Customer Reviews

Shadow of the Lords (Aztec Mysteries)

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Levack returns us to the world of the Aztec a day after his compelling opener finished to find our much put upon and beaten slave sleuth, Yaotl, Nimble's father, stumbling around on a mission to locate the missing emperor's stolen raiment of Quetzalcoatl and find out who killed it's artist, Skinny. Under the ever threatening gaze of the psychotic Captain and Fox, lieutenant of Otomies, he manages to evade his minders and escape into the backwaters to carry out some proper investigating coming across Skinny's extended family who all seem slightly unhinged and prone to violence. Whilst talking to (and not getting many answers out of) Angy, the uncle to Crayfish who is the father of Marigold, who was wife to Idle, who was twin brother of Skinny, who was married to Butterfly (who's definitely got the psychotic abilities to gain a place in the Otomies) Yaotl finds himself framed for the subsequent murder of Idle, which he didn't commit and trying to track down the incarcerated Marigold.
Meanwhile, he's on the receiving end of the embittered and very angry, Lily , daughter of Kindly, whose policemen, Upright and Shield continue the theme of manhandling our hero.
To give him some respite his friend, Handy, and brother help him to some kind of reconciliation with his family, inadvertently send him to see Stammerer, priest in House of Tears, who holds the key to the whole thing and get him out of some serious scrapes as he recovers the stolen coat and eventually uncovers a deed so nefarious that's it's quite appalling.
It was only a matter of time before an enterprising author picked the Aztecs as a setting for murder mysteries and Levack has done an admirable job with his tongue-in-cheek beleaguered hero, Yaotl, who squirms his way round Tenochtitlan constantly receiving a beating for his pains. Given he's one of life's great survivors it's no surprise to find a very sharp mind that can pick through the inevitable political intrigue that comes with his lethal cases.
Levack prose is crisp, his characters brightly painted and always exasperated, his action clean and well drawn. Yaotl is a good addition to the ancient murder sleuth set and hopefully Levack will continue his stories about his wayward but always enterprising hero.

In 1517 in Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire, citizens are afraid as rumors abound of a sighting of a person running through the streets; the fear comes from his visage which is that of a snake and his sparkling green plumage that coats his body. Could the Feathered Serpent of God, Quetzalcoatl, be haunting the streets as a foretelling of impending doom? Or could Tezcatlipoca, the most feared God, have come as a final day reckoning?

Yaotl is a slave to the second most powerful person in the empire, Chief Minister, Chief Priest and Chief Justice Lord Feathered in Black. He is known for his merciless use of living examples; those who provide the slightest affront or disobey him are publicly dealt with so others learn. He ignores the apprehensive prattle of the end of days because Yaotl has a more personal problem; his cruel owner seeks the killer of the odious merchant Ocotl; the suspect is Yaotl's son, who has vanished. Yaotl knows that once Lord Feathered in Black makes the connection he is dead plus he is worried about his child so he investigates who dismembered the victim, seeks his offspring, avoids the apparent appearance of the God, and dodges the lethal belligerent warriors of his master while uncovering avarice amidst the feather artisans.

Though obviously a historical mystery, THE SHADOW OF THE LORDS is much more as the audience obtains a deep insightful look at the Aztec Empire in the early sixteenth century. Yaotl is a terrific amateur sleuth who seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, but has no choice as he follows the clues wherever they lead. Readers will appreciate this astonishingly well written exhilarating tale that is sure to obtain award nominations and make Simon Levack a sub-genre favorite (see DEMON OF THE AIR).

Harriet Klausner

First Line: "Listen!" my brother cried.

This is the second mystery featuring ex-priest and now wily slave, Yaotl, who lives in the sixteenth-century capital of the Aztec empire, Mexico-Tenochtitlan. This second book takes up right where the first, Demon of the Air, left off.

While investigating a death in order to protect his son, Yaotl learns that the god Quetzalcoatl has been seen staggering down the streets of the capital, in full-feathered splendor, and in no time at all he finds himself searching for answers in the elite section of the city that houses the feather workers.

Levack includes maps of the country and capital city, as well as explanations of the Aztec calendar and language to help readers, but after skimming over them, I found myself referring to the map of the city a time or two and that's all. What immersed me in this story is Levack's writing. I could easily picture myself walking the streets or sitting in a boat on one of the canals of Tenochtitlan. I could see the temples. When I looked at characters, I found my eyes starting with their hairstyles and working their way down. I watched workers put together dazzling examples of the feather workers' art. I was there piecing together clues with a crafty man named Yaotl who was trying, not only to protect his son, but protect himself from a beating... or worse.

Since Shadow of the Lords also ends with a cliffhanger and I have the third book in the series sitting on my shelves, I know I can look forward to meeting with Yaotl once again.

If you like to be taken to another time and another place completely alien to your own in order to solve a mystery, pick up an Aztec mystery by Simon Levack. Not only will you be entertained, but the author will leave you feeling you have an idea of what it may have been like to live in the Aztec Empire.

This is the first Aztec Mystery I've read. The story is smooth and well-written, though it appears that one needs to read the previous novel ("Demon of the Air") to fully understand the characters and their relationships, as events seem to begin immediately upon the conclusion of the previous book.

The strength of the book is its nuanced depiction of Aztec culture, including religion, food, dress, social class, architecture, etc. Unfortunately another evident aspect of Aztec culture is unrelenting brutality - people are beaten, choked, kicked, clubbed, teeth broken out with a knife, held over smoking fires, dunked in the water, etc. When not being tortured by others, the people practice constant bloodletting in "sacrifice" to the gods as characters cut their earlobes, other body parts, etc. and let their blood flow to show their devotion to various deities. Things, places, and people wear a patina of blood and gore (one can only imagine the flies.) The main character gets beaten or brutalized in nearly every chapter, often passing out or vomiting up his last meal, I imagined him as a welter of bruises and cuts. Characters are frequently motivated by the threat of death or torture, or a torturous death (fast death if you cooperate, agonizing death if you don't - the characters' capacity for descriptive threat is sometimes exhausted as several times a character is threatened with "the most agonizing death you can imagine.") It gets to the point that the brutality becomes monotonous, which perhaps is the intention, to convey what Aztec life was like. The impression I get of Aztec culture is that it was a heirarchy of squalid cruelty, filth, blood, and misery for all but the highest classes. Even the most beautiful expression of Aztec culture, the featherworking, is tainted because you imagine the fate of all the beautiful birds yielding up their mounds of feathers.

In the midst of all this cruelty, it is hard to imagine Yaotl's evident love for his missing son (who we don't meet until the very end of the book). Even Yaotl's own parents beat and slap him at every opportunity.

As a result, it was difficult to have much care or concern for the characters, all beating up on each other. I read this book not for the enjoyment of the story but out of curiousity about Aztec culture.

One slightly jarring item is the characters' use of English idioms - though the author is "translating" characters speaking Aztec, it still seems odd to hear Aztecs using modern slang, and slightly detracts from the authenticity.

(SPOILER ALERT) - The story does not resolve at the end - it's a cliffhanger - what a letdown...