From Publishers Weekly
In the latest epic from Wood (
Daughter of the Sun), Tonina, a young Mayan-era woman born on tiny Pearl Island (off Cuba), is tall and light skinned, while her people are smaller of stature and dark. When her differences become too much for her fellows to bear, they send her away to the mainland to find her true people. Her quest leads her to the heart of the Mayan empire and to a barbarian ballplayer named Kaan, who desperately wants to be Mayan. When Kaan's wife dies and he goes on a quest to cleanse her soul, he's unwillingly thrown together with Tonina, and the two begin to attract fellow questers as they make their way through Mayapan. Meanwhile, Kaan is being pursued by Mayan prince Balam, who blames Kaan for everything that has gone wrong in his life. As Tonina and Kaan pick up more followers, a new culture begins to emerge. Wood crafts a complex and compelling pre-Columbian world.
(Sept.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Tall and lean and light skinned, Tonina has always been an outsider among the dark, stocky people of Pearl Island. Her parents found her floating on the sea in a basket, and now that she is 21, unmarried, and unlikely to be (considering her differences), they send her on a made-up errand to the mainland, hoping that she will find her people. What she finds is one harrowing adventure after another. Believing that she is seeking a healing red flower, Tonina makes her way to Mayapan, heart of Mayan civilization, and comes under the protection of Kaan, hero of the ball field. She becomes caught up in the intrigue and danger of court life and the object of a twisted vendetta. As Tonina, Kaan, and their strange group of followers make their way to what will one day be Mexico, they find their people and each other. Combining historical places and cultural references with a little magic and a lot of romance, Wood creates an interesting look at the founding of the Aztec nation. --Elizabeth Dickie
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