Review: What good literature is all about.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 19, 2013
When all is said and done, what makes a satisfying novel? What are the qualities one wants to retain? Well, of course it must be a good story. Writers are, above all, story tellers, and if the impression that the writer doesn't quite know where he or she is going dawns on the reader after a few pages, it is unlikely to turn out to be a good book. Secondly, it must be well written. In the Pandora's Box of good things that have come out of the eBook publishing revolution, one of the miseries is badly written and poorly edited manuscripts that jostle for a place at the top table along with veritable pearls of new literature. The last potential satisfaction from a novel that springs to mind is the unexpected - in short, learning something new.Zoe Saadia is a prolific novelist whose literary passion is pre-Columbian history - the story of America's rich past before it was tamed by European settlers who foisted Christianity on the indigenous peoples and destroyed much of their heritage. And what a rich past it was! In many cases it was every bit as cultured as the conquerors' and the splendid architectural and artistic remains bear mute witness to what we have lost. But Zoe, because she is a fine story-teller who does her research carefully and then writes with great beauty, has given us a splendid window on those past times.In "The Fall of the Empire", we read an adventure story that never flags. Zoe Saadia has the courage to weave real people from that distant time into a blend of new personalities and rich settings that lend authenticity to the story. The characters have a distinctive way of communicating, as if we really are listening to Acolhua and Tepanecs and Mexica Aztecs talking in their dialects. Never once does Zoe fall into the trap of using modern idioms or lazy dialogue - even their insults are new to my eyes! We are there with the people in the early decades of the fifteenth century when it would be impossible to make a strong case for European superiority. And the characters are so well drawn! They are real, three-dimensional people with talents, weaknesses, ambitions, selfless loyalty and, in many cases, scores to settle.  When Tlacaelel, Tlalli and the others take leave of us, we feel as though we have lost real acquaintances. How fortunate we are that Zoe Saadia introduces us to many further interesting personalities in her other books.Review written by Roderick Craig Low, author of "Rewards and Dilemmas".