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1st out of 67 books
—
60 voters
The Cahokian
by
Zoe Saadia (Goodreads Author)
“The Cahokian” is a historical novel, based on the final years of the largest North American pre-contact empire.
Acoto, the Chief Warlord of Cahokia, accepts a mission in the far north-east. Determined to restore the fading glory of the Empire, he leads a campaign against the northern barbarians.
However, the League of the Iroquois is not an easy target. Before the day of t...more
Acoto, the Chief Warlord of Cahokia, accepts a mission in the far north-east. Determined to restore the fading glory of the Empire, he leads a campaign against the northern barbarians.
However, the League of the Iroquois is not an easy target. Before the day of t...more
ebook, 320 pages
Published
July 17th 2011
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Zoe Saadia has successfully defined the essence of historic fiction with her acclaimed work, The Cahokian. Exceptionally well researched and beautifully written, this book takes the reader on a journey back to an era prior to the discovery of America. Indeed, the tale begins much earlier and displays a remarkable blend of imagination and recorded fact. The voyage dissects relationships at an individual ‘micro’ level as the characters are painted onto the pages and unravel the story. But the clev...more
This was a fast read for such a large book. I had never known anything about the Cahokian culture and this time period. The descriptions were excellent and sucked me right in. The story flowed well but it does remind you how brutal and cheap life was back then. You can loose your life in a gambling game, sacrificed to stop the bad weather, used as a pawn in a land grab battle for politicians, family power grabs or simply a macho duel of egos. This is was a wonderful and fascinating time period t...more
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Following a warrior through Becoming exalted and praised ..then turned and betrayed by his own ..what a great start of a story ..I was so evolved in they storyline that I kept wanting Life to pause while I read!
The historical descriptions had me scrambling to review the different stories I already knew ..and the way that I would react to a totally new life with Totally new priorities...Would I try to return to. My old life or relearn to live this new and totally foreign way? It actually gave me...more
The historical descriptions had me scrambling to review the different stories I already knew ..and the way that I would react to a totally new life with Totally new priorities...Would I try to return to. My old life or relearn to live this new and totally foreign way? It actually gave me...more
UPDATE!!! Zoe Saadia sent it off to the editors and now it's back!! It's now a beautiful piece of work that deserves all 5 stars!
This is a really hard review to write. Saadia tells Acoto's, the Cahokian's, story with such grace and beauty. She describes the land and the people without referring to any of the common tropes, sticking to the history, but making it real and human. The story of his adventures, his battles, his betrayals, and how he changes is so compelling, so human.
What's really am...more
This is a really hard review to write. Saadia tells Acoto's, the Cahokian's, story with such grace and beauty. She describes the land and the people without referring to any of the common tropes, sticking to the history, but making it real and human. The story of his adventures, his battles, his betrayals, and how he changes is so compelling, so human.
What's really am...more
I really loved this book. It has this very epic, timeless quality to it that's hard to put into words, but that made it both feel very real and specific to the historical period and also, yeah...timeless. The main character, Acoto, is a really fascinating and sympathetic person, and his growth throughout the novel is pretty amazing. But even from the very beginning I found him to be unusually subtle, intelligent and introspective compared to most of the books I've read lately, especially given h...more
Rating 3.5 stars
In the 13th century, the massive Great Mound of Cahokia in the Mississippi Valley supported a huge city and the accompanying civilization. In the following centuries, this complex civilization would collapse. The Cahokian follows the unexpected life course of a warlord, Acoto, of this expansionist culture. The author examines cross-cultural familiarity in her exploration of the common human traits of ambition, attraction, and adaptation, but also provides something fresh in that...more
In the 13th century, the massive Great Mound of Cahokia in the Mississippi Valley supported a huge city and the accompanying civilization. In the following centuries, this complex civilization would collapse. The Cahokian follows the unexpected life course of a warlord, Acoto, of this expansionist culture. The author examines cross-cultural familiarity in her exploration of the common human traits of ambition, attraction, and adaptation, but also provides something fresh in that...more
Let me get it out of the way immediately: this is an excellent book. Now, to the specifics:
1. The book steadily pulled me in, enchanted me with the quality of the story. The book dives into a decisive period of life on Acoto, a Cahokian leader who fell captive to his enemy. For a while, the story became a bit of an obsession for me; I began to care deeply for the man. I don't have much time to read during the day, and that gave me the whole day to look forward to relaxing with this book at nigh...more
1. The book steadily pulled me in, enchanted me with the quality of the story. The book dives into a decisive period of life on Acoto, a Cahokian leader who fell captive to his enemy. For a while, the story became a bit of an obsession for me; I began to care deeply for the man. I don't have much time to read during the day, and that gave me the whole day to look forward to relaxing with this book at nigh...more
3 likes · like · see review
I found “The Cahokian” to be a great read! This book opened cultures I’ve rarely visited in fiction or non-fiction reading, exposing a brutal clash of people sparing the reader few details. The prose-driven story is big on detail and small on animation, and to me a reasonable variation in which to create an adventure novel with historic backdrops. I found the book fascinating from the first page and recommend it highly to readers that favor a treat from mainstream templates, paranormal romance,...more
What an amazing story!
The Cahokian is a great story about the clashing of two worlds. Acoto, a warlord from Cahokia, is thrown into the world of the ‘Barbarians’.
However, as he learns more of their world he comes to realise that his might not be the glorious, proud empire that he once saw it as.
This story shows the great enlightenment of society and the diverse nature of humans. It is a gripping story filled with action packed battles and in depth analysis of the two different worlds. The desc...more
The Cahokian is a great story about the clashing of two worlds. Acoto, a warlord from Cahokia, is thrown into the world of the ‘Barbarians’.
However, as he learns more of their world he comes to realise that his might not be the glorious, proud empire that he once saw it as.
This story shows the great enlightenment of society and the diverse nature of humans. It is a gripping story filled with action packed battles and in depth analysis of the two different worlds. The desc...more
5 likes · like · see review
I enjoyed the heritage that was present in this book. I liked traveling with the characters through their family’s history and the traditions that were represented here. I think, however, that the plot needs some work. I was mostly confused between the ‘then’ and the ‘now’ time frames and don’t feel they were delineated enough. I feel it’s not quite ‘finished’ and needs a good editor to correct tense and grammatical errors.
Typically, I don’t review books like this that I consider unfinished how...more
Typically, I don’t review books like this that I consider unfinished how...more
An excellent book. Well written, well told and the subject matter was well explored. A book for all times, fits in the present time and will always fit the future. Prejudice is a universal subject and learning about others will remain a problem to solve forever. Worth the read.
Wonderful storytelling. Suspenseful and gripping. Great intrigues, battles, romance. Interesting, well developed characters. Having grown up near the Cahokia Mounds it was a real treat to have them brought to life in a naturalistic and from all I can tell from checking things on Wikipedia accurate manner. Building the story on the conflict between the Mississippians and the Iroquois was brilliant. I knew very little about either the Cahokia people - apparently recent scholarship has advanced sin...more
It took a bit to get into this book. Some typos jarred me a little, and one thing that really annoyed me was that I felt there were too many synonyms for "said" that should have just been kept as "said". Overall, these were fairly minor problems.
The story was a bit slow to start, but it got really interesting about 25% though, so I'm quite glad I stuck with it and pushed through.
While I had some minor quibbles with the writing, I enjoyed the story, and I will definitely have to check out more o...more
The story was a bit slow to start, but it got really interesting about 25% though, so I'm quite glad I stuck with it and pushed through.
While I had some minor quibbles with the writing, I enjoyed the story, and I will definitely have to check out more o...more
Dec 04, 2012
Juliana
added it
enjoyed this!
DNF - TBR reviewer: Monua
I found the blurb interesting but I couldn't get into the book. It was well researched. I only got about 25% through. I've come across books before that I just couldn't connect with. The thing is, I love historicals, so it is quite perplexing.
I found the blurb interesting but I couldn't get into the book. It was well researched. I only got about 25% through. I've come across books before that I just couldn't connect with. The thing is, I love historicals, so it is quite perplexing.
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| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Books 2 Read: Zoe Saadia | 1 | 3 | Jan 14, 2012 04:39pm | |
| Book Giveaways: Last few hours to enter to win The Cahokian! | 1 | 3 | Nov 23, 2011 04:09pm |
Zoe Saadia is the author of several novels of pre-Columbian Americas.
Having researched various pre-contact cultures of this continent for more than a decade, she is convinced that it’s a shame that such a large part of history was completely overlooked, by historical fiction most of all.
Both Americas has an extremely rich, diverse, fascinating history long before this continent was discovered by...more
More about Zoe Saadia...
Having researched various pre-contact cultures of this continent for more than a decade, she is convinced that it’s a shame that such a large part of history was completely overlooked, by historical fiction most of all.
Both Americas has an extremely rich, diverse, fascinating history long before this continent was discovered by...more
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