Customer Reviews

Feathered Serpent: A Novel of the Mexican Conquest

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was drawn to this book by its beautiful cover, but don't be fooled--there's a very entertaining and readable story inside.

Colin Falconer tells the tale of La Malinche with a great deal of panache. His version is mainly from her point of view, and as such it's different from Gary Jennings' Aztec novels. There's plenty of battle, bloodshed, treachery and romance, but it's the first book I've ever seen about the conquest that incorporates a woman's point of view. Many writers treat the story as if there were no women around at the time. Mr. Falconer actually gives us a well-rounded, historically accurate picture from both the male and female perspective. There are several other characters and subplots who round out the relationship between Malinche and Cortes, as well as an excellent recreation of Montezuma and his lords, priests and warriors.

This novel held my attention and reminded me in many ways of the great epic movies of Hollywood's golden age. It's colorful, exotic and entertaining, and does not insult the reader's intelligence.

A marvelous novel about the Spanish conquest of Mexico. Everyone knows that the (in)famous conquistador Cortes was only able to conquer the Aztecs, the ruling tribe of Tenochtitlan, because they pretty much rolled over and gave in. Most people also know that the Mexican natives bent over backwards for Cortes and his white-skinned followers because they thought the Europeans were gods. This novel expounds upon that misconception, giving us a greater insight into what the heck those Aztecs were thinking and how a tiny band of a few hundred Spanish soldiers was able to defeat the largest and richest city in the world.

According to Falconer, Malinali, the Aztec woman largely responsible for spreading the rumor that Cortes was the god Quetzalcoatl (Feathered Serpent), was indeed a real historical figure whose role in the Mexican conquest is still a subject of hot debate today. I can believe it. Lay aside the fact that she purportedly helped murder, enslave, and impoverish her own people (unintentionally or not - Falconer doesn't pass any judgment), and you're faced with the troubling implication that the fate of a continent hinged upon - gasp - a woman.

Falconer paints Malinali as a woman so traumatized by her cruel treatment by her Aztec mother, who sold her into slavery as a child, and inflamed by the prophecies of her father, a priest of Quetzalcoatl, that she seizes upon Cortes' arrival as a fulfillment of her destiny. She believes she is meant to be Quetzalcoatl's handmaiden, and once she becomes his translator she proudly announces this fact to every Mexican native they come across. The theme of Mali's mistranslations becomes an important one, as she paints a picture to the Aztecs that is quite different than the one Cortes had in mind, then is confused when her god doesn't live up to her expectations.

The descriptions of Aztec (and, to a lesser extent, Mayan) culture, religion, and architecture are wonderful, both achingly beautiful and unbelievably savage. Mali is a fascinating character, at once abhorrent and heroic. Cortes is predictably arrogant and destructive, yet Falconer avoids the simplistic, "Europeans bad/Natives good" P.C. interpretation of events that has become almost universally accepted. He is careful to include the larger justifications why the Europeans thought they were entitled to rule the New World (i.e., the pope said they could), and points out that Christianity did have some advantages over the Aztec religion, namely that it doesn't involve human sacrifice. Then again, as one character points out, plenty of people have died in the name of the Christian religion, too. This ambiguity between which religion is "better" highlights the bitter reality behind the clash of cultures: in the end, there is no one "right" side, or "good" guys. The characters are all mixtures of piety, ruthlessness, good intentions, arrogance, compassion, and cruelty. This makes them amazingly human, and the story of the Mexican conquest all the more tragic. You're left wondering if there was any way the story could have had a better outcome, or if the destruction was inevitable. Falconer deserves kudos for acknowledging the complexity of his source material and creating a story that never condescends to its victims nor exonerates its heroes.

In my mind, the Aztecs have been short-changed by modern authors. There has not been enough attention to them and their interesting story. And Cortes! If ever anyone should get high marks for having ambition and bravery in spades, it's him.

Anyway, the historical details are well done in the book. Falconer almost makes you feel like you are there with the Spanish as the arrive at the Aztec city of Tenochitlan. He has created a multi-dimensional Cortes, rather than the stereotypical 'evil conqueror' Cortes (although, at the end I lost the feel for Cortes - I don't know if Falconer lost interest or he also lost his feel for the man). In most books and texts Cortes is portrayed as a gold-crazed, land-crazed conqueror - but his motivations are far more complex - including a complete disgust with the Mesoamerica's fascination with human sacrifice and the cannibilistic consumption of those sacrifices.

Unfortunately, Falconer's obsession with adding graphic, detailed sex scenes to his book just gets in the way. Another reviewer commented that there's one about every twenty pages - and I'd agree. We get all of the detail that adds nothing to the plot. I'm not trying to be a prude here - after all the main characters were considered to be the first to have a mestizo child so there's got to be some sex - but it was given such a prominent place in the book that I feel that it detracts from the work as a whole.

I was a big fan of Colin Falconer's WHEN WE WERE GODS, a novel about the life of Cleopatra. In his most recent historical novel, he takes on the life of a far less famous woman, but one whose role was probably as important to the politics and history of the New World as Cleopatra's was to the Roman Empire.

Malinali (or Malinche, as she's called in modern Mexico) was an Aztec woman sold into slavery to the rival Maya tribe as a child. The daughter of a soothsayer, she always knew her destiny was a heavy one, and that she would live to see a great change in the land of her birth--the return of the god Quetzlcoatl, the feathered serpent of the title. Of course, the white-skinned, long-bearded Feathered Serpent who she encounters is not a god, but Hernando Cortes, the Spanish adventurer on a quest for gold and Christianity. Malinali becomes his ally, and eventually his lover, and together they bring down the mighty Montezuma and his Aztec empire. She also becomes his lover and the mother of his child, and the story of their love affair is as passionate and tragic as the history of modern Mexico.

This is a well-researched look into the world of the Mexica--aka Aztec--Empire under Montezuma, as well as a fast-paced read about love, war and death. Some of the battle scenes are rather grisly, but well-drawn, and the supporting characters are interesting and add some very intriguing subplots to the novel. My readers' group enjoyed this novel, mainly because it was so different from many other historical novels about women in history--it doesn't offer any easy answers, but it tells a fascinating story.

So much has been written about the Mexican conquest and the Aztec empire, but FEATHERED SERPENT is the first novel ever to acknowledge the remarkable life of Malinche, the Aztec woman who was Cortes' partner and ally. Colin Falconer takes the outlines of a shadowy and legendary figure and creates a vivid portrait of a woman who was ahead of her time in many respects, and suffered for it. While we can never know much about the real Malinche, this novel gives us a credible and compelling recreation of the amazing woman she must have been, and a very realistic--and not always flattering--portrait of the Spanish conquistadors. Cortes comes across as a deeply flawed hero, and Malinche's horror at his greed and weakness is entirely believable.

Anyone who knows the history of the Spanish conquest knows that there was little that was noble and romantic about it, and Colin Falconer manages to acknowledge the sad and brutal reality, while still creating an entertaining and compelling portrait of the time. It's an unusual and thought-provoking story that goes beyond the same old cliches about the conquest. For those interested in historical fiction, it's a very entertaining and enlightening read, with a beautiful woman, sex, death and passion. It is certainly never boring, and I highly recommend it.

Truly an educational novel. If you do not know the first thing about the Mexican conquest or Hernan Cortes and cannot stay awake for biographies or text books, give this a try. It is mostly told from Malinali's point of view, an Aztec slave to the Mayas, who believes Cortes to be a god come to stop the act of human sacrifice amongst the Mexicans. After serving as his translator and bed mate for a long period of time, she starts to realize he is not really a god, but a man hungry for power and gold. The novel tells of the Spaniards' battles and triumphs and hardships. There is a lot of war scenes and human sacrifices so beware if you are faint of heart. I gave this three stars because it seemed to me that there was a lot of repitition. A lot of conversations were repeated with slightly different variations and even some actions repeated themselves over and over. I would like to give a huge thumbs up to the author tho for writing a historical fiction about a much ignored time and place in history. Not everybody has to write about the English Tudors. Mexico and Mexican history is much overlooked.

According to Falconer, the Aztec empire fell because of the need of a woman for revenge and Cortes' ambiguity between his need to elevate God in a heathen world and his undying need for Gold to elevate himself. Malinali is the woman bent on revenge because of an unloving mother who sold her into slavery and a much loved father who is ordered killed by Montecuhzoma because he predicts the eventual fall of the Aztec empire.

Offered as a gift to the Spaniards, Malinali becomes Cortes translator and companion. Her motives for her sometimes inventive translations are disparate. First they are based on her belief that Cortes is the god Quetzalcoatl who has returned to bring a Golden Age, an age of peace, back to the people under the yoke of the bloody Aztec Empire and their emperor Montecuhzoma. Eventually she becomes disillusioned with the "god" aspect of Cortes. Even so, her need for revenge and the hope of being the mother of the next ruler of the Mexica overcomes her doubts of the wisdom and actions of her choice of rescuer of her people.

The descriptions of the Aztec culture and the people they dominated made me feel as though I was really there in the battles, sacrifices and eventual fall and loss of a culture, that while bloody and misguided, had so much to offer in knowledge and an understanding of our natural world.

A wonderful tale that I read in one day that illumines once more what can happen when there is a "failure to communicate".

Feathered Serpent is the story of an intriguing and passionate cacique's daughter named Malinali Tenepal and her love and obsession over the man that she thought was her savior named Feathered Serpent, Hernan Cortes.
Malinali grew up in the Yucatan valleys, the daughter of a priest and a Mexica aka Aztec woman. Her mother despised her for not being chosen to be sacrificed and her father loved her. When she was still a young girl, her father told her that in the year One Reed, Quetzalcoatl aka Feathered Serpent would return to Tenochtitlan from the Cloud Lands to the East and topple the Mexica monarchy and the hated emperor, Motecuhzoma aka Montezuma. Not too long after that, Motecuhzoma had her Malinali's father killed in the town square for speaking about Motecuhzoma being removed from the throne, his birthright. Malinali's mother remarried and had a son, and when Malinali was 9, she was sold to slavetraders so that the new baby boy could inherit all of the lands of Malinali's family one day. Malinali ends up as the slave of a Mayan cacique, and when she is 19, she is given to a band of strange white men with beards. The year is One reed. The leader of the men must be Quetzalcoatl (it's really Cortes). When Cortes realizes Malinali is fluent in Nahuatl and Mayan, she becomes one of his translators along with a holy man named Aguilar, who despises Malinali because of her heathen and sexual ways. And from there begins a long journey across the lands of the Mexica, the Toltecs, the Maya, and many other tribal lands of modern-day Mexico as Cortes comes closer and closer to Tenochtitlan, where he plans to overthrow Motecuhzoma and make King Charles of Spain the rightful ruler of the land and take all of the gold in his name. However, the Mexica people of Tenochtitlan are outraged at Cortes, who they know is not Feathered Serpent. He has dared to destroy their religion and try to baptize them all into a new faith. He has dared to steal from them. He has dared to bring down their weak king. And all of this has happened because he has listened to Malinali. And so the people of Tenochtitlan attack Cortes and his armies, running them out of Tenochtitlan and forcing them to swim across the lake the city sits on, causing most of the armies to drown and all of the tons of gold they had taken and claimed to sink to the bottom of the lake. Malinali and Cortes survived, but their lives are not the same. The man she thought would save her was not Cortes, she realizes, and all of the work she has done and all of the hard work she put herself through was all a lie. She destroyed her own people. And even today she walks the streets of Mexico City crying for the losses she caused as La Llorona.
This book was very good and very well researched, at least in the fields of Mexican culture. There were a few problems I had with this book though:
1. Almost everything told about Malinali in this book was not true. Malinali was not born in 1500, she was born in 1505, so she was only 14 when she was given to Cortes, not 19. Malinali's father was not a priest, he was a cacique, a ruler, of Painala, and he died of a fever, not from being murdered by Motecuhzoma's guards. And Malinali did not have brothers and sisters, she was an only child. The author's research was poor in the areas of Malinali, and I think he needs a new editor.
2. OMG I have never seen so much sex in one book in my entire life! Almost every 20 or less pages there is a new scene between new people! And need I say that Rain Flower, Malinali's friend, certainly gets around a lot. This seemed more like a porn than a historical fiction or even a romance! And did we really need to read THAT much detail...
3. The language and swears used here are not ones you would normally here back then, and why must we read the same swear by one of Cortes' men every single page? It gets boring, although when Malinali called one of the soldiers something when she was learning Castilian and didnt know what it meant it was rather funny.
And so, I truly enjoyed this book and it is a very good story, but don't use it for school or if you want to learn anything nonfictional about Malinali, as most of it is false. In fact, that makes me question the author's research of the Mexica cultures and Cortes' life and soldiers....

The conquest of Mexico by Cortes viewed by Doña Marina "La Malinche" is a good novel with historical references but is mainly that woman's view which is interesting. Nicely written and easy to read.

The scope and depth of research sunk into this novel shows through. The only thing that out-shines the work that went into it is Falconer's writing talent.