Shadow of the Lords

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 show more 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. show less

This is the the second book in the Aztec mystery series about the slave Yaotl.

The writing was good, and the setting was done very well again taking place in and around the capital of the Aztecs, the city of Tenochititlan/Tlatelolco.

Yaotl is the slave of the chief minister, Lord Feathered in Black, one of many children of a poor paper-making family, he is a failed and disgraced priest, and former drunk who sold himself into slavery.

The story in this book continues the tale told in the first book where a crafty merchant has cheated the minister, and kidnapped or killed the sorcerers the Emperor wants to consult about the White Skinned people who have landed on the coast.

The mystery was solved in the first book, but while doing so Yaotl show more discovered he had a teenaged son, and that he was involved with the evil merchant. Though the Emperor was satisfied, his employer the chief minister was not.

In the second book Yaotl has been charged by the minister with finding the merchant and his young accomplice, so that the minister may punish them for embarrassing him, and causing him to lose in his campaign to unseat the Emperor. Of course by punish he wants to torture, maim and then kill them. Yaotl can't turn over his own son, or even let the minister know he exists.

In this book Yaotl runs around trying to throw the trackers off the scent of his son, and to keep anyone from finding out the he exists, and is now alone because the merchant was killed. While this is understandable and a worthwhile endeavor it is also a bit thin as the sole plot point. It also made the story un-necessarily convoluted to keep Yaotl from being able to talk to people freely or get help. It sticks out as an awkward exposition of the mechanism used to make the plot work right.

Eventually a god is seen in the streets, causing distress. Yaotl finds that it is a man who is wearing a god costume made of feathers. He finds that his son is involved with the theft of the costume. Yaotl accepts the task of finding the costume and returning it, as a means of locating his son. So Yaotl has to avoid the thugs his master has sent to track him and his son, he has to find the feather-work masterpiece and keep everyone in the dark because his son is involved. Eventually the Emperor steps in and is involved again.

We meet more of Yaotl's family and see his friends and others in the minister's house. The story also introduces the craftspeople known as feather-workers. All very interesting.

The mystery was pretty good. The first part of the book, was not as good as the second half. Once Yaotl was freed from the silly convention of not speaking to anyone because of his son, the story was much better.

The book ends with a cliffhanger, where Yaotl is going to refuse to turn over his son to the minister. Yaotl has been told if he doesn't, he will most likely die, by being sold as a sacrifice at one of the temples. After a good beating of course. The books ends as Yaotl arrives at the house where his master is waiting.

Ending in the middle of something is not something that I like in a book.

The 3rd book is now out in the UK, and I will probably import it rather than wait for it here. I will also hope to get it in PB, rather than HC. show less

México, 1517. Tenochtitlan, la capital azteca, se estremece entre pánico y rumores. Una extraña figura ha sido vista ocultándose entre las sombras de las calles. Un ser con cabeza de serpiente y el cuerpo cubierto con un plumaje verde brillante: Quetzalcoatl, la Serpiente Emplumada. ¿Es un disfraz o es el dios mismo que ha regresado para impedir algún desastre? Yaotl, esclavo del ministro de justicia, tiene asuntos más urgentes de los que ocuparse. Sumergido en la desesperada búsqueda de su hijo, ha escapado de la casa de su poderoso y vengativo amo. Si le capturan, lo único que le espera es un destino horrible... Pero en su huida, Yaotl se topa con un cadáver irreconocible, completamente desmembrado. Mientras une las pistas show more que le revelarán la identidad del muerto y por qué ha sido asesinado, Yaotl se verá inmerso en una sucia historia de avaricia, celos y lujuria protagonizada por los miembros del exclusivo gremio de artesanos que fabrica los trajes emplumados. Y, como está a punto de descubrir, la investigación de este asesinato le dará la clave para encontrar a su hijo. Pero antes de resolver el misterio, Yaotl necesitará usar todo su ingenio para seguir vivo, pues los secuaces de su amo le pisan los talones... show less

Tenochtitlán, capital del Imperio Azteca, a las afueras de la actual Ciudad de México, año 1517. Yaotl, esclavo en el servicio de un noble azteca, huye para encontrar a su hijo, inocente pero sospechoso de asesinato. Esquivando a los crueles guerreros del noble, que lo buscan, Yaotl se topa con un macabro asesinato y descubre que está relacionado con la desaparición de un traje sagrado, obra de un genio de los artesanos de las plumas y de un valor incalculable. Mientras intenta encontrar el traje y averiguar qué le pasó al muerto, sus investigaciones le llevan hasta una fea historia de celos y ambición que llevan a la mujer y al hermano del artesano al asesinato.