Reviews

I want to give you my overall impression of your work: You have a terrific writing style. I can tell that you have done much planning and preparation in crafting your work – especially the way you have thought out the characters and movement that happens in the story. This is not an easy feat. Your prose is very nicely written with details that capture the reader. Right from the start your plot was very engaging and I found myself really connected with what was going on. It is easy to have too much going on too soon – not in your case. Your plot is slow and methodical and you use your dialogue to move the plot along. With that being said, you really do a nice job of slowly making your way through the story with details and a certain voice (yours as the author) that allows your reader to really interact with the characters (who are all round and very nicely developed). Your characters are lifelike and I love it when I leave a story feeling like I know them. You have a realistic plot and to me that makes for an enjoyable story. You have crafted a quality piece of writing. Bravo!

I can't stress enough how much I enjoyed reading this book, as well as how much I learned about Assyrian history. It's truly a masterpiece. I have no doubt that your readers will absolutely love it. It has everything a good book needs -- action, adventure, historical elements, strong/loyal characters, villains, and even some romance throw in here and there!

All I have to say is WOW! What an epic book! I have been editing for a long time, and I've honestly never read anything like it. Truth be told, I didn't know much about the Assyrians and their plight, so this was completely eye-opening. What a beautiful tribute to the Assyrians. You've masterfully taken a very important part of history and weaved it through various storylines and characters. I was most impressed with how the story arcs all fit together. It's quite an accomplishment, and you should be proud! You are a fantastic writer and storyteller, and this is an important story to tell. I'm so impressed!

A Bold Awakening is an amazing fiction/historical novel that I found to be leaning toward the reality rather than a novel. Starting from the fall of Mosul into the hands of ISIS and the cooperation of the neighboring countries has been carefully analyzed and crafted in this novel. With a little bit of fiction-mixing of the rise of the well-trained young Assyrians from all over the world, the novel gives an adrenaline-rush feeling of fighting the humanity’s number one enemy. This novel is written with simplicity, landing on the subject faster than a reader wishes for; therefore, this novel is in a fast-paste speed that requires an uninterrupted reading to grasp and connect the stories. The book is not written in a chronicle order purposely, which requires reader to pay more attention to stories happening concurrently. I highly recommend this book to whoever enjoys this type of novels. It is a fascinating and mesmerizing novel to read especially if you are an Assyrian!

◊ “A Bold Awakening” brings tears to your eyes and at the same time the feeling of pride and triumph as an Assyrian. ◊ Throughout all wars, bloodshed, and even genocides that took place all over the history of the Middle East. ◊ The Assyrian nation has always been threatened with notions of annihilation. ◊ Others claiming to be the original people of the land have always forced the Assyrians out of their land persecuted Assyrian for the purpose of exterminating them out of the books of history. ◊ Families are being torn apart; parents being brutally murdered and in cold blood in front of their young children. Young girls violated, raped, and auctioned as sex slaves. ◊ This book tells the story of an intensive struggle of a new generation of Assyrians that today are viciously pushed out of their lawful country and scattered in the diaspora seeking refuge in some first world countries that offered humanitarian rescue and survival. ◊ These Assyrian one day will combine their resources and unite to rescue their brothers from this stupendous destiny and may be even putting the first cornerstone for modern day “Mother Assyria” Social / Historical Context: ◊ “A Bold Awakening” is a fiction book with accurate historical references. Events in the book start in the US then the body of the book continues in the Middle East. ◊ The players and well-drawn and perfectly woven in the texture of the relevant events. An incredible amount of research and preparation were successfully done by the author to portray an accurate succession of events escalating in an artistic development of proceedings build up that keeps the reader attached to the pages of the book asking for more and laying in wait for the turn of events and the final action.

Am reading an amazingly exciting novel.. once I got past the beginning, I am beginning to think this is one of the best Assyrian subject novels to appear after Ivan Kakovitch's MOUNT SEMELE. Pick up Amir Amiri's A BOLD AWAKENING.

Dear Amir after reading your great book "A Bold Awakening" I must say you did a tremendous job informing not only Assyrians but non Assyrian to learn what we as a nation go through, and how the world must open its eyes to help us. I recommend this book to all the young Assyrian generation to read it I guarantee they'll love it. God bless you Amir Amiri for this treasure.

A Bold Awakening, written by Amir Amiri, is a standout among the most intense books I have ever read. The book recounts the narrative of a slowly rising (or awakening) people. This book starts a fire inside each and every proud Assyrian heart and truly awakens the warrior inside. There are melancholy, impassioned, indignant and prideful moments in this novel that make the book authentic and great. While reading the novel, I couldn't help but notice how much effort has been put into researching the accurate dates, names, geographical locations and other contents of this fictional, yet partly truthful book. As a proud Assyrian, seeing and reading this book truly made me feel honored. The characters in the novel come to life in light of how genuine they are. Despite the fact that the book is written in English, you can see the Assyrian culture in the way the characters communicate and joke around. In any case, the Assyrian culture undoubtedly shows when times get to be rough and characteristics like honor, integrity, diligence and grit come into play.The dialogue is excellent and easy to understand and the book is written in a way which allows for multiple stories to simultaneously come together, allowing for remarkable structure in story. All in all, the novel is great and I would and will recommend it to not just Assyrians, but everyone, because this is truly an excellent novel.

Talk about an action packed, realistic novel set in the contemporary Middle East! This one has it all, good guys, bad guys, family, twisted international politics untwisting to protect the vulnerable long enough to have Americans and Russians cooperating without the unneeded vestiges of Cold War pride and blame. Assyrians scattered to the corners of the Western world as a result of the genocide perpetrated by a still unrepentant Turkey. They struggled to retain identity while building new economic lives in social settings where they adapted well to their surroundings whether in Moscow or in San Jose, California. While they formed enclaves to preserve language and culture, clustered in churches to hear millennia old chants in the language that had become the lingua franca of the later Assyrian Empire, they nonetheless felt comfortable enough in their Christianized settings to enter many vocations. Some became bankers and architects, while others continued the traditions created during the late 19th century in northwest Iran of pursuing careers in medicine or education. But some also joined the military services of the countries that had given them shelter from the fanaticism of the Middle East. And that is where this author plucks his main characters: from the ranks of Russian generals and intelligence officers, ace fighter pilots in the US Air Force and Navy Seals. If a movie is made of this action packed story, there will be no role for Tom Cruise though a Top Gun is in the mix. What is the common denominator among these men and women? That narrative of displacement and persecution, a legacy of treating Christians as infidels by the Muslim majorities, a legacy that is leading not just to kidnapping and torture and crucifixion of Christians, but also to the beheading of American and European journalists, and Muslim intellectuals like the senior archeologist at Palmyra, Syria. Because they are the easternmost indigenous Christians, geographically, in the Middle East, they have taken the brunt of persecution for their faith with the spread of Islam. That is why they were the first to take Christianity to India (Kerala) and China along the Silk Road in the 7th century as Islamic forces advanced. And due to their geographic isolation among fanatics today, they are in danger. What if….. the scattered diaspora got cooperation from those who manufacture the weapons? What if, the UN allowed them to protect the Nineveh Plains, even though the fanatics have already destroyed the remnants of their early civilization there? What if… and around these scattered thoughts a very exciting novel has been built. Bold indeed.

Dear Amir, thank you so much for the beautiful way of writing our ultimate dream of a united Assyria and a united frontier, in your book; "A bold Awakening". Throughout the pages I could simply see every desperate plea of every one of us who truly believe in one name: Assyria. You show us that for a true Assyrian, no boarders and no demographic differences will interfere with what is most important in our heart: having an independent and safe land of our own. Thank you for speaking our mind and our wishes, out loud and clear. Now I just hope that one day, this excellent writing of yours will be the blueprint of a much more organized and positive uprise , for our nation. Thank you again and God bless

I want to thank Mr. Amir Amiri, for turning every single Assyrian person's dream into pages filled with beautiful writing. How he shows us throughout this vivid reality; that if we truly believe in our cause, then there is no boarders and no demographic differences that can stand in our way of reaching our ultimate dream: A Free Assyria. Thank you so much again, for this excellent work Mr. Amiri, keep it up with your writing. I've been referring to this book as our "blueprint" to having our RIGHTFUL lands.

A very good story telling of the struggles and distress of a peoples in a small part of Iraq. Christian people who have been forced from their homes and land. Some separated from their families. It also shows the strength and fortitude they encounter in order to reclaim their birth rights.

History has shown that Assyrians have been attacked and persecuted repeatedly throughout the history even in the 19th and 20th centuries. During the WWI, three quarters of Assyrian population was wiped out from the face of the earth by Turks and Kurds. true stories have been told, bitter memories have been shared and books have been written about the genocide and ethnic cleansing that happened for this Christian minority in the Middle East. in "A Bold Awakening", Amir Amiri, instead of focusing on the past, he is looking to the future of Assyria and the Assyrians with hope and the certainty that his nation will one day raise and earn her rights to live and practice her faith. Through his fiction, he is implanting the thought of independence in the mind of existing Assyrians of twenty first century in a very unique way. His emphasis is the word and act of "UNITY" of the Assyrians around the globe. he also relies on the UN (United Nations) for their support in achieving the sacred goal which is living freely among other nations, especially the surrounding neighboring countries. The story is told very beautifully. Once someone starts reading the book, he doesn't want to put it away and eagerly wants to know what happens next.