His name, "El Cid" was given to him by the Moors. The journey of reading Jennings more than makes up for any specific flaws in the stories themselves.Įl Cid was born Rodrigo (or Ruy) Díaz de Vivar. I didn't love the ending, but I felt resolved and satisfied. But it pulled me in: I cared about the characters.I cared how the persistent dramatic threads concluded (and there were many threads).and I was drawn to feel as the characters felt. At first Mateo is a bit predictable and fairly unlikeable (purposely so, for the record), but I found myself almost audibly cheering for the two banditos as they traipse across New Spain and the Atlantic following women, riches and schemes in the typically broad Jennings landscape. The most persistent of characters is Mateo.a living Don Quixote who pulls Cristo along as he chases innumerable windmills. The story contains sword fights, heroic rescues and escapes, love, sex and multiple detailed run-ins with the Spanish Inquisition.Ĭharacters bounce in and out, often falling subject to Cristo's ill-fated existence. It's terrifically insightful and rich in the history and research that one finds in Jennings' other work. In Cristo's journeys of self discovery in which he's seeking both physical and spiritual origins, the reader explores the impact of the Spanish Conquest on native "indios", first generation-born new world Spaniards, and old world Spaniards as well.
Suffice it to say that "Aztec Blood" is heavily focused on the class differences of early-to-mid Spanish Colonialism in post-conquest Mexico. It's impossible to truly summarize the story here.I will leave that to previous reviewers and book summaries. But the characteristics of his main character, Cristo the Bastardo, are similar to the protagonists in the other two books - he's adventurous, very self-aware, and very prone to drama. While "Aztec Blood" (the third in his "Aztec" series) doesn't compete or compare well head-to-head with his original "Aztec", I found myself drawn in and gobbling up all 750 pages.įor fans of his earlier Aztec work, there are no direct connections between "Blood" and "Aztec" and "Aztec Autumn". "Aztec Blood" is the first of several books (and more on the way) written based on notes and outlines and published after his death. What really grabs me, though, is his intricacy and the texture he's able to draw across his broad landscapes. what was published while he was still alive), it's broad in scope, rich in detail, and absolutely epic. Whatever one thinks of his early work (i.e. Lenny Kravitz was born on day 8-Quiahuitl.First, I have to confess that I'm a big fan of Gary Jennings. These are good days to bind the community together bad days to sow discord and discontent. These days are clouded in confusion: only the most self-disciplined warrior can suffer an excess of success without incuring sudden loss. It is a time when affairs of war and affairs of the heart are born without thinking. This trecena signifies those times when we are incapable of protecting ourselves from high emotions. These are 13 days of intoxication, infatuation, excitement and passion: it is a time of excesses, when moderation is impossible, and so is often a time of disastrous consequences. The thirteen day period ( trecena) that starts with day 1-Malinalli (Grass) is ruled by Mayahuel, Goddess of the Maguey and Pulque. It is a good day for traveling and learning, a bad day for business and planning. Quiahuitl is a day of relying on the unpredictable fortunes of fate.
(Correlation: Alfonso Caso - Nicholson's veintena alignment ) The significance of this dayĭay Quiahuitl (Rain, known as Cauac in Maya) is governed by Tonatiuh, the Sun God, as its provider of tonalli (Shadow Soul) life energy.
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