Alamut

I thought to actually read the novel Assassin's Creed was inspired by after having learned about it last year. The book, Alamut by Slovenian Vladimir Bartol (1903 – 1967), turned out to have a Finnish translation (by Kari Klemelä). The covers had some background information like how the novel was mostly forgotten during Bartol's lifetime but was found again and became more widely known after the September 11 attacks.

The Roman

The Roman is the last of Mika Waltari's big historical novels. It's a sequel to The Secrets of the Kingdom. Both take place during the birth of Christianity, in and around Rome. The Roman follows Minutus who is the son of the previous novel's protagonist Marcus.

The Etruscan

Mika Waltari (1908 – 1979) was a Finnish author, notable among other things for the historical accuracy of his novels. He's best known for his book The Egyptian (Sinuhe egyptiläinen). I actually read it last summer but neglected to write a post about it white it was still fresh on my mind. I would note though that 'Sinuhe of Egypt' would've been a cooler title for the English translation.

Whirlwind

The Asian Saga ends with its low point when reading it in the series' internal chronological order. Or at least I personally found Whirlwind to have the least interesting characters and setting among all the books.

Noble House

Hong Kong in 1963 isn't as interesting of a setting as it was in 1866. Even the current day would've been more intriguing with the region having been returned to China as well as China's rather strong position in the world's economics. But 1963 is dull to me like about all of the 20th century.

King Rat

They say an author should write about what they know. King Rat, James Clavell's debut novel, is a result of that advice and quite a vivid one too. It is a semi-fictional story based on the author's time as a prisoner of war at Changi prison camp in Singapore during World War II.

Gai-Jin

Gai-Jin ('foreigner') was the last novel James Clavell wrote for the Asian Saga before his death. Its purpose was to tie together Shōgun and the Struan Noble House that is present in four of the series' books. And indeed, even though set in 1862, 262 years after Shōgun, Gai-Jin references a lot of the older novel's events and characters.

Tai-Pan

The second novel -- in both; publication and internal chronological order -- of The Asian Saga is Tai-Pan. It takes the reader to the shores of China and the founding of Hong Kong in the year 1841.

Shōgun

Shōgun by James Clavell was a big deal back in the day, selling millions of copies and being adapted into other forms of media. Maybe it still is popular reading, I don't know, but the novel is almost 45 years old now. It is a work of fiction but its characters and events are based on or inspired by actual history.