In the Courts of the Sun (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

According to the ancient Maya, December 21, 2012, could be the day the world ends. In this ambitious novel, a modern-day descendant of the Maya, Jed DeLanda, goes back in time to save mankind. Well, he doesn’t go back physically; that’s not possible in D’Amato’s world, but it is possible to send back the consciousness of a person and to place it inside the mind of someone living in the past. The plan was to put Jed’s mind inside the body of a Mayan king in the year 664 CE, but, instead, he winds up inside the head of a man about to be killed by ritual sacrifice. Can Jed keep his host alive long enough to save the world? This is the sort of novel that Robert Silverberg might write (and, in fact, it feels a bit like Silverberg’s classic Up the Line)—a richly detailed, intellectually stimulating adventure through time. Unfortunately, it takes too long for the adventure to begin. While it’s fine to describe the future world in which Jed lives and even to establish his credentials for being chosen as humanity’s savior, we shouldn’t be made to wait 200-odd pages before Jed is flung back into the past. Still, he is an engaging narrator, telling his story in an easy, often humorous style. With the release later this year of the high-profile movie 2012 (also based on the Mayan prophecy), prepare for this title to be in high demand. --David Pitt

Review

“In the Courts of the Sun by Brian D’Amato is an enthralling and original read, a stunningly inventive novel that will keep you turning the pages until the wee hours. With the sure hand of a master storyteller, D’Amato weaves together Mayan history, modern science, game theory and the coming Mayan apocalypse to deliver a gripping read. Beware December 21, 2012!”
—Douglas Preston, author of The Codex and The Monster of Florence

"A remarkable, unique, stand-out book. Prodigious in its scope, its originality, its ambition, its intelligence, and the mastery of its research. In a word: awesome. Or brilliant. Make that two words: awesome and brilliant."
—Raymond Khoury, author of The Last Templar and The Sanctuary “Fans of the late Michael Crichton will welcome this engrossing thriller. . . . The period details are as convincing as those in Simon Levack’s superb Aztec mysteries.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred)

“Ambitious. . . . a richly detailed, intellectually stimulating adventure through time.”
— Booklist

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 704 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Adult; 1 edition (March 26, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525950516
• ISBN-13: 978-0525950516
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #192,765 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful research, plodding storyline, June 1, 2009

By	C. Blek (Imperial, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I believe that your personal politics will play a big part in whether you like this book or not. Conservatives will probably not like it and liberals probably will. As a moderate, the authors unrelenting desire to inject politics into a sci-fi/time travel/adventure was simply annoying.

In the world according to Mr. D'Amato, the United States, Caucasians, Mormons, the C.I.A., Corporations, Haliburton (ok, he got that one right) Tom Clancy, Alicia Keys and National Geographic are all bad.

The research is brilliant and the idea for the story is solid. I was really looking forward to reading this novel. But this is a wonderful idea squandered. The storyline is slow and strangely the pace does not increase as the book progresses. The lead character is marginally tolerable. At one point the author rags on Tom Clancy, but D'Amato is likewise very detail oriented, only unlike Clancy, often at the expense of the story.

In fact, lots of information appears to have no purpose other than for the author to convince his readers that he is a really smart guy. And this is a planned trilogy? Sorry, it's one and done for me.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Don't judge a book by its cover!, July 4, 2009

By	junkette (Tennessee, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

Finally! I finished this book. Thank goodness I didn't pay full price for it in the bookstore when I picked it up. When reading the jacket blurb, I felt it would be right down my alley, combining themes from two of my favorite books, Time and Again by Jack Finney and Aztec by Gary Jennings. I went home and ordered it for my Kindle. Unfortunately, the book failed to deliver what I had hoped.

First of all, the passages on gaming were completely foreign to me, a woman in her 60s. I suppose a younger person with gaming expertise might enjoy them, but I found them extremely boring--unfortunate, since they were the key part of the story. Mathematical formulas were interspersed throughout the book; again, to me, distracting. I had no problem with the foreign words in the story. There were enough definitions in the story that one could read through them with little problem. Plus, if forgotten, the Kindle's search ability lets one find the first instance of the word, where the definition is often found.

In both Aztec and Time and Again, I was moved by the events and characters in the story. At no time during the reading of In the Courts of the Sun did I feel compassion for any of the characters.

The redeeming quality of the book was the description of the Maya cities and people during their civilization's peak. D'Amato was able to bring life to the abandoned cities we now see and describe what must have been the splendor of their buildings, attire, customs, and celebrations.

Again, I'm glad that I ordered the book on Kindle, rather than purchase the hardback. It was rather tedious to read, and I doubt that I will continue reading the series.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Truly a mind numbing trip through time., June 14, 2009

By	Roger Fladeboe (Plymouth, MN United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

An exerpt from page 667 -"No matter how little you are enjoying the show, past a certain point you stay in the theater to see how it ends." This really sums up the numbing effect of reading/skimming this novel. If only that had been made plain in the first 20 pages I would have moved on to a better book. Brian D'Amato employs a vocabulary that leaves the reader guessing or running for the dictionary. The plot movement suffers intolerably from the overly detailed descriptions and the repetitious self examinations of Jed. Where was the editor to put the brakes on the wordiness and why are other authors calling this a page turner when it is clearly a snoozer? THis is an OK story best told in 250 pages - not 679. Brian D'Amato should stick to being a sculptor because writing is clearly not his bailiwick.