Demon of the Air (Aztec 1) [Paperback]

Simon Levack (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 7, 2005 | Series: Aztec 1

Mexico-Tenochtitlan, in the year Twelve-House: the vast, teeming city of the Aztecs at the height of its glory. As the novel opens, the Chief Minister's trusted slave Yaotl is escorting a sacrificial victim up the steps of the Great Pyramid to celebrate the Festival of the Raising of Banners. Used to the bloodstained rites of the War-God's priests, Yaotl is unperturbed at the ritual slaughter of the so-called Flowery Death. When the victim runs amok and leaps to his death before he can be sacrificed, Yaotl's only worry is how to explain it to his master. But when more bodies start to appear and the Emperor Montezuma starts asking questions about the sorcerers who have vanished from his impregnable prison, Yaotl realises he needs answers soon. The secrets he uncovers will unlock nightmares from his own youth and threaten the future of everything he knows.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Historical novels, let alone debuts, don't get much better than British author Levack's outstanding effort, set in the heyday of the Aztec empire two years before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors. Already, rumors of pale, bearded men with strange weapons have reached the emperor, Montezuma. When a human sacrifice to the war-god goes wrong—the intended victim makes an ominous prophecy before jumping to his death off the Great Pyramid—the ensuing uproar threatens the power of the emperor and his chief minister, Black Feathers. Both Montezuma and Black Feathers charge Yaotl, a disgraced priest now the minister's slave, with discovering the reason for the suicide. Yaotl, who narrates this rich tale, doggedly pursues a twisted trail of plots and counterplots toward the truth. Levack makes comprehensible and familiar a society that seems at first glance alien. Sixteenth-century Mexico comes to wonderful life in this gripping, multifaceted mystery, winner of the 2004 CWA Debut Dagger Award.
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About the Author

Simon Levack trained as a solicitor and still works in the legal profession. He lives in east London with his wife and son. He is the author of three Aztec murder mysteries: A DEMON OF THE AIR, which won the Crime Writers' Association's Debut Dagger Award; SHADOW OF THE LORDS and A CITY OF SPIES. Visit www.simonlevack.co.uk

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; New Edition edition (February 7, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743468147
• ISBN-13: 978-0743468145
• Product Dimensions: 4.5 x 7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,359,183 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Impending sense of doom, September 30, 2005

By 

Candace "thepageturner" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Demon of the Air: An Aztec Mystery (Aztec Mysteries) (Hardcover)

In the Western world it's December 1517, but in the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan it's Thirteen Grass in the year Twelve House and a big day of human sacrifices. Pricey, pampered slaves or captives will be sacrificed to nourish the war god, and those lucky enough to be allowed to sponsor a sacrifice are dressed up in their showiest cloaks, jade nose plugs and ear studs. They follow the slaves up the pyramid, boosting their courage by chatting about what fabulous eternities the victims will enjoy post-sacrifice.

Yaotl, slave to a chief minister, has the job of escorting a sacrifice up the pyramid-an ordinary enough task for someone who used to be a priest--but the fellow he's escorting is acting a little strange. The day gets worse when the victim pre-sacrifices by jumping off the pyramid after shouting for everyone to look for the big boat. Yaotl is blamed for the disgrace and is charged with finding out what the suicide and warning were about.

Where the Aztec world in Gary Jennings' "Aztec" was a strange as science fiction, "Demon" author Simon Levack expresses Yaotl's society with a naturalness reminiscent of Mary Renault and Steven Saylor. What Aztecs ate, wore, thought, played, and prayed are nicely built into the narrative, and for the most part he avoids the jokiness that mars too many mysteries set in the ancient world (perhaps there is something intrinsically less funny about a society based on human sacrifice and ceremonial cannibalism). The opening sacrifice scene is a fine example of black humor, but then the Aztecs saw nothing extraordinary about sacrifice days, and, well, some just went better than others.

This is the first in a planned series featuring Yaotl, and it will be interesting to see how Levack handles the approach of the Spanish conquistadors whose arrival is already sensed across the Aztec empire. This gives a nice little undercurrent of tension to everything in the story, and it's a smart move to choose a time period with built-in suspense. I presume it was a conscious decision-a lot about the novel seems consciously selected to sustain a series-but still, it is interesting, it is different, and "Demon of the Air" is a good read.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Debut offers convincing Aztec setting, resourceful hero, and wry, colorful prose, November 30, 2005

By 

Lynn Harnett (Marathon, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Demon of the Air: An Aztec Mystery (Aztec Mysteries) (Hardcover)

British author Levack plausibly recreates the blood-soaked atmosphere of 1517 Aztec Mexico in this absorbing debut. The book opens on the grisly spectacle of a major festival, when merchants are permitted to dress in finery and escort their purchased sacrifices up the Great Pyramid to their "Flowery Death."

But narrator Yaotl, slave of Emperor Montezuma's chief minister, and the peasant Handy are all that remains of the procession for the merchant Ocotl's sacrifice. The victim, who seemed even more dazed than the other drugged sacrifices, had broken away from the procession, shouting, "Look for the big boat!" and leapt to his death. Yaotl and Handy, trying vainly to keep the body propped upright, drag it to the war-god priests and only Yaotl's quick thinking keeps them from being sacrificed in the dead man's place.

The scene is as blackly funny as it is alien. "Never acquired the taste myself," Handy remarks as they are given the man's butchered limbs. "I know it's polite to have a mouthful if someone from your parish brings home a captive, but give me a slice of dog any day."

Montezuma, plagued by visions and strange news of white men among the Mayans (the first Spanish expedition has landed and in 1519 Cortés will enter the Aztec city) demands Yaotl's account and sends him on a mission to find the soothsayers who have disappeared from the prison he had banished them to after their unsatisfactory prophecies. To fail is to die, but Yaotl's master seems to have different plans for him, with a similar possible outcome.

Yaotl, who reveals bits of his back-story throughout the narrative, is a resourceful, determined fellow with a sardonic sense of humor. The Aztec setting is convincing, strange and thoroughly human even in its religious savagery. Levack provides a suspenseful plot with some neat twists and his writing is lively and colorful. An auspicious debut.

--Portsmouth Herald

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Stronger on atmosphere than on plot, November 13, 2006

By 

F. J. Harvey "Cricket ,country music and a go... (Birmingham England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Demon of the Air: An Aztec Mystery (Aztec Mysteries) (Hardcover)

It is 1517 in the Aztec Empire ,in what is now Mexico.Its absolutist ruler ,the Emperor Montezuma ia a worried man .His sleep is troubled by visions of bearded men from another country who seem fated to depose him and rule the land in his stead .When Yaotl ,a slave of his chief minister ,is sent to escort 2 slaves to their death as sacrifices in a religious rite ,one breaks free and proclaims that doom is coming to the realm .Not only that but 2 soothsayers arrested by the Emperor have escaped from prison and the paranoid ruler fears the events are connected ,He appoints Yaotl-a former priest -to investigate the disappearance of the soothsayers .This places Yaotl in an invidious position as his owner ,the Chief Minister ,is anxious that any connection between these events is not discovered

In order to solve the problem Yaotl must delve back into his own family background

The historical research that has gone into the book is impressive and the author wears his immense erudition lighly ,The book also benefits from exploring a time and place not previously treated of in historical crime fiction .However ,for me the book is simply too long and the plot too convoluted for the book to truly hold my attention .It may well be these are simply down to the problems of a first time novelist .The book would have benefitted from some judcious editing and the work is simply too plodding for my taste.Others will disagree and the book did win a CWA award for Best Debut Novel .

Lovers of the history with mystery school and /or devotees of the Aztec era will like it more than I did