Customer Reviews

Azteca/aztec (Novela Historica) (Spanish Edition)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book took my breath away. I actually felt anguish when I realized there were only 10 pages left until the end. I didn't want it to end. I have never read a book more than once. I started it again a couple of days back and this time I'm taking my time and I will savor every page.

I absolutely loved these books. Gary Jennings was genius in his research, literary skills and story telling. What a brilliant way to bring the past to life and tell the story from the true Mexicans' perspective. I teach Spanish, but feel like I have so much more of an understanding of the Mexican culture and how it has been influenced by Old Spain. I came to love the characters in both books and wish that he could have written more. I appreciate his extensive research into the culture and Nahuatl language. They are both great reads!!

This work by Gary Jennings is founded on a thorough anthropological and historical research of Mexico's history serving as the foundation for what is unfortunately a mediocre plot developed through very general and predictable characters and situations that are often in conflict with the anthropological and historical foundation of the novel.

The author leads the reader through the history and society of Mexico before and after Cortez through the character of Mixtli, the incestuous son of a simple laborer living near Tenochtitlan. Because of his literary skills, Mixtli soon finds himself a traveler crossing through the various castes of the Aztec civilization as a scribe, a warrior, a merchant, and a noble. Through this character, the reader travels in time and discovers the different facets of the Aztec civilization, its history, social hierarchy, social conventions, and religious practices.

Although the author brilliantly establishes in great detail the history and mores of Mexico's indigineous civilizations, this foundation supports only a very superficial plot and poorly developed characters. The narrative voice through Mixtli presents a modus operandi that is simply too cartesian to convince the reader that he lived most of his life as an Aztec. Reading the story one feels more as if they're reading Aristotle or Plato's dialogues instead of an Aztec traveler. In addition to presenting a dual narrative crudely defining the position of the conqueror/Church vs. the voice of the conquered/main character, the author tries to complement this defect by presenting the main character as an incurable sexual deviant who performs every sexual taboo such as incest, homosexuality/pedophilia, adultery, etc. to the point that it becomes an overwhelming part of the plot: simply an obvious and tedious filler and nothing more. It makes the characters stagnant and predictable. In addition, Mixtli's defiance against the Aztec religion's methods in selecting sacrificial victims and the author's utopian contrast with those of the other members of the Triple Alliance seem superficial, idealistic, and simply hard to believe.

Overall, the book presents an incredible overview of Aztec and Meso-American history that serves as a foundation to a rather banal plot with unimaginative characters. Compared to a similar historical romantic novel based in a foreign setting such as Clavell's 'Shogun', this novel is an average work. Like Clavell, Jennings is brilliant in detailing the setting of the story but, unlike Clavell, his characters are poorly developed leading the reader through a banal plot that is fundamentally in conflict with its setting. For these reasons, I rate this work 3 stars and average.

Aztec is a colorful, amazingly realistic account of the life of an elderly (60ish) man before, during, and after the arrival of the Spanish conquerers. I enjoyed very much the author's treatment of the chapters as a series of letters to the Spanish king, each one preceded by a cover leter from the priest explaining how the information was obtained and apologizing for the shocking content. This is my favorite Jennings book, perhaps because it was the first one that I read and it took me by surprise. He te

I am a student of Mexican history and have read many non-fiction books about the Aztecs. This is the first novel I have read about them.

I enjoyed the book. The book was recommended to me by my Mexican dentist. It is very, very graphic in regards to both sex and violence and I appreciate and enjoy that. I live near Mexico and travel there frequently. I have many friends there. Mexico continues to be a very violent and lusty country many centuries after the fall of the Aztecs so I think this type of novel is very true to life. I may read the other sequels to this book which I understand are numerous.

The major complaint I have about the novel is in regards to the Aztecs attitude toward gold. The author portrays the Aztecs as using gold as currency. Most of the sources I have read previously have claimed that gold held only ornamental and artistic value for them. Supposedly, that is the reason they so easily gave it up to the Spaniards.

It's an excellent book, I didn't want it finishes, was great, it rises my proud of being mexican, Aztecs lose because of they were weaks? or because of the Corte's weapons? not, they lost because their own people betrayed them, and they lost for a little bit.