My Favorite Books

The Walking Drum
Ender's Game
Dune
Jhereg
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Curse of Chalion
The Name of the Wind
Chronicles of the Black Company
The Faded Sun Trilogy
The Tar-Aiym Krang

Thursday, April 13, 2023

Review: Ancient Mesopotamia Mythology: Babylonian and Assyrian History, Myths and Legends (Annotated) With A Historical Introduction

Ancient Mesopotamia Mythology: Babylonian and Assyrian History, Myths and Legends (Annotated) With A Historical Introduction Ancient Mesopotamia Mythology: Babylonian and Assyrian History, Myths and Legends (Annotated) With A Historical Introduction by Lewis Spence
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Performance: ***

An interesting a solid treatment of Assyrian and Babylonian history.  Some of the names were not what I have usually encountered, so there may be some translation involved, but there is a glossary at the end that helps a lot.  Likewise the pronunciation of some of the names and terms was not always the same as what I was familiar with, but it all still worked.

There is a lot of information in this book and I enjoyed all of it … even the myth comparisons (and contrasts) with Mesoamerica, Egypt and others (the treatment of Noah and the flood was particularly interesting).  It you are at all interested in this topic, this is a great start that goes into a lot more detail than I recall from my early western civ class in high school.

Chapter 1: Babylonia and Assyria in History and Legend (Abraham)
Chapter 2: Babylonian Cosmology
Chapter 3: Early Babylonian Religion 
Chapter 4: The Gilgamesh Epic
Chapter 5: The Later Pantheon of Babylonia
Chapter 6: The Great God Merodach and His Cult
Chapter 7: The Pantheon of Assyria
Chapter 8: Babylonian Star-Worship
Chapter 9: The Priesthood, Cult, and Temples
Chapter 10: The Magic and Demonology of Babylonia
Chapter 11: the Mythological Monsters and Animals of Chaldea
Chapter 12: Tales of the Babylonian and Assyrian Kings
Chapter 13: The Comparative Value of the Babylonian and Assyrian Religions
Chapter 14: Modern Excavation in Babylonia and Assyria
Chapter 15: The Twilight of the Gods

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#AncientMesopotamiaMythology  #FreeAudiobookCodes 

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My Ratings Explained ...

  • [ ***** ] Amazing Read - Perfect story, exciting, engrossing, well developed complex characters, solid plot with few to no holes, descriptive environments and place settings, great mystery elements, realistic dialogue, believable reactions and behaviors; a favorite that I can re-read many times.
  • [ **** ] Great Read - Highly entertaining and enjoyable, exciting storyline, well developed characters and settings, a few discrepancies but nothing that can’t be overlooked. Some aspect of the story was new/refreshing to me and/or intriguing. Recommended for everyone.
  • [ *** ] Good Read - Solid story with a 'good' ending, or has some other redeeming feature. Limited character development and/or over reliance on tropes. Noticeable discrepancies in world building and/or dialog/behavior that were distracting. I connected enough with the characters/world to read the entire series. Most of the books I read for fun are here. Recommended for fans of the genre.
  • [ ** ] Okay Read - Suitable for a brief, afternoon escape … flat or shallow characters with little to no development. Over the top character dialog and/or behavior. Poor world building with significant issues and/or mistakes indicating poor research. Excessive use of trivial detail, info dumps and/or pontification. Any issues with the story/characters are offset by some other aspect that I enjoyed. Not very memorable. May only appeal to a niche group of readers. Recommended for some (YMMV).
  • [ * ] Bad Read - Awkward and/or confusing writing style. Poor world building and/or unbelievable (or unlikeable) characters. Victimization, gaslighting, blatant abuse, unnecessary violence, child endangerment, or any other highly objectionable behaviors by Main characters. I didn't connect with the story at all; significant aspects of this story irritated me enough that I struggled to finished it. Series was abandoned. Not recommended.