Customer Reviews

The King's Fifth

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Esteban de Sandoval, a map maker, is to stand before the royal audiencia. The royal audiencia is to decide if Esteban is guilty or innocent of withholding the king's fifth he has supposedly hidden. The year is 1541 and the place is the Fortress of Juan de Ulua, near Vera Cruz, New Spain (Mexico). Esteban records his adventures in the Land of Cibola on paper his jailer hs supplied. The jailer has talked Esteban into making a map of where he has hidden the treasure.

The King's Fifth is exciting and very enveloping book. I like how the book is very descriptive. What I don't like is when they use Spanish words and they don't tell you what the words mean. Over all on a scale of one-five, five being the best, I would give the book a five. The plot is great. The story line makes you want to keep on reading at the end of a chapter.The scenery is well described and you feel as if you were there.

For the last six months or so I have been reading through the Newbery Medal and Award books. The King's Fifth is one of my favorites. This book is filled with unforgettable characters, action, romance, and danger. I especially like the ending, which I won't give away! If you like historical fiction, adventure stories, or just great books, don't miss out. Read this book. May I also suggest my other all-time favorite Newbery winner: AMOS FORTUNE, FREEMAN.

A group of Spanish explorers, led by Captain Mendoza and his guide Zia, set out on an expedition searching for gold. His fellow explorers were: Torres, who took care of the horses, Father Francisco, who came to spread faith to the Indians, Este'ban de Sandoval, who wanted to be the first person to make maps of the uncharted land, and Roa, the drummer. As the group travels on they have many adventures with the Indians. After awhile the group joins several other Spaniards. As they travel on they get into a war and Mendoza's group leaves to find gold in the mountains. Through their adventure up in the mountains they are hit by a storm and are forced to live in a cave for a few days. At the end of the story they steal gold from the Indians which leads to some tragic consequences. You'll need to read the book to find out what happens to the explorers. I would definitely recommend this book because it was very exciting and had lots of action from start to finish.

Esteban was a cartographer, or map maker, on a ship on the coast of South America. Their ship was to rendezvous with another to make a search for the Cities of Gold. One of the officers aboard the ship wants to mutiny, and strike out to search for the cities, in hopes of collecting even more gold and fame. He talks Esteban into accompanying him, along with some others.

They travel and encounter all kinds of dangers from nature and from the natives. They ask the people they come across for gold, but to them, it is not important. Esteban and his companions find it all important. As they travel on toward the Cities of Gold, their lust for gold gains a tighter and tighter grip upon them. At the beginning, Esteban marveled at the way the desire for gold had warped others, but later on, he ceases to care for others, and is willing to sacrifice whatever and whoever may come between him and the riches his soul so greedily craves. He ends up with a great amount of gold, which he tries to carry back with him. Eventually, he sees that his greed was killing him, and deposits the gold where it can never be recovered.

The story is told from Esteban's prison cell. It is the law to give one fifth of all discovered treasure to the king of Spain. The chapters alternate with Esteban recalling his journey through South America, and his recording what is happening in the prison. He says his indictment is true; he did discover treasure, and he did not give the king his fifth. His prosecutors and jailor are not so much concerned with the king's fifth, however. They want to know where the treasure is, so they can find it. They ask for maps, which Esteban draws; but he says they will never find it. Even he, who knows where it is, could never find it. He is offered his freedom from his sentence if he will be a guide to the gold, but he turns it down. He has realized that, after all, the gold is not important. He has learned what is important, and when he has served his sentence, he will pursue the things and people that matter.

In my continuing quest to read all that is historical fiction based during the Spanish conquest of the Americas, I finally jumped into Scott O'Dell's "The King's Fifth." I recently finished O'Dell's "Seven Serpents" trilogy which follows the young Julian Escobar as he travels from Spain to the New World in a quest to save the savage souls of the New World's natives. While his early journey established his innocence, his travels across the Yucatan, central Mexico and eventually Peru expose his personal fall from grace.

O'Dell's hero in "King's Fifth" is different from Escobar, but mostly in name and location. In this short novel, we find Esteban de Sandoval imprisoned in the Spanish fortress of San Juan de Ulua on the far east coast of Mexico. Having found a significant treasure, Esteban is charged with refusing the Spanish King his fifth of the treasure - the standard percentage that all explorers are due their king. The key drama is not Esteban's innocence or guilt of the crime...he fully admits to withholding the King's fifth. The core mystery is determining where the treasure is exactly and why, as Esteban contends, it will never be found.

O'Dell's narrative bounces between Esteban's flashbacks of his adventure in the new world, and his trial which spans the course of several weeks. A young mapmaker on board a ship in the Sea of Cortes, Esteban becomes associated with mutineers and finds himself in western Mexico with the explorer Coronado who's in search of the fabled Cibola. His brush with the non-fictional Coronado is quite brief, but is reminiscent of Julian Escobar's travels with both Hernan Cortes and Francisco Pizarro.

I didn't find the story as compelling nor deep as "The Serpent Trilogy" although it's well written, and the pacing and tone are extremely similar.

The real story is about lost innocence and the driving forces behind Spanish exploration. Esteban simply wants to make maps...to find something new that's never been mapped, and forever associate himself with such a discovery. Paralleling Escobar's fall from grace, the lure of gold becomes too much for Esteban and, he too, succumbs to the disease del oro. While the story ends in redemption (although not complete), the conclusion is rather abrupt and unfulfilling.

If you seek an introduction into the world of the Spanish Conquest of the Americas, I'd start with "The Serpent Trilogy." "The King's Fifth" is good, but not nearly as well rounded, deep and satisfying.

I first heard of the book seeing that it was the original for the Japanese animation series "The Mysterous Cities of Gold" and so, of course, I always wished to read it. Most people who I know that turn to this book because of the series are very disappointed. I was not. Of course, this is much different. But if you forget MCOG and just read the book for the book itself, it is very good! It's point is different from the MCOG, which is a beautiful tale of adventure and friendship. The book is the struggle of the hero with himself, his learning of himself, his overcoming himself in the great epidemic of gold thirst. The whole book is situated in jail, where Esteban de Sandoval, a 16-year old cartograph of the Spanish Conquistadors Army, is waiting for his trial for not submitting the Royal fifth of the treasure they have found to the Spanish King. He recalls the journey in search of the Mysterious Cities of Gold of Cibola, judges his companions and himself... His real trial is this recollection, not what is expecting him. Whatever the official judgement is, we discover what he did in the end, and how he passed his real trial. And for all the MCOG fans, certainly don't miss it!

I think The King's Fifth is interesting because of its perspective, the attitude that Mexico was just there for the taking and that "maps do not have to be accurate." The story is complicated by the fact that the main character is the only one besides Zia who recognizes that his lust for gold is evil. This was not the best piece of O'Dell's work (Island of the Blue Dolphins is the best) but some of the ideas are intriguing. I think the characters (especially Zia) were fascinating and well developed.

For Grade 8 Language Arts class we are reading this book. It is set in the year 1541, the golden age of Spanish conquest in the Americas, or the "New Spain." Esteban de Sandoval, a young cartographer, was imprisoned after the failed expedition to the Seven Cities of Cibola. He was accused of hiding gold and not giving the share to the King of Spain, Charles V. However, another person, Don Felipe, also wants the share of the treasure and he wants Esteban to write a map for him. The gold is in such a large quantity, it was believed it took twelve mules to transport it. The story is told in a flashback and present pattern, where the author skips from Esteban writing in his journal what happened on the expedition to what is happening to Esteban while he was imprisoned in Vera Cruz, awaiting trial from the Royal Audencia. Esteban was part of a search party that was traveling to find the legendary Seven Cities of Gold. His party involves Mendoza, the leader, and Zia, the Indian guide, and a few other Spaniards, including a priest. The book contains many thrilling plots, from the death of the Spaniards, to final search and capture of the gold. This book also gives me unknown knowledge, things you wouldn't read in textbooks. For example, I never knew that a Native American could never ride a horse, as decreed by Hernando Cortes, known as Cortes' Law. The book also adds a brand new perspective to the stereotypical view of conquistadors. We thought they were savage barbarians, hell-bent on plundering cities and seizing gold, not people with humanity and emotion. This book shows the latter part of the conquistadors. In the concluding stage of the book, everyone in Esteban's expedition died except for himself and the Indian guide, Zia. However, Zia left him and Esteban was the only individual in possession of the gold. He could have taken it and become so rich, the King would have to fear him. Instead, he dumped all the gold into a deep chasm, lost forever to the Spaniards. Esteban saw all his fellow countrymen who died just for gold, and he saw the pointlessness of wealth and importance of human life. In fact, in the very ending part of the book, his jailer and the fortress commander both came forward asking Esteban to lead them to the lost treasure. The commander even offered Esteban freedom. However, Esteban didn't want more people losing their lives for something worthless, like what the Indians of Cibola told him, so he rejected both of their offers. Readers interested in adventure and historical fiction will find this book captivating and powerful, and some may find it even tragic. I chose this book by pure coincidence. I was requesting to read another book, and my LA teacher recommended me to this book, and he said it's very interesting. I was skeptical, but I tried it out. After a few days and two hundred pages later, I refused to set the book down. What I loved about the book is how Esteban came from a naïve boy to a conquistador, and to the final stage in which how he became a mature man and understood the real value of life. Esteban truly experienced blood, sweat, and tears.

Esteban, a young cartographer, is in prison for refusing to give the king a fifth of the gold discovered on an expedition. On the expedition, several of the crew mutiny, hoping to find gold from the seven cities of Cibola. Esteban goes along with them in the hope of being the first to map the area. The search for gold leads to many disappointments and even frustration and anger. Eventually, they steal and get gold from the natives, which leads to many disastrous results, even a skirmish. Eventually, Esteban is the only one who knows where the gold is but due to the evil the gold brought about, he has no wish to go back to the gold or give the king his share. The jailer and prosecutor at Esteban's trial want him to make maps so they can find the gold. Esteban agrees, but insists that with the maps, the gold will never be found. In fact, Esteban claims not even he could find the gold. Eventually, Esteban is sentenced to three years in prison, which he plans to serve and then he will go and seek out things that really matter, like family and friends.
Scott O'Dell wrote a wonderful story in this book. It is a great book for any reading child and is a Newbery Honor Book. It is exciting and interesting and readers will not want to put this 264-page book down. It is truly and wonderful and interesting book

The King's Fifth is a cultural book dating back to 1541, the Golden Age in Spain. It tells the story of Esteban de Sandoval, a Spanish cartographer who made maps for the conquistadors of Coronado's army who were searching for gold in Mexico. After seeing many Spanish soldiers die in their greed to obtain gold, Estaban takes it upon himself to get rid of the gold. He dumps it in a ditch in the desert, and then is punished for not giving the King of Spain his one-fifth of all gold found by the conquistadors. I liked how Estaban finally realized that the blind pursuit of money and wealth is empty and how he rejects the allure of gold.