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A review by aaronj21
The Assyrian by Nicholas Guild
3.0
From my own limited experience and narrow vantage point it seems like the historical fiction genre has changed quite a lot in recent decades. Most recent historical fiction seems to follow a pattern, relatively short books, with a fairly surface level exploration of the time period they’re set in, and usually about more modern history (WWII! It’s WWII, it is ALWAYS WWII!).
However, the older historical fiction titles that come to mind, The Egyptian (1945), Shogun (1975), and Aztec (1980), are quite different from these more recent books, for all their differences, these novels share some crucial similarities. All are absolute bricks (The Egyptian is the shortest of these at 514 pages), all paint a vivid though sensationalized picture of the time they're set in, and all have, shall we say an…uncomfortable relationship with themes of sexuality (if you know you know, basically it’s glaringly obvious all of these books were written by straight men in the 70’s, that or authors back then thought historical fiction wouldn’t sell unless it also contained plenty of “adult content”).
The Assyrian (1987) exemplifies this type of older historical fiction perfectly. It’s a sweeping historical fiction novel of the Neo-Assyrian empire, following the life of the (fictitious) Tiglath-Ashur during the reign of his father (the non-fictional) Sennacherib. Tiglath grows up, learns to be a warrior, earns glory in battle, and generally gets up to shenanigans very near the arc of Assyrian history. In terms of immersion it was a fine book, you can tell the author did some research and the mores and values of the time feel authentic to the period. While it shouldn’t be taken as a full history lesson by any means, it does illustrate some important, real life historical points, (the ancient animosity between Assyria and Babylon, the tribute system in the empire, and the general workings of the army, etc.) The story itself is also well told and kept my interest. Most of the sexual story elements were not to my taste as they felt unnecessary and exploitative.
I will probably not read any further in this series although I do not regret the time I’ve already spent.
However, the older historical fiction titles that come to mind, The Egyptian (1945), Shogun (1975), and Aztec (1980), are quite different from these more recent books, for all their differences, these novels share some crucial similarities. All are absolute bricks (The Egyptian is the shortest of these at 514 pages), all paint a vivid though sensationalized picture of the time they're set in, and all have, shall we say an…uncomfortable relationship with themes of sexuality (if you know you know, basically it’s glaringly obvious all of these books were written by straight men in the 70’s, that or authors back then thought historical fiction wouldn’t sell unless it also contained plenty of “adult content”).
The Assyrian (1987) exemplifies this type of older historical fiction perfectly. It’s a sweeping historical fiction novel of the Neo-Assyrian empire, following the life of the (fictitious) Tiglath-Ashur during the reign of his father (the non-fictional) Sennacherib. Tiglath grows up, learns to be a warrior, earns glory in battle, and generally gets up to shenanigans very near the arc of Assyrian history. In terms of immersion it was a fine book, you can tell the author did some research and the mores and values of the time feel authentic to the period. While it shouldn’t be taken as a full history lesson by any means, it does illustrate some important, real life historical points, (the ancient animosity between Assyria and Babylon, the tribute system in the empire, and the general workings of the army, etc.) The story itself is also well told and kept my interest. Most of the sexual story elements were not to my taste as they felt unnecessary and exploitative.
I will probably not read any further in this series although I do not regret the time I’ve already spent.