Customer Reviews

Feathered Serpent 2012

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Approximately two-thousand years ago, an alien crash landed in Mexico, destroying the city of Cuicuilco. The surviving natives worshipped the alien as a god-king and named it Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent. With its help, they built Teotihuacan (Tay-oh-tee-wah-kahn), a large, technologically advanced city with sacrificial pyramids and mutant manbeasts known as Jaguar Knights. An earthquake traps the alien inside a volcano.

In the present, an earthquake releases the Feathered Serpent from its tomb. The alien creates a virus that kills the methane eating archaea bacteria. The unchecked methane begins poisoning water supplies in the Gulf of Mexico and spreading outward, killing millions. Caden Montez (famed astrobiologist and archaeologist), Allen Hunt (former CIA director) and Tah-Han (a two-thousand-year-old athlete from Teotihuacan) must work together to destroy the Feathered Serpent before it murders all of mankind.

Junius Podrug's "Feathered Serpent 2012" is a masterpiece of science fiction horror. It combines historical fact with theories of alien visitations and time travel and the 2012 phenomenon. Teotihuacan actually existed (along with its Feathered Serpent Pyramid) and was the largest prehistoric city of Mesoamerica. With a population that exceeded 200,000, it was known as "The City of the Gods." Teotihuacan's population began mysteriously declining around 650 AD and disappeared altogether one-hundred years later. It has become the basis for numerous theories involving aliens.

The most interesting, enthralling part of the "Feathered Serpent" is when Tah-Han, the two-thousand-year-old ball player, tells his tragic life story. On orders from the Feathered Serpent, the Jaguar Knights killed Tah-Han's parents. Rescued by his nurse Ome, he is raised among the People of the Rubber. He learns to play ollin, a violent, deadly game of ball. Losers are often crippled or sacrificed. The inhabitants of Mesoamerica constantly live in fear of the bloodthirsty Jaguar Knights who can tear out one's throat. Overseeing them is the vicious Flay Lord, Xipe, who often skins (or flays) his victims alive; the hideous albino wears their skins as garments. Blood sacrifices are an everyday occurrence. They are needed to appease the gods, especially the Feathered Serpent, which has an obsession for blood.

Needless to say, Tah-Han is the most fascinating character and readers will, as I did, take a liking to the young man. He strives to avenge the deaths of his loved ones by killing the Feathered Serpent, the Flay Lord and those who betrayed him. By means of the Time Explorer, he travels to the present where he meets the alcoholic Allen Holt (whose wife and daughter were killed by a drunk driver) and the beautiful Caden Montez who reminds him of a female ollin player, Ixchel. He becomes Caden's loyal friend and vows to defend her against their enemies. Together, Allen, Caden and Tah-Han search for the Feathered Serpent's hiding place.

Fans of apocalyptic horror will be intrigued by the numerous scenes describing the chaos and destruction that sweeps across the Gulf States. New Orleans is gone; the levees have broken and nature has reclaimed everything. A zone has been established around the affected states to prevent a mass exodus of dying people to the unaffected ones. Anyone trying to escape the zone is shot. Canada, which refuses to allow further immigration, is threatening a war with the United States. Even Alaska is threatening to secede from the rest of the country because they don't want to share their water supplies. Along with starvation and dehydration, survivors are being killed by hoards of werejaguars that are ripping out people's hearts.

"Feathered Serpent 2012" is a must read for fans of science fiction horror. It was the perfect read for me. I've always been fascinated by the Aztec religion of human sacrifice, alien abductions and disaster films. Millions of people are apprehensive about the Mayan calendar coming to an end on December 21, 2012. Numerous theories abound, most of them dealing with the alignment of planetary bodies, which will result in earthquakes and solar flares. "Feathered Serpent 2012" is the first story I've read involving alien invasion. Junius Podrug has devised a very bizarre, unique and timely plot. The reader will have a difficult time putting this one down. I sure did.

Allen Holt and his Time Explorer have been used in Junius Podrug's previous novel, "Dark Passage." ("Feathered Serpent 2012" is not a sequel; it can stand alone.) Muslim terrorists travel back in time to prevent the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Podrug's other novels of suspense include "Presumed Guilty" and "Frost of Heaven."


Joseph B. Hoyos

The Mayan prophecy states that on December 21, 2012, Quetzalcoatl will return to begin the End Time countdown. Most scientists scorn the feathered Serpent coming out of the bowels of the earth to the surface, but a few are willing to risk professional suicide to explore the legend. Astrobiology archeologist Caden Montez firmly believes the Mayan "myth" is real and the count down to the end of days has begun.

She is currently exploring the ruins of Teotihuacan where she believes the end of the fifth age of history will begin the end; just like the Flood, Fire, Air, and Earth did previously. Caden finds the blasphemy at the site to entertain tourists appalling, but continues her work when a methane explosion in the Gulf causes havoc throughout the Western Hemisphere, but this proves the beginning of the end of days. Liquid logistics especially gas and water become desperately needed and friends turn to war as civilization collapses. Caden, former CIA chief Allen Holt, and first century Olli superstar Tah Heen unite in a last hope to save the fifth age of history from the End Time as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are riding and Quetzalcoatl has escaped his imprisonment thanks to the methane break.

Although over the top of Mexico, Vegas, and a few other locations as well time, fans will enjoy the latest Mayan Doomsday thriller. Caden is moral courage personified as she has been scorned and ridiculed by colleagues and the media, but adheres to her beliefs although she prays she is not proven right; she will have a chance to prove combat courage as well. Fast-paced throughout though overly complicated, fans of the Mayan End Times omen will relish Junius Podrag's interpretation of the countdown to the end time of the fifth age of history.

Harriet Klausner

I picked up this book based on an appealing cover and interesting premise. The initial chapter detailing experiences of an astrobiologist were promising, but as I continued I was unable to overlook the abrupt plot jumps, extraneous characters (the whole arrival section didn't seem to advance the story), and unanswered or incorrect scientific assumptions. Although some seem to consider this as part of the science fiction genre, it is not. I still think the plot idea is interesting, but just wish that it had tighter focus, better editing, and made better use of the writing skills of the author. It could have been a very good apocalyptic novel.

Normally I love books like this: action/adventure; bit of (or a lot of) science fiction; digging around in ancient ruins; etc. I read a lot of these kinds of books.

However, "Feathered Serpent 2012" just had too many issues to get me all the way through the book. For example:

* Too much sex just for the sake of sex, and violence for the sake of violence. I'm not against either, but I like to feel they actually serve a larger purpose in the story than just to have them there.

* Big plot-jumps that didn't flow from what the characters were describing or experiencing. I had to go back a few times to figure out how we'd gone from a complete understanding of this phenomenon as "X" to now a complete understanding that it's actually "Y".

* A number of vignettes that just seemed dumped-in for no other purpose than to add to the sex-for-the-sake-of-sex and violence-for-the-sake-of-violence. Intended no doubt to add to the history of the alien on earth, soon they led to a strong temptation to start skipping pages to get back to the real story.

In the end, I tossed the book as not worth more of my time. I gave the book 2 stars instead of 1 simply because the writing itself isn't bad (no huge grammar problems, in other words).

Too bad! I would have really enjoyed this one had it not been for the problems with the plot/etc.