel was fast paced, fun, certainly unbelievable in most parts, but very good. Similar to some of Jennings other works, the hero of the story is in constant trouble but continues to avoid the ultimate. If you have read Aztec and Aztec Autumn, read this. Like many of Jennings others books, this one continues his assault on the church. I am only sorry that there will be no more from this great author.

I had read the first two novels in this trilogy and found the quality going down each time. Aztec was a phenomenal book, Aztec Autumn was good. I found Aztec Blood to be so-so (probably 3 1/2 stars). It centers around a mixed-breed Mestiso, who is spurned by all. He is raised by a Fray (a friar) and taught to read and write, which is forbidden to all but Spaniards. It seems like everyone he meets wants to kill him. The reader can only suspect why, until the late in the book.

The book does have some elements of the prior two and that is explaining some of the ancient rituals of human sacrifice and the horrors wraught by the Spanish Inquisition.

There are some interesting characters too (Mateo, Sanchez, the Healer), but in camparison to some of Mr. Jennings other books they are just not as good.

I understand that this book was completed by a ghost writer after Mr. Jennings untimely death. The writer did a great job of capturing Mr. Jennings style.

I'm not sure whether the late Gary Jennings actually wrote much of "Aztec Blood," and I'm not sure it matters. The novel does lack the sometimes wearying intricacy of detail found in the first two parts in theAztec series, but that is not altogether a bad thing. The mysterious author was wise to take "Aztec Blood" out of the Aztec universe and place most of it in the post-conquest world of the "castas," or people of mixed race. There the author uses the picaresque novel form to cleverly explore as many different aspects of this society, which is new, different, and rarely written about.
Cristo the Bastard is a Mestizo (half Spanish, half Indian), and as a result of his mixed race is not accepted by either group. He is raised by a friar who teaches him to read and write, but there is something mysterious about Cristo-he and the friar are always on the run from people who want to kill them both. During the course of the novel Cristo will work as a beggar, learning to contort his body and mastering the obnoxious wheedling whine that earns him extra alms. He'll also be accepted as an upper-class Spaniard, a publisher of questionable books, a silver-mine slave, a theater producer, and a victim of the Inquisition. Jennings, or whoever, draws smartly on 17th century literary sources for to create Cristo's world. The hero's boon companion is an actor, swordsman, adventurer, and playwright named Mateo Rosas de Oquedo , also the name of a real-life 17th century writer of comic verse who was a master at capturing the voices of the castas of New Spain. There is intelligent use of the works of popular period playwrights and poets (Lope de Vega, Calderon de la Barca) to flesh out the sense of what influenced the arts of New Spain. What's missing is an exact point when the novel is supposed to take place. Since the book is supposed to be written by Cristo in prison, why not simply have him date the first page of his memoirs, as most writers would do? This would anchor the action, as opposed to letting it float somewhere in the 17th century. The fact that it is set in the 17th century can only be judged by the presence of Mateo Rosas de Oquedo, otherwise it could just as well be set 100 years later.
Maybe "Aztec Blood" is by Gary Jennings, maybe it's not, but the mystery author did a fine job of writing a lively tale which neatly touches on the issues and aspects of this part of the New World.

It must be Jennings!! And even though this book was technically not written by Jennings but rather based on manuscripts found after his death, I have to say it was very very good. I felt some apprehension about reading this books for those stated reasons, but I'm glad I went ahead and read it anyway.

In the third and final of the Aztec series, we get to follow the adventures and tribulations of Cristo, a mestizo (mixed blood) in now conquered New Spain. The thing I found very interesting about this book is that you are pulled back and forth between the Spanish and India culture that existed side by side, but extremely separate from eachother during the 1600's. Since Cristo is of mixed blood, he switches back and forth between being a full blooded Spaniard and an Indio beggar. The book is full of adventure, sex, torture; all the typical Jennings subjects, and does not disappoint.

This comes from someone who historically has a tough time finishing books, and when I do, it often takes a good month to finish something of this length. My first introduction to Jennings was through, "Aztec", and I thought that was the best book I had ever read. I also read, "Aztec Autumn", and, while I thought it was a great book too, it didn't have me as hooked as the first. I was surprised and disappointed to read that this book, "Aztec Blood", was a colaboration, but I'm so glad I didn't let it stop me from reading it because the story was a fabulous adventure. Yes, it became predictable at some points, but the friendship formed between the two Knights Errant, Cristo and Mateo, kept me constantly entertained. The ties to Cervantes', "Don Quixote", were extremely amusing. More of a storyline versus the great history of the first two books, but a very entertaining storyline indeed. A little unbelievable at times? Yes, but I think that was the intent when telling a tale of great knights! I finished it in less than a week - new record for me!

This book wasn't written by Gary Jennings, so don't expect to find so much of his writing style on the book...

OK, first of all this book has the same relation to the Aztec culture as a phone book... well, maybe a little more...

This book doesn't deal too much with the Aztec world as the previous ones, so that was a downer, it deals more with the colonial spanish life of manhood, honor and chivalry... Don't get me wrong, this was a GREAT book as itself, but not as a sequel to the previous ones...

This book tells the life of Cristobal, of his life as a Mestizo, and a lépero, the worst kind of living being in New Spain...

I don't know what, but there was something just plain wrong about this book, perhaps, the little connection to the Aztec world; or the annoying appearance of spanish words in useless parts of a sentence, which btw seems the author didn't even cared to investigate further on the meaning or the proper conjugation of the word, I mean, the least he could do was take a trip to a latin ghetto and ask how to say properly "dishonest books", instead of relying on a crummy internet translator. There's also the scarce research that was made on the very little amount of Aztec tradition that appears on the book. Another thing was the obligated sexual parts that had to appear throughout the whole story, most of it useless, and made to make the book look thicker...

All of these mistakes could be forgivable on a normal independent novel, but this was the conclusion of the Aztec series...

But still, this book had excellent parts, that took a lift out of it, parts that made the book somewhat lighter and funnier...

This is a great read. It is exciting and enjoyable. To me, it seems true to the style of the late Mr. Jennings. I read Aztec weeks ago, and felt compelled to see what happened next. I read the 2nd book, Aztec Autumn, and I thought it wasn't nearly as good as the 1st. The 3rd (and, I assume, final) installment makes up for the less interesting 2nd novel. I highly recommend this book. Even if you don't read the 1st two, this one can stand on it's own. Read it!

Aztec Blood captured my attention right away. It held my interest from beginning to end.

Adventure: Keeps a person thinking what is going to happen to Cristo next.

Description: Fantastic. From the flicking candle in the Viceroy's dungeon cell.
To a magician he witnessed in the moonlight.
This book leaves the reader feeling as though they have actually witnessed the events.

If I didn't know better I would think Gary Jennings was still alive and writing novels.

Congratulations to the writer who picked up where Jennings left off.

Aztec Blood: A great book to read.

This grotesque insult to the memory of an outstanding writer is the product of greed only, the unwillingness of the "estate" and "editors" to let go of their good thing, not the wish to bring the unfinished notes, research, and outlines of Gary Jennings to his public. There is not a trace of Jenning's brutally brilliant descriptions, his insights into the way history is woven by the masses moving inexorably in search of their dreams, his extraordinarily unique central characters who are just trying to live out their lives and yet change the lives of millions in the process. Not only do we not see even a whisper of Jenning's familiar accounts of the geography, architecture, and his ability to bring the reader into the very mood and feeling of the cultures but the editor and ghost writer obviously have do not have the barest knowledge of even the Spanish language, archaic or otherwise, to have allowed such monstrosities of translation to have slipped through. They can't even get the accents in the right places, for heaven's sake! All the inserted Spanish phrases seem awkward and contrived, a glaring difference from in AZTEC, where the jaw-breaking Nahuatl words formed a natural and familiar part of the narrative. The most telling omission is the sex scenes lack the power and human depth that Jennings produced so well. (After all, if you buy a Gary Jennings book you expect to get some pretty extraordinary sex included in it, right?) Instead, this book has me searching vainly to locate maybe a page or two that might have actually been written by the author whose name they have shamelessly stuck on this book. The only comparable disappointment I can cite is when the woman screenwriter who took Larry McMurtry in when he was in the throes of an alcoholic breakdown and got her paws on his manuscript of THE STREETS OF LAREDO and "finished" it for him, releasing that garbage on his unsuspecting public who were stunned to get an empty outline of most of the story after they had become so enchanted with McMurtry's LONESOME DOVE.

Anybody who has not yet wasted their money on this SO NOT Gary Jennings book, I encourage you to instead locate RAPTOR, the real author's account of the Gothic/Roman/Byzantine migrations and wars of 500 AD, which formed the Christian Church and much of western civilization as we know it today. That way you will remember this late, great author in his full glory instead of for this, supposedly his "last" book.