Customer Reviews

Aztec

5 star:		(227)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

My headline just about says it all. I won't get into details, but let's just say this book HAS IT ALL. Blood (lots and lots and lots of it, both in war and in human sacrifices), sex (lots and lots of it, mostly kinky) and more plot twists than you can shake a stick at.

But the culture explored is absolutely fascinating. The Aztecs are loving shown here, in all their alien rituals. We are repelled by their way of life, yet Jennings makes us understand totally where they are coming from, and we begin to accept that way of life as a perfectly viable one (not one I'd care to live in, but the people are not shown as cowering in fear either). When the Europeans finally invade and make life miserable for the Aztecs (and Incas and Mayans), we are totally sympathetic with their plight and totally engrossed in our major character. If you like historical novels, there is no way you won't eat this thing up, unless you're squeemish.

If you don't usually enjoy them, give this one a try. It is far superior to most, in my opinion. You'll learn things you never knew (I guarantee it) and you'll love it.

One word of warning...it's a long, long book, and the first 75 pages or so are a bit slow going. Stick with it...the remaining 1000 pages or so will fly by, and you'll be sad when it's all over. (Thank God there is a sequel...actually two sequels, but the third book was not written by Jennings, and is a travesty, I think.)

I cannot say it is the best book ever written, for I have not read every book. But I say that if I had, Aztec would probably be the one I'd remember most dearly.

In other words, you're not a book-lover if you haven't read Aztec. It will shock you, it will make you laugh, it will take you close to tears. It's the most complete literary work I've ever come across and it will probably keep this title for a long time.

The main character is incredibly human, even more human than some people I know. I cringe when I call him a character, because after reading this book, he feels more like a friend. He makes mistakes, not stupid mistakes, but mistakes we would make if we were in his position. The people that he shares his life with are also noteworthy. Even Hernan Cortes isn't demonized here. The Spanish are noted as real people. As people with flaws, which are criticised with heavy doses of irony and sarcasm.

I love reading books, but the biggest book I've read before Aztec was only 450 pages long. This is 1039. If you want to start reading long books (it's a step bigger than I imagined) than Aztec would be the perfect kind. The book is huge not because it has overly-long-descriptions. It's long because it's a person's life, and a very long and busy life I might add.

I plan on finding a hardcover edition of this book. Just so I can keep it on my shelf, unread and in perfect condition. This is better entertainment than any other kind of media can give.

Buy this book. Read it. Love it. Share it.

As a student of Mexican history, an aspiring writer and a linguist by education, I'm possibly among the tougher readers out there. As a matter of fact, I rated the sequel to this book at 1 star out of 5... :)

So here is my opinion, take it or leave it. I believe this work deserves the highest mark.

Key Positives:

- Specific, visual writing style that leaves no doubt about what the writer is saying. The quality of writing is well above average: the words are chosen with care, the scenes are complete, the text is easy to read. G. Jennings immediately created the 'style' of the book, unique and engaging.

- Compelling main character. Mixtli is a joy to get to know. He's one of the richest literary personages that I know of. The insights into his nature are deep and disturbing.

- Breadth of research and excellent presentation of it. The sites, smells, sensations of the time are reproduced with outstanding level of detail.

- "Show don't tell" excellence: I forgot about time... the book is so visually and sensually compelling that at times I had an impression of watching a movie rather than reading a book. Or having a dream...

- Tight plot. Some folks seem to expect a fast-moving plot from this book which is probably a 'milieu' (location) book rather than a commercial, event-driven story. The plot is the life itself. Every scene is in its place. Even the most disgusting scenes (e.g. Mixtli puking onto the old whore) move the plot forward in more than one way. Superb planning and execution!

- Honesty and bravery in covering even the most unpleasant details.

Key Negatives:

- Some characters do get repetitive. All the key women are coockie-cut: stunning beauties of unbelievable grace, who drench Mixtli in their generous unconditional love only to die untimely and horrific deaths. Everyone apart from his daughter (thanks goodness not his daughter) worships his member and indulges into the most questionable behaviour with him from incest to pedophilia.

- Some historical data is plain wrong. The flow of conquest is distorted, the character of Montezuma, in fact rich and well-documented, is made into a cartoon junkie, Dona Marina is artificial, etc. I guess that's the 'right of pen' in action... but it does undermine credibility of the rest of the facts. Which, probably, is fine.

- I'm sorry, but the compulsive obsession with how every woman's 'tipili' looks and feels, and with Mixtli's own manhood size is tiring. I've done my share of wild things in life, but even I thought it too much.

Overall, a delightful book. It affected me deeply, and possibly changed me. How many books have done this to you?

Cheers.

In a word, Jennings' monumental work on the Aztec empire is outstanding. A simultaneous success on multiple fronts, Aztec is a gut-wrenching drama, a romance, an epic family saga, a titillating R-rated tale that pulls absolutely no punches over blood, guts, gore and sex, a history of the downfall of one of the world's major historical cultures and, finally, a scathing political indictment of the Roman Catholic Church and the imperial policies of 15th century Spain! Wow!

Jennings discloses this tale through the first-person narration of Mixtli, an Aztec scribe and lord, held prisoner by the local bishop, Juan de Zumárraga, for the purpose of providing accurate information and history from the local point of view to King of Spain. The manner in which Mixtli reveals his story makes very clear Jennings' disgust over the rape, pillage, subjugation and ultimate destruction of the Aztec people, their culture and their religion by the Roman Catholic Church and the military forces of Hernando Cortés. But Jennings also allows Mixtli full rein when it comes to expressing his dismay over the Aztec's own responsibilities and failures - the division of Mexico into near feudal mini-nations that allowed Cortés to pick them off, one tiny piece at a time, and through political maneuvering to set one nation against another; the spying and machinations of Malintzin, Aztec Mexico's own Mata Hari; and the vague, ineffective leadership of a procrastinating, equivocating Montezuma who failed time and time again to grasp opportunities that would have repelled the Spanish invasion once and for all!

In the foreground of this magnificent, sprawling tapestry of Aztec history, Mixtli tells his own family story beginning with his birth as the son of a common warrior, his education as a scribe, his accumulation of magnificent wealth and, finally, his ascension to the position of Aztec lord and valued government councilor. And what a story it is - the sordid, tempestuous details of his incestuous love affair with his sister; the extraordinary manner in which he overcomes his extreme nearsightedness; his incredible mastery of dialect and language; the all-consuming love he held for his wife, Zyanya, and his daughter, Nochipa; his stupidity and utter blindness in failing to realize how deeply Zyanya's twin sister loved him as well; and, his exciting travels as an itinerant merchant and spy across Aztec Mexico and the Mayan empire in Central America. Mixtli's ongoing battle and gruesome revenge on Chimáli, his one time best friend and ultimately his darkest enemy, will leave you slack-jawed with amazement!

Aztec is neither a short read nor a simple read! But you'll find it all here - comedy, drama, pathos, sex, violence, satire and political commentary. I guarantee you'll find that with every passing page, Jennings will pull you more and more deeply into Mixtli's magnificent but brutal Aztec world and, when you reach the final page, you'll be sorry it's over! Undoubtedly, a 5-star achievement!

Paul Weiss

The first thing that comes to my mind when I think about this book is what a fascinating and terrific read it is! "Aztec" is definitely a book with everything...and it shows. Yet, part of the miracle of this book is that every page remains as fresh and as sparkling as the one before (and this is a long book, my edition has more than 1000 pages). Quite an accomplishment!

"Aztec" is "the" story of the Aztec civilization of Mexico, told at the very height of its magnificence and glory. The protagonist of the book, Mixtli, is a person you are guaranteed to never forget but will surely come to miss. Although Mixtli wasn't born to a high station in the Aztec world, he manages to rise above himself, becomming first a scribe, then a warrior, then a traveling merchant. As the latter, he travels over all of Mexico, then called The One World, exploring jungles, mountain peaks, deserts, beaches. And, he makes a fortune in the doing. Eventualy, Mixtli is elevated to knighthood and the nobility, both stations he well deserves.

"Aztec" is, by turns, gruesome, suspenseful, sexual, adventurous, erotic, heroic and comic and everything is done on epic proportion. It has to be since Mixtli is not a man to do anything by halves, or to leave a task undone. He seems possessed by an unquenchable thirst for new adventures and new horizens and, luckily, we can travel along with him without risking the consequences Mixtli so often had to face.

Through the pages of "Aztec" we witness, along with Mixtli, the gruesome Wars of Flowers, the nomadic life of the Dog People of the desert, the dignity of the Cloud People who live in the mountains, the one-time spendour of the Mayan jungles of the Yucatan, and the glory of Tenochtitlan, the capital city of the Aztecs.

All is not glory and splendour in this book, however, and "Aztec" is certainly not for the faint-hearted or the squeamish. Some of the scenes, especially the sacrificial scenes, are so gruesome and blood-drenched that it can be difficult to read every word. And the book is, at times, quite tragic, for Mixtli, himself, does not escape his share of blood and gore.

Some readers have complained about the violence and sex included in this book. I know much violence and sex is simply gratuitous these days, but it certainly isn't in "Aztec." Sex and violence were simply part and parcel of the Aztec culture; had Jennings failed to include it, his book would have read like some watered-down, barely palpable version of the "real thing." The Aztecs did everything on a grand scale; if you require drawing-room manners in your reading, you'd best skip this book and read Jane Austen instead.

Lest you think Jennings forgot the other side of the coin, i.e., the Spanish point of view, he most certainly did not. At the height of his career (and at the pinnacle of Aztec civilization), Mixtli is sent by Motecuzoma to "welcome" the strangers who have arrived in The One World. Wondering if they are gods or mortals, Mixtli thus comes to meet Cortes and his band of conquistadors...the very persons who will destroy the Aztec civilization and very nearly wipe its memory from the face of the earth. Still, even in times as tumultuous as these, Mixtli has one more heroic deed waiting for him to accomplish.

I've read that it took Jennings twelve years to write "Aztec." I can well see why. The book is filled with detail about healing, about cooking, about sacrifice, about love, about anything and everything that made up the world of the Aztecs. Although I certainly wouldn't have wanted to be a member of that world (I'm far too peace-loving for that), finishing
"Aztec" does cause me to miss the vicarious experience of it.

If you like your literature uncensored and filled to the brim with life, in all its glory and all its tragedy, then "Aztec" might be the book for you. Just be prepared for a dizzyingly wild and wonderful ride like none you've ever experienced before.

If you want a novel that has everything (adventure, history, sex, story-line, characterization, debunking of myths, humor, horror, human insight, etc.) this is IT! Jennings novel has to rank as one of the all-time stories for story's sake. Echoing other reviewers here, I was absolutely ticked off that the story had to come to a close. Unfortunately, I was equally disappointed by Jennings' subsequent tries at emulating this storytelling feat (particularly Aztec Autumn - what a bust!) The author apparently used up all his creative powers in constructing and researching this novel. Yet if I could have done even half as good a job as Jennings did in writing Aztec, my life would have been heroic! This is as close to creative genius as any historical novelist has come to in our era. I am not prone to hyperbole in my reviews, but if you haven't yet read this book, you are missing out on one of the true treats of contemporary fiction. Order it, now!

Aztec by Gary Jennings is like one reviewer said inside the critical acclaim portion at the start of the book, one book you will miss after you are done reading it.

This story of the Aztecs is told by Mixtli, a son of a limestone-quarryman. He travels around in the One world as a scribe and later a warrior and trader. He learns the true history of the Aztec people during his education in Texcoco before he is the personal "aide" to a scandalous wife-to-be to the Chief of Texcoco.

It is a story of many plot turns, twists, revenge, sex, blood, sacrifice and humor.

You learn of the many gods of the Aztec people, bizarre religious ceremonies and incest.

This book is shocking and offensive (not to me) but so is the bible (which contains almost exactly the same things). You'd know if you read it.

Mixtli tells his story, 60+ years of experience to Spanish Roman Catholic friars after the conquest of Mexico, you cannot miss this one.

I promise, this is the best ... value around, buy it, you'll be glad.

"Very Fortunate and Most Excellent Prince: from this city of Tenochtitlan-Mexico, capital of your dominion of New Spain, this twelfth day after the Assumption, in the Year of Our Lord one thousand five hundred twenty and nine, greeting".

Prepare to witness the incredible life and times of Chicome-Xochitl Tlilectic-Mixtli, the brave Azteca who lived through the downfall of his world in the hands of the gold hungry Hernan Cortez and his conquistadors and found the time to tell his story to his Spanish conquerors.

Jennings takes the art of story telling to a majestic level. Aztec is a fabulous journey into the lives of the ancient Azteca people and the various tribes that inhabited the Mexican territory, 500 years ago. The vigor of the narration, vividness of detail along with unforgettable characters and great adventures make Aztec a marvelous exploration and an intriguing account of the Azteca culture and customs. From a western perspective, many of the stories told by Mixtli are shocking, cruel, and repulsive; to sacrifice 15,000 people at the inauguration of the great Sun Temple is by all standards a bloody story and through the eyes of the Spanish prelate, the account is neither merciful nor understanding: "Your astute Majesty can hardly have failed to notice that the earlier pages have treated - casually, without remorse or repentance - of such sins as homicide, prolicide, suicide, anthropopophagy, incest, harlotry, torture, idolatry, and breach of the Commandment to honor father and mother. If, as it has been said, one's sins are wounds of one's soul, this Indian's soul is bleeding at every pore". Mixtli gives his perspective of things and makes us understand his world, people, and times. No matter what your beliefs are, this book will not leave you indifferent. The western ethnocentric position is strongly challenged and questioned; what is good and what is evil, what is right and wrong, how shall we honor god...who has the power to decide upon these issues?

Historic fact: the conquest of the Aztec empire was not dictated by the Spanish emperor. In fact, Carlos had no idea that Hernan Cortez was roaming Central America for his own personal benefit but in the name of the emperor. The Spanish ruler didn't even know of the Azteca existence until long after the fires in Mexico City had died out.

I strongly recommend this book to all history fiction fans interested in the tumultuous age of the Spanish conquest of the Americas. The amount of historical research in this book is indeed impressive.

Jennings' research on the Aztecs and the neighboring tribes of late pre-conquest Mexico is very awe inspiring and comes through very clearly. As a work of historical fiction, however, it isn't satisfying. The narrator, "Dark Cloud" is not believable as a character, but is whatever Jennings needed him to be to convey the facts the facts about pre-conquest Mexico that Jennings wants us to know. Several previous reviewers have referred to Mixtli/Dark Cloud as an Aztec Forrest Gump, i.e., someone who was present at all the right moments of history. This is the fiction writers' prerogative, but Jennings really abuses the device of sending Mixtli on random journeys throughout Mexico just so he can tell about the people and cultures of these areas. The most ridculous example of this was having Mixtli's canoe be blown out to sea and drift hundreds of miles up the coast, just so Jennings could describe some of the savage northern tribes. This is gratuitous, silly and unnecessary. The book is too long, and the some of the outlying tribes are frankly not interesting enough to describe at the cost of further page bloat.

But the real drawback of the book is Jennings' virulent misogyny. Jennings had an Ian Fleming complex on steroids; every female character unfortunate enough to cross paths with "Dark Cloud" comes to a terrible, horrifying end. After awhile, this becomes as predictable as it is annoying. Jennings also has a fascination, alsmost an obsession, with the freakish and the bizarre. Unfortunately, the "plot" of this book consists of little besides the somewhat tedious lessons in ethnography and geography punctuated by episodes of sadism and the destruction of the female characters. (He kills off the male characters, too, but quickly and usually without the dramatic sadism that he invests in the death of the females.)

Jennings gives most of the credit for the conquest to disease, arguing that the Aztecs could not have been conquered but for their decimation by smallpox. He doesn't seem to like Cortes much, although he grudgingly acknowledges the man's audacity, determination and ingenuity, while highlighting his cruelty, greed and rapacity. There are a few historical liberties taken; for example, the events of the return of Cortes from the coast, the death of Montezuma, and the "night of sorrows" are all telescoped into one day, although the histories I've read spread these events out over the course of several days. Bishop Juan de Zumarraga was only bishop-elect in 1531, not being formally confirmed until 1533. Nor was he the Inquisitor of Mexico in 1531, assuming that office only in 1535, and the one time that Zumarraga did condemn a native to the auto da fe, or burning at the stake, that decision caused him to be replaced as inquisitor. But Jennings' historical liberties are relatively minor and within the rights of the historical novelist.

Jennings writes with some obvious and justified sympathy and even admiration for the Aztecs, while not shrinking from a thorough description of their most horrifying, brutal religious rituals. In one episode, Mixtli takes a terrible revenge on a group of Mexica because of their unfortunate choice of a sacrificial victim; I think this episode is a tacit admission on Jennings' part that these people, because of their religious barbarism and cruelty, were due a reckoning, even if that reckoning came at the hands of a people who practiced their own religion in a cruel and barbaric way.

Yes, Aztec is more than a book. It is an experience that will stay with you the rest of your life (even as I write this, I am remembering some parts of the book and a chill is going down my spine). Just like so many other reviwers, I have given away copies of this book to grateful friends, my whole life revolved around the book when I was reading it, I dreamed (and still do) about the Aztecs, etc. The narrative and characters are perfect and the book is perfect, putting you thru the entire range of human emotions; you will feel mentally drained by certain passages (in particular, there is one episode about 2/3 of the way thru, right around the time Cortez comes on the scene, that is the most chilling thing I have ever read, and I have read a lot in 50+ years. You'll know it when you read it). In case you haven't gotten the message yet, read this book; it is just marvelous.