Gilgamesh Immortal

Chronicles of the Nephilim #3

by Brian Godawa

There is a book in the Bible where God’s name is nowhere to be found: Esther. Some say it was because God withheld his presence for a time, others say he was secretly working behind the scenes to accomplish his purposes. There was another time that God was hidden: In the period after the Great Flood before Abraham. Gilgamesh Immortal is a story of that time period. Gilgamesh Immortal tells a tale of the greatest king of ancient Mesopotamia shortly after the Flood, the mighty ruler Gilgamesh, king of Uruk. He is a giant, born of god and man who oppresses his people for his own power and glory. But when a Wild Man named Enkidu comes to town he is the only one mighty enough to stand up to Gilgamesh and put him in his place. Enkidu’s simple but strong character impresses Gilgamesh and the two become best of friends. But Gilgamesh longs for immortality, so they embark on a quest for eternal life that takes them from a giant’s forest, to the mountain of the gods, to the Path of the Sun in the Underworld, and ultimately to a distant magical island to find the one man granted divine favor during the flood: Noah. Gilgamesh Immortal is an adaptation of the oldest written hero story in history. And yet it is timeless in its universal themes of friendship, courage, purpose, the pursuit of immortality and the meaning of life. Chronicles of the Nephilim is written in the mythic genre of The Lord of the Rings and Narnia, blending fantasy and mythopoeia with history to retell the Biblical narrative with a fresh perspective, while staying true to the original spirit of the story.

Genres: Christian Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, Christian, Historical Fiction, Biblical Fiction, Biblical

366 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2012

About the author

Brian Godawa has been a professional filmmaker, writer, and designer for over 20 years. His creative versatility was born of a passion for both intellect and imagination, both left-brain and right-brain. The result: Brian is an artisan of word, image, and story that engages heart, mind, and soul. Just think, "Renaissance Man."

Reviews

[aria ✧ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gilgamesh thought to himself, There is much to teach this primitive man. I pray his moral rectitude does not impede his education.

Enkidu thought to himself, There is much to teach this educated fool. It will be a most difficult task to civilize him.

I don’t know anything about the Epic of Gilgamesh but I enjoyed this more than the previous book. To be honest I’m only reading this in order because I’m curious, otherwise I would jump to David and Jesus’ story because those are the ones I’m most interested in. But I have to say, the amount of research put into this, as shown in the index, is impressive.

[Angela R. Watts · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am so mad. I am blown away. I can't believe this. But I also can. I don't know. Oh my good no. Why. THIS BOOK. WHAT WHY. SO GLAD I DON'T HAVE TO DO REPORTS FOR THESE BOOKS THEY WOULD NOT BE COHERENT RIGHT NOW.

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Whoa.
The first two books of this series hit me hard, but this book was really something to chew on. It surprised me multiple times- mainly because I had NO idea what I was actually getting into in this book. I had no idea who Gilgamesh actually was.
I was in for a ride.
The book was well-paced, sucked me in, and the characters were realistic and in depth. Chilling book.

[Kevin Black · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written

I would advise the reader to read the Epic of Gilgamesh first to get an understanding of what is added by the writer to embellish the story and make it a good read. I enjoyed the story very much. My negative is a pet peeve of mine, the silly name calling and pet names for each other does not add to the story but detract from the seriousness. I do like how the bible is brought into the story.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

These aren’t the best written books, but they’re entertaining!

[Jacob Aitken · Rating 3 out of 5]

Godawa's prose style is not yet as polished as it would be in Chronicles of the Apocalypse. Nonetheless, numerous key developments.

[Natascha Limpt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bijbelse fictie
Gilgamesh is het derde deel in de Kronieken van de Nefilim-reeks, waarvan al eerder Henoch en Noach verschenen. Doordat Gilgamesh zich op een andere periode van de geschiedenis richt, is het boek prima als een op zichzelf staand boek te lezen. Tussen het voorgaande boek en Gilgamesh zit namelijk een gat van een paar honderd jaar en er wordt voldoende op de eerste twee delen teruggeblikt om de wereldbouw te kunnen begrijpen.

Brian Godawa schrijft in principe Bijbelse fictie. Hoewel Gilgamesh niet in de Bijbel voorkomt, heeft hij deze Mesopotamische mythe gebruikt om het gat tussen Noach en Abraham te dichten. De Mesopotamische goden spelen een grote rol in dit verhaal, al zijn zij hier geen ‘echte’ goden, maar nazaten van gevallen engelen (of de gevallen engelen zelf, het werd me niet helemaal duidelijk) die in de Bijbel beschreven worden. De mythe van Gilgamesh kende ik zelf niet, maar toen ik die na afloop opzocht, werd duidelijk dat de auteur zich vrij nauwkeurig aan het oorspronkelijke verhaal heeft gehouden.

Een wat rommelige vertelling
Voor iemand die graag over oude culturen leest, is Gilgamesh een geschikt boek. De auteur weet op een overtuigende manier het verleden vorm te geven; ik werd vrij makkelijk in de queesten van Gilgamesh meegevoerd. Er is sprake van een alwetende verteller, waardoor je soms binnen een paar regels van hoofd naar hoofd glipt en het allemaal wat rommelig overkomt. Dit is een perspectief waar ik niet zo van hou, al past het ergens wel bij de hervertelling van een klassieker. Waar ik me meer aan stoorde, was het willekeurige gebruik van witregels. Er waren geen tabs gebruikt, in plaats daarvan waren er witregels geplaatst, zij het niet altijd op logische plekken. De opmaak kwam daardoor een beetje amateuristisch over.

Een avontuurlijk verhaal dat wat psychologische diepgang mist
Gilgamesh is een avontuurlijk verhaal, waarin de hoofdpersoon meerdere heldhaftige queesten onderneemt en met interessante listen op de proppen komt. Behalve Gilgamesh zelf zijn er behoorlijk wat bijpersonages, waarvan de meeste niet echt diepgang kennen. Meeslepend geschreven is het verhaal ook niet; ik ervaarde best wat afstand tussen mijzelf en de personages. Maar omdat het als een soort klassieker leest, vond ik dat juist wel passend. Gilgamesh’ worsteling met zijn sterfelijkheid was goed uitgewerkt.

Waar ik moeite mee had, was het slot van het verhaal. Zonder al te veel weg te geven: in het nawoord geeft de auteur te kennen dat hij twee paden wil laten zien in zijn reeks: dat van Noach, die voor God/Elohim kiest, en dat van Gilgamesh, die daartegen kiest en zo tot een antagonist verwordt. Dit cruciale moment miste alleen uitwerking. Gilgamesh ging zo snel een transformatie door dat ik het niet kon bijbenen en wat ik daardoor ook niet geloofwaardig vond. Ik kreeg te veel het gevoel dat de auteur het personage een bepaalde richting in wilde duwen. Persoonlijk houd ik erg van verhalen waarbij je ziet hoe iemand een ‘schurk’ wordt, maar juist die psychologische diepgang ontbrak in dit verhaal en daardoor leek het vooral op een plottwist die mooi uitkwam voor de rest van de serie.

Conclusie
Gilgamesh is een los te lezen deel van de Kronieken van de Nefilim, waarin de schrijver de oorspronkelijke mythe van Gilgamesh vrij nauwgezet volgt, maar dit tegen een meer Bijbelse achtergrond plaatst. Het leest als een avonturenverhaal waarbij de held het opneemt tegen goden en monsters, maar tegen het einde ontbreekt er psychologische diepgang en wordt de hoofdpersoon in een bepaalde richting geduwd die niet logisch voelde en mij helaas niet kon overtuigen.

[Josie Sinatra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love love love these chronicles!

Since book 1 I have not been able to put them down!!
Thrilling to read and really makes you stop to think about the bible. I highly recommend these for all, spiritual or not.
A very exciting and though provoking story line.
Brian Godawa is a modern day C.S. Lewis

[Bonnie Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent writing

This book was really interesting. I didn't know much about Gilgamesh before reading this. As with the other two books I already knew about Noah and Enoch. I can't wait to continue the adventures with this talented writer.

[Deane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Epic tale!

Not the Sunday school tale. Godawa explores thru narrative prose and dialog ancient heroes, just post Demuge. HE intelligently and culturally accurately makes Gilgamesh a living ancient man of renown.

[Evan Minton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another Great Installment To The Series

Brian Godawa has written another great installment to The Chronicles of the Nephilim series. This book picks up where Noah Primeval left off ( because the events in Enoch Primordial chronologically precede Noah Primeval and in my humble opinion, it should have been the first in the series rather than Noah Primeval).

I won't give too much of the plot away other than that this continues the ongoing war between the seed of the serpent and the seed of Eve. Before the great deluge, Fallen Angelic Divine beings descended upon Mount Hermon, took human wives for themselves and mated with them which resulted in the hybrid quasi Divine beings known as Nephilim. Initially, the Angelic beings ( known as the Watchers in 1st Enoch) did this out of pure lust. As Genesis 6 indicates, it was because the Watchers/Sons Of God, found the daughters of men attractive. But eventually the Watchers started breeding Nephilim in an attempt to poison the blood lineage of God's chosen seed, which we know in the New Testament is Jesus the Messiah. And we know from the New Testament that Jesus is death and Resurrection over through the powers of darkness and atone for the sins of humanity.

I was very surprised at how godawa was able to merge the Babylonian story known as the Epic of Gilgamesh with the Primeval history of Genesis and how it fit like a hand in glove with the way that Godawa told the narrative. In the novel, the Babylonian Upnapishtim is is the biblical Noah, and this man is the one whom Gilgamesh seeks out for eternal life. That's all I'm going to say about the story because of you have not read either the Epic of Gilgamesh nor this novel, anything else I say might be considered spoilers. That said, I was surprised to find how godawa was able to merge this Babylonian Epic and integrate and subvert it within the actual Biblical history.

Like all of godawa was novels, this novel is full of action, romance, drama, and occasional humor. There are epic battles, and I found myself enthralled with the story. Like all of his novel, there is an appendix at the back that explains the biblical and historical research that Godawa did which informed the novel. Unfortunately, the audio version of this book does not contain the appendix. That was something I found disappointing about this book and the previous one. The audiobook version of Noah Primeval had the appendices, but Enoch Primordial and Gilgamesh Immortal did not. Fortunately, there is an audiobook version of "When Giants Were Upon The Earth" which is a compilation of all eight appendices from all eight novels.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third installment of Brian Godawa's Chronicles of the Nephilim. The first two are billed as Supernatural Epic Bible Novels, one being a retelling of the Genesis Bible story of Noah based on ancient historical research and the second is a prequel to Noah Primeval that tells the story of the fallen angel Watchers and the origin of the Nephilim giants using material from the Book of Enoch.

The subject and title of this third novel threw me for a loop. What does a Sumerian super hero have to do with the Bible or the Chronicles of the Nephilim?

Fifty years ago I managed to pass an ancient history course without reading the Epic of a Gilgamesh. There were just too many other academic requirements. And, I'm not sorry to say - much too many extracurricular distractions.

I am happy to report that having completed this retelling of the Gilgamesh story I have finally satisfied one of my freshman year reading requirements. I can also report that at least one connection that the Epic of Gilgamesh has to the Bible is in the presence of a Noah character and his story of the Great Deluge.

Godawa has taken great poetry and transformed it into gripping prose. This novel is full of action, romance, drama, and humor. There are fantastic battles, and now if anyone references the struggle against Humbaba the Terrible in the Cedar Forest, I'll know what they're talking about. Likewise with the Enkidu - Shamhat love story. Or the even more epic Gilgamesh - Enkidu brothers-in-arms theme.

As with his previous novels there is an appendix that explains the biblical and historical research that Godawa did which informed his writing of the story.

Anyway, if you're just looking for an entertaining, fun, adventure series this is a good one. If you want to learn more of history and theology the appendices are well worth your attention.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

**This one was a chore**

I've maintained a pretty steady interest in this series mostly for the sake of getting to the one about Jesus, but I admit the journey isn't smooth sailing. While the previous two books were decent 3-star reads, this one was a bit tougher to get into. It took me much longer to barrel through, and I often had to resort to a few skims as well as escapes into other books to make it to the other side.

If I wasn't so dang fascinated about the Nephilim and these creatively compiled stories to feature them, or had zero interest in reading how this author will handle the story of Jesus, I feel like this entry would have been the one to cause me to jump ship. I don't like dragging myself through stories, be them fictional or not.

While the lack of resonation was because of my unfamiliarity with Gilgamesh, I also must put blame on the sheer abundance of characters who are, quite simply, woefully underdeveloped. I had no luck connecting with anyone, which made character revelations or fates rather uncompelling and bland. There's a lot going on around the surface, but very little depth to REALLY woo me.

I'll chalk this entry to being the dud of the series and will still carry on, because if there's one thing this weaker entry and its slightly stronger predecessors have done, it's to still make me want to see the Nephilim lose and Jesus win. I still look forward to the end of it all. I just hope I won't have to drag myself along too much to get there.

[Elkaza · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s been a while, since I read the first 2 books, in this series, and should have read them again, before reading this book. But, didn’t want to hunt them down, in my large book boxes. Even so, I felt I didn’t like this book as much, as the other two. As, the overall narrative was trying to merge the Babylonian story known as the Epic of Gilgamesh with the Primeval history of Genesis. Not, sure how accurate it was, but the author still did a great job. Even so, I didn’t like the part when Gilgamesh went to visit Noah, but the author had to link the first two novels with this one. Yet, I did like the twist at the end of the novel.

Now, this book isn’t for young readers, as there is a lot of extreme violence and sexual acts. Not, sure if they were really needed. But, that’s my option, as you had to bring the Fallen Ones back into the story, and show how Evil they are. Yet, overall I loved the concept of this novel, having a passion for the riddles of ancient history. So, will differently read more in this series, when I come across them.

[Nick Woodall · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book. I knew nothing about the history of Gilgamesh and his epic poem. This book told the story of the poem in narrative format. I really appreciated the work that went into this book, translating the poem into the narrative. Since I knew nothing about the history of Gilgamesh, I learned a lot, especially about the characters and the part they played in the poem. This is a series of books, some biblical, some extra-biblical, such as this one.

[Sharon Phelps · Rating 5 out of 5]

Biblical fiction

Talk about a giant tale!! This is about a giant king with a giant ego! And, of course, the God's show up. He does meet a "wild man" who is actually more humane than he is and teaches him kindness until date intervenes. If you just want a fun book series this is it. If you want to learn more of the history of and theology of the series read the chapters after the story. I have learned so much.

[Patricia L Kerr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exchange the truth for a lie

Interesting to read how Gilgamesh's philosophy mirrors that of the Preacher in Ecclesiastes. But the Preacher understands what Gilgamesh never did...fame, fortune, renown, all comes to and end but we have the hope of the promise of eternal life. Not for or own glory but for Him who has the very words of life. I was rooting for Gilgamesh to come to this understanding, but in the end he was true to his nature...desperately wicked

[Chandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intriguing Read

This is my favorite in the series so far. The author brings this story to light and ties it all back in to Noah! I love how the author's brain works!!! I've thought these things before but never had it explained so thoroughly. I can't wait to read the next one to see how he ties it together with the first three books! Great read, very exciting and thought provoking!! Enjoy!!

[Christa Saccullo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite

It was good, especially the last half, but I struggled with this one mostly because I didn't know about this character. I appreciate the fillers at the end of the story to clear things up. I also really enjoy the connections to previous events and characters.

Christa

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another creative retelling

This is a creative retelling of the Epic
of Gilgamesh, with connections to the Biblical Genesis. I find these books entertaining and even edifying for my faith, helping me to see and appreciate the Biblical stories that I have known since childhood in new ways.

[Robert Lewter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was terrific. I have read the epic of Gilgamesh a couple of times in different versions. I wasn't really impressed. It was one of those stories I felt compelled to read because it was such a classic. Godawa changes all the plodding and makes it into an absolute barn-burning, page-turner. He has references in huge numbers to prove that he told it straight. I absolutely loved it.

[Shirley Shaffer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great book in this series.

I learned two amazing things from this book. I learned why Cannan was cursed and in the ending I learned of some orgins. Let's just say the ending was surprising.

[Anthony Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

The reader must treat this number in the series as a prequel to the next. Very interesting perspective and the research I have completed in unison with my reading led to some compelling conclusions. Started Abraham Alliegiant today. Very intense!

[Gene Gosewehr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Had a great time reading this. Brian weaves the story very effectively. Loved the friendship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu. I was genuinely upset at Enkidu’s death. Gilgamesh’s encounter with Noah was slightly underwhelming but kind of fitting as well.

[Aimiebraun · Rating 5 out of 5]

Utterly outstanding

Really, this book was excellent, it had the right amount of suspense , history , mysticism and friendship all were added to make this book like a nice meal ,I really recommend this book for readers like me.😍😎

[William Kamau · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could barely put the book down. I read long into the night.

[Markus Waldow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Different from the previous installments, but not worse. Better. I love this series.

[Joel Toppen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best of the series so far

I had mixed feelings about Noah. Enoch, however, was better. This book was the best yet! Can’t wait to dive into book 4!

[emilio squillante · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the Nephilim fables

[Dwayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Read!

Great storyline and easy to follow...as all the previous books of this series have been. I cannot wait to start the next one.

[Covarrubias · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining!