A review by em_w
Civilizations by Laurent Binet

adventurous challenging informative reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

The book has an interesting concept however it didn't really have any character development which hindered my enjoyment. The only character development that we see is with

Higuénamota

and it’s only a surface level mention. I wish there was more of a connection between the characters and the world around them. There is a cursory mention of relationships (a marriage here, a kid there) but not much more than that. I would have loved to see Atahualpa’s relationship with his son Charles Atahualpa and his European wife and more of Higuénamota’s relationship with with King of France

(I mean the woman nearly dies to to defend him for peet’s sake!)

The book does a good job chronicling what happens but it doesn’t really give you anything interpersonally to keep you invested in the main cast of characters.

Like I should have been saddened when

Atahualpa was assassinated

but since we weren’t given much to invest in him emotionally, it wasn’t really all that consequential. Though I think it really should have ended there… because the last half of the book with  the Spanish novelist Miguel de Cervantes and the artist El Greco kinda detracts from the whole first 2/3 of the novel. 

Their part leads to a rather anticlimactic ending  and the novel did not gain much from their inclusion IMO. I would have liked it to either show the downfall of the Inca’s empire or show how this affects the future history instead of the ending we got.