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The Last Nephilim
Is it possible that the mythical gods of polytheistic Greece, Egypt, Assyria, etc. were actual people that lived shortly after the flood of Noah? The Last Nephilim is a work of historical fiction based upon the first chapters of the book of Genesis and several ancient apocryphal texts. The Bible presents the sons of Noah as monotheistic followers of the God of the universe. So how did their grandchildren end up reigning over polytheistic empires? What happened? This story presents the Nephilim of Genesis chapter six as gifted giants that essentially promoted worship of themselves as deities to post-flood human populations. The Bible asserts that monotheism was before polytheism, but there is no clear explanation as to why polytheism became so prevalent such a short time after the flood. This book describes one possible explanation as to what may have occurred to have resulted in the explosion of polytheism. Written in a beautiful, scholarly fashion. This is refined, provocative look at events in history. A fantastic read.-Yasmin Esack, author of "The Mind Setter" Nephilim have been such an intriguing race of what appear to be super-humans as ancient texts indicate. Just the thought of such beings have always captivated me, causing my imagination to run wild as a boy and even still today as an adult. How fun to read a historical-fiction on these ancient beings that once existed on Earth. The Last Nephilim will inspire you to re-read the biblical account -Kenneth Paul Dykstra, author of "Other Earths/Other Life" Intriguing and catchy premise that seeks to synthesize received truth through illustration. A courageous and bold venture, accomplished by unwavering narrational authority that mixes fact, fiction belief and perception into a mapped shawl. -Azam Gill, author of "Blasphemy!"
368 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
June 25, 2014
The premise is very interesting and the book starts off running. It slows down a little halfway through.
I find it very disconcerting to read colloquial expressions from someone living in the time of Noah. For example, the character exclaims, "Jackpot" when elated about something, or grumbles "bollocks" (this is after he has explained that they had a swear word to use; so why not use that swear word rather than a modern term?).
I find it very disconcerting to read colloquial expressions from someone living in the time of Noah. For example, the character exclaims, "Jackpot" when elated about something, or grumbles "bollocks" (this is after he has explained that they had a swear word to use; so why not use that swear word rather than a modern term?).
October 25, 2017
This was a surprising book. Not what I expected. The beginning started out too serious and had me wary as to where it was going. I believe the author treated the scriptures with reverence, and I am having to overlook Genesis 7:5. As this is critical to the story, but it is still a mystery as to how the Nephilim survived the flood. Which were reported in Numbers 13:33 and elsewhere 2 Samuel 21:18-22. There have been other creative means by which the Nephilim survived the flood, so this proposal is plausible.
I really enjoyed the main character Persus. He was naive, bold, and imperfect. Even though this book is probably more for a teen reader, Persus reminded me of Kvothe (Name of the Wind) in his adventures, mistakes and frankness.
This would not be review without mentioning the narration. Well, this was the comic relief and provided several chuckles. Early on the story explained about modern colloquialisms which cleared the way for more chuckles. The low voice effects, which was creative, did not reproduce well on all of my listening devices. Otherwise, I appreciated the narrators different accents for the characters.
Finally, this book was a nice reprieve from other similar story lines by other authors. The language and subject matter made it suitable for all members of the family. The story line kept its focus on the biblical theme of redemption.
I really enjoyed the main character Persus. He was naive, bold, and imperfect. Even though this book is probably more for a teen reader, Persus reminded me of Kvothe (Name of the Wind) in his adventures, mistakes and frankness.
This would not be review without mentioning the narration. Well, this was the comic relief and provided several chuckles. Early on the story explained about modern colloquialisms which cleared the way for more chuckles. The low voice effects, which was creative, did not reproduce well on all of my listening devices. Otherwise, I appreciated the narrators different accents for the characters.
Finally, this book was a nice reprieve from other similar story lines by other authors. The language and subject matter made it suitable for all members of the family. The story line kept its focus on the biblical theme of redemption.
October 10, 2014
Set in the ancient world, "The Last Nephilim" recounts the adventures and spiritual journey of a man who is half-god and half-human.
One of the interesting things William Guy does in this novel is to attempt a harmonization of the Biblical account with mythological and apocryphal sources. Accounts of gods and goddesses and half-humans from various cultures are all collected together into a single story, with the various mythological gods portrayed as fallen angels or their offspring.
I'm interested in this story setting and the author's approach, as his focus is on ancient history and Bible-related settings, which overlaps with what I'm attempting to do in my "Edhai" series.
Probably the most positive thing that could be said about "The Last Nephilim" is that the main character is engaging and sympathetic (in the positive sense). There's some good humor in the story as well, centered mostly around the bumbling attempts of Persus to live up to his mission.
In the end, I could only in good conscience give two stars to "The Last Nephilim." For one thing, the narrative just tends to be too "talky" and too religious. Some of the characters spend an awful lot of time revealing doctrine and sermonizing. Also, near the beginning, the author spends much of the reader's good will in recounting the history of mankind and the fallen angels and the Nephilim and Persus' family and so on. These factors all get in the way of good storytelling, in this case.
This is just a detail, but I wonder about the use of Nephilim as a singular term -- Guy employs it that way. The Hebrew word Nephilim is a plural form, so wouldn't the singular be Nephil? I do see one note on the Wikipedia talk page that suggests Nephilim might be permitted as a singular, but I would tend to go with Nephil as lining up better with the original Biblical language.
I would also say that, whereas apocryphal stories might portray Nephilim and fallen angels in physical form on the Earth after the Flood, the Bible account doesn't really support that idea. Still, I understand that the whole premise of Guy's story depends on such a scenario. It is a work of fiction, after all.
Here's perhaps the main problem I see with "The Last Nephilim," but most historical and religious fiction with Biblical settings has the same problem: Worshippers of God in ancient times would have know him by his personal name, rather than titles like "Lord" or "El-Shaddai" -- his personal name being represented in Hebrew as JHVH or YHWH, commonly represented in English as Jehovah or Yahweh, with other variations common in other modern languages. Over the last couple thousand years, superstitions developed about the use of God's name, but the Bible uses it as early as Gen 2:4, and Eve shows that she knew the name when she used it at Gen 4:1.
Anyway, regardless of my generally low rating of this book, it was well worth reading because of its relevance to my own project, and for the author's effort to pull together a wide range of ancient sources for his story.
ARK -- 10 October 2014
One of the interesting things William Guy does in this novel is to attempt a harmonization of the Biblical account with mythological and apocryphal sources. Accounts of gods and goddesses and half-humans from various cultures are all collected together into a single story, with the various mythological gods portrayed as fallen angels or their offspring.
I'm interested in this story setting and the author's approach, as his focus is on ancient history and Bible-related settings, which overlaps with what I'm attempting to do in my "Edhai" series.
Probably the most positive thing that could be said about "The Last Nephilim" is that the main character is engaging and sympathetic (in the positive sense). There's some good humor in the story as well, centered mostly around the bumbling attempts of Persus to live up to his mission.
In the end, I could only in good conscience give two stars to "The Last Nephilim." For one thing, the narrative just tends to be too "talky" and too religious. Some of the characters spend an awful lot of time revealing doctrine and sermonizing. Also, near the beginning, the author spends much of the reader's good will in recounting the history of mankind and the fallen angels and the Nephilim and Persus' family and so on. These factors all get in the way of good storytelling, in this case.
This is just a detail, but I wonder about the use of Nephilim as a singular term -- Guy employs it that way. The Hebrew word Nephilim is a plural form, so wouldn't the singular be Nephil? I do see one note on the Wikipedia talk page that suggests Nephilim might be permitted as a singular, but I would tend to go with Nephil as lining up better with the original Biblical language.
I would also say that, whereas apocryphal stories might portray Nephilim and fallen angels in physical form on the Earth after the Flood, the Bible account doesn't really support that idea. Still, I understand that the whole premise of Guy's story depends on such a scenario. It is a work of fiction, after all.
Here's perhaps the main problem I see with "The Last Nephilim," but most historical and religious fiction with Biblical settings has the same problem: Worshippers of God in ancient times would have know him by his personal name, rather than titles like "Lord" or "El-Shaddai" -- his personal name being represented in Hebrew as JHVH or YHWH, commonly represented in English as Jehovah or Yahweh, with other variations common in other modern languages. Over the last couple thousand years, superstitions developed about the use of God's name, but the Bible uses it as early as Gen 2:4, and Eve shows that she knew the name when she used it at Gen 4:1.
Anyway, regardless of my generally low rating of this book, it was well worth reading because of its relevance to my own project, and for the author's effort to pull together a wide range of ancient sources for his story.
ARK -- 10 October 2014
July 29, 2014
A very interesting book! William Guy compiles a novel using biblical and apocryphal texts to provide a possible explanation of roots of polytheistic systems. I was very impressed with Guy's ideas and, indeed, his style of writing. The book is fast-paced overall, but he devotes ample time to explain some basic Christian concepts as well. I actually listened to the audiobook and the reader nearly ruined it for me, but the did some appropriate voice manipulation for certain characters that helped me stick to the end. I am glad I did since I can easily forget the reader's shortcomings, but not the content of the book.
June 25, 2014
The premise is very interesting and the book starts off running. It slows down a little halfway through.
I find it very disconcerting to read colloquial expressions from someone living in the time of Noah. For example, the character exclaims, "Jackpot" when elated about something, or grumbles "bollocks" (this is after he has explained that they had a swear word to use; so why not use that swear word rather than a modern term?).
I find it very disconcerting to read colloquial expressions from someone living in the time of Noah. For example, the character exclaims, "Jackpot" when elated about something, or grumbles "bollocks" (this is after he has explained that they had a swear word to use; so why not use that swear word rather than a modern term?).
November 20, 2024
This is an odd gem. It took the traditional religious beliefs and made a "What if this is how it really happened?" world with them. I'm not sure how I feel about that. However, the moral lessons and discussions were interesting, the story was fun, and I'd really like to see more of the story develop.
February 1, 2015
Overly obvious attempt to write "christian" fantasy.
April 21, 2017
Every time I think I can no longer be surprised by the ineptness of authors that some how find their way to print a book like this comes along. It so poorly written it seems inconceivable that it is by accident, but then perhaps if a thousand monkeys could come with the works of Shakespeare's then maybe one authors mashing at a keypad can come up with, by chance, this level of opulent turgidness.
The work starts with a story of a character recounting a story of a time he met another character who then tells a story of a time when he met another character who starts another story of a time he met another character. And if that some how sounds to you clever or interesting then I believe me it isn't. The narrative simply chokes with exposition and the writing is so poor in quality it has no chance when combined with the ill conceived structure of the novel.
Goodreads should allow zero stars as 1 star really is more than this work deserves.
The work starts with a story of a character recounting a story of a time he met another character who then tells a story of a time when he met another character who starts another story of a time he met another character. And if that some how sounds to you clever or interesting then I believe me it isn't. The narrative simply chokes with exposition and the writing is so poor in quality it has no chance when combined with the ill conceived structure of the novel.
Goodreads should allow zero stars as 1 star really is more than this work deserves.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews