Mario Puzo described the Borgia family to be the “the original crime family,” which gives them some kind of central relation to Puzo’s previous themes. Son Cesare and Father Pope Alexander – in Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood

As a gamer I was even more delighted to come across references that I’d previously played in historical game series Assassin’s Creed. However, I found The Family to be a solid tale throughout. Considering I’d already had somewhat of an interest in Italian history it shouldn’t have been as shocking, but generally when a book turns out to be not what I was expecting I get put off. Even more shocking to me was the fact that I was starting to enjoy it. The Family is based on Pope Alexander VI and his family, who lived during the Renaissance era. I knew nothing about the actual story of The Family going in, and all signs (including the book blurb) pointed towards it being another crime based mafia novel.Īfter diving into the first chapter, I was a little shocked to find this to be something completely different to Puzo’s other work. I’d read a few reviews about the book and noticed that the reception seemed to be split down the middle this intrigued me even more as someone who appreciated some of Puzo’s other works. It was published posthumously and had to be finished by Puzo’s long-time girlfriend Carol Gino. When I made the decision to read The Family, it was simply because it was Mario Puzo’s last published work.

The family mario puzo review