Release date: October 25, 2011 | Series: Obsidian and Blood (Book 3)
The year is Three Rabbit, and the storm is coming...
The coronation war for the new Emperor has just ended in a failure, the armies retreating with a mere forty prisoners of war - not near enough sacrifices to ensure the favor of the gods.
When one of those prisoners of war dies of a magical illness, ACATL, High Priest for the Dead, is summoned to investigate.
File Under: Fantasy [ Magical Murder | Aztec Mystery | Human Sacrifice | The Gods Walk ]
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Praise for "Servant of the Underworld" - the first in the series:
"An Aztec priest of the dead tries to solve a murder mystery, and finds that politics may be even more powerful than magic. A vivid portrayal of an interesting culture in a truly fresh fantasy novel." - Kevin J. Anderson, New York Times bestselling co-author of The Winds of Dune
"A gripping mystery steeped in blood and ancient Aztec magic. I was enthralled." - Sean Williams
"The world-building is exquisite and we *believe* we are transported to the 15th century Tenotichtlan and together with the superb voice they formed the main reason I enjoyed this book so much... Highly recommended... Ms. de Bodard is a writer to watch." - Fantasy Book Critic
About the Author
Aliette de Bodard is a writer and computer specialist whose short fiction has already brought her a John W Campbell Award nomination, for best newcomer.
Living in Paris, Aliette is French, of Vietnamese extraction, but she writes exclusively in English. The author lives in Paris, France.
Product Details
Mass Market Paperback: 448 pages
Publisher: Angry Robot; Original edition (October 25, 2011)
Aliette de Bodard is a half-French, half-Vietnamese computer and history geek who lives in Paris. In her spare time, she writes speculative fiction. Her short stories have appeared in many venues, including Asimov's, Interzone and the Year's Best Science Fiction. She has a special interest in non-Western civilisations, particularly Ancient Vietnam, Ancient China and Ancient Mesoamerica. Her trilogy Obsidian and Blood is set in Ancient Mexico, and she is currently working on an urban fantasy set in Paris.
Wow. Brilliant end to the trilogy. Though it could be taken as a stand-alone, all of the character and plot arcs come together, and each of the books affects the others. The ending had me tearing up and wanting more. I really came to love these characters, and I wish we could see them again.
Aliette handles writing the foreign culture very well, painting it in realistic and practical colors of a world that they actual live in rather than one that we should gawk at. The ideas are brilliant and the research solid.
If you loved her first two books, you'll love this one.
If you want to take a plunge into the bloody realm of the Aztecs as Acatl, High Priest of the Dead, tries to unravel the mystery behind a mysterious illness spreading in the capital, then this book is for you. It's filled with palace politics, ancient gods, costly magic, and growing tension as the plague grows in severity. One particularly nice aspect of reading this book is that it paints a balanced portrait of a highly civilized Aztec society that nonetheless engages in regular human sacrifice as a sacred religious rite. The Aztec medicine presented in the book struck me as remarkably advanced, what with notions of disease contagion and vectors, although my initial bias that the Aztecs wouldn't have conceived of such things seemed groundless after a little research revealed to me how superior their medicine was to Spain's in the following century.
Bodard involves the reader in three main characters: Acatl, our high priest PI, his sister, and an heir to the throne with his own agenda. Like many superior mysteries or fantasies (in this case both), Bodard uses a highly involving plot to reveal larger human and societal issues. It's a book that's not only involving while reading, but interesting to ponder after one is finished.
I have not read the previous books in the series, but I did not feel like this hindered my enjoyment of the book. As I have nearly no previous knowledge of Aztec mythology, the book turned out to be really interesting reading experience for me. Yet I did not feel lost or tempted to sneak out of this alien word (well, I do read for comfort, so I am likely to stop reading when something seems too alien to be comfortable for me), as the way the story was told kept me interested and, if one could say so, as a welcome companion to the man by whose eyes we see the events roll out - Acatl, High Priest for the Dead.
