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Title: Servant of the Underworld
Author: Aliette de Bodard
Genre: Aztec paranormal mystery
Thingummies: 3.5
Synopsis: When his brother is accused of murdering a priestess, the High Priest of the Dead of the Aztec Empire finds himself embroiled in a conspiracy that goes all the way up to the gods.
Thoughts: There are quite a few urban fantasy mysteries and historical mysteries--this blends the two.
Acatl is a reluctant High Priest--he doesn't like politics, he's not very self-confident, and he has a severe case of imposter syndrome. The poor guy muddles along as best he can. He's perfectly at home with dealing with shadow beasts and other monsters from the underworld--it's people that give him trouble.
The mystery that he gets entangled in has quite a bit of personal tragedy for him. There are the usual red herrings and twists; perhaps a few too many of them. I'm still having a little trouble sorting out exactly how the Jaguar Knights got involved in the first place. There are a lot of characters introduced and then dropped, who I expected to come back but turned out to be unimportant. In the end, I'm not sure I totally understand what happened to the priestess and why, precisely. I get the gist, but it's still a little confusing. Her apparent murder kicks off a series of events that ends up making her death something of an afterthought.
The author notes that Teomitl and Mahmatini were supposed to be significantly less important characters than they end up being. It's pretty obvious--they steal every scene they appear in.
Overall, the mystery is ok but nothing thrilling. The novelty of what is essentially an urban fantasy noir plot set in Mesoamerica is what gives this book its appeal. Not only have we shunned the ever-present vampires and werewolves for some fresher monsters, de Bodard is willing to engage with a very different moral system in which human sacrifice is both routine and key to keeping the world spinning. Blood magic permeates the book, as it must, and she resists the urge to give her characters modern Western sensibilities. It's a refreshingly non-Eurocentric point of view, and makes the book far more interesting than another "supernatural detective must solve mystery, save world" book might have been.
Author: Aliette de Bodard
Genre: Aztec paranormal mystery
Thingummies: 3.5
Synopsis: When his brother is accused of murdering a priestess, the High Priest of the Dead of the Aztec Empire finds himself embroiled in a conspiracy that goes all the way up to the gods.
Thoughts: There are quite a few urban fantasy mysteries and historical mysteries--this blends the two.
Acatl is a reluctant High Priest--he doesn't like politics, he's not very self-confident, and he has a severe case of imposter syndrome. The poor guy muddles along as best he can. He's perfectly at home with dealing with shadow beasts and other monsters from the underworld--it's people that give him trouble.
The mystery that he gets entangled in has quite a bit of personal tragedy for him. There are the usual red herrings and twists; perhaps a few too many of them. I'm still having a little trouble sorting out exactly how the Jaguar Knights got involved in the first place. There are a lot of characters introduced and then dropped, who I expected to come back but turned out to be unimportant. In the end, I'm not sure I totally understand what happened to the priestess and why, precisely. I get the gist, but it's still a little confusing. Her apparent murder kicks off a series of events that ends up making her death something of an afterthought.
The author notes that Teomitl and Mahmatini were supposed to be significantly less important characters than they end up being. It's pretty obvious--they steal every scene they appear in.
Overall, the mystery is ok but nothing thrilling. The novelty of what is essentially an urban fantasy noir plot set in Mesoamerica is what gives this book its appeal. Not only have we shunned the ever-present vampires and werewolves for some fresher monsters, de Bodard is willing to engage with a very different moral system in which human sacrifice is both routine and key to keeping the world spinning. Blood magic permeates the book, as it must, and she resists the urge to give her characters modern Western sensibilities. It's a refreshingly non-Eurocentric point of view, and makes the book far more interesting than another "supernatural detective must solve mystery, save world" book might have been.
