Feathered Serpent : A Novel of the Mexican Conquest

Rating:
Summary: Achingly beautiful and unbelievably savage
Review: A marvelous novel about the Spanish conquest of Mexico. Everyone knows that the (in)famous conquistador Cortes was only able to conquer the Aztecs, the ruling tribe of Tenochtitlan, because they pretty much rolled over and gave in. Most people also know that the Mexican natives bent over backwards for Cortes and his white-skinned followers because they thought the Europeans were gods. This novel expounds upon that misconception, giving us a greater insight into what the heck those Aztecs were thinking and how a tiny band of a few hundred Spanish soldiers was able to defeat the largest and richest city in the world.

According to Falconer, Malinali, the Aztec woman largely responsible for spreading the rumor that Cortes was the god Quetzalcoatl (Feathered Serpent), was indeed a real historical figure whose role in the Mexican conquest is still a subject of hot debate today. I can believe it. Lay aside the fact that she purportedly helped murder, enslave, and impoverish her own people (unintentionally or not - Falconer doesn't pass any judgment), and you're faced with the troubling implication that the fate of a continent hinged upon - gasp - a woman.

Falconer paints Malinali as a woman so traumatized by her cruel treatment by her Aztec mother, who sold her into slavery as a child, and inflamed by the prophecies of her father, a priest of Quetzalcoatl, that she seizes upon Cortes' arrival as a fulfillment of her destiny. She believes she is meant to be Quetzalcoatl's handmaiden, and once she becomes his translator she proudly announces this fact to every Mexican native they come across. The theme of Mali's mistranslations becomes an important one, as she paints a picture to the Aztecs that is quite different than the one Cortes had in mind, then is confused when her god doesn't live up to her expectations.

The descriptions of Aztec (and, to a lesser extent, Mayan) culture, religion, and architecture are wonderful, both achingly beautiful and unbelievably savage. Mali is a fascinating character, at once abhorrent and heroic. Cortes is predictably arrogant and destructive, yet Falconer avoids the simplistic, "Europeans bad/Natives good" P.C. interpretation of events that has become almost universally accepted. He is careful to include the larger justifications why the Europeans thought they were entitled to rule the New World (i.e., the pope said they could), and points out that Christianity did have some advantages over the Aztec religion, namely that it doesn't involve human sacrifice. Then again, as one character points out, plenty of people have died in the name of the Christian religion, too. This ambiguity between which religion is "better" highlights the bitter reality behind the clash of cultures: in the end, there is no one "right" side, or "good" guys. The characters are all mixtures of piety, ruthlessness, good intentions, arrogance, compassion, and cruelty. This makes them amazingly human, and the story of the Mexican conquest all the more tragic. You're left wondering if there was any way the story could have had a better outcome, or if the destruction was inevitable. Falconer deserves kudos for acknowledging the complexity of his source material and creating a story that never condescends to its victims nor exonerates its heroes.

Rating:
Summary: Good story, but very filthy and incorrect
Review: Feathered Serpent is the story of an intriguing and passionate cacique's daughter named Malinali Tenepal and her love and obsession over the man that she thought was her savior named Feathered Serpent, Hernan Cortes.
Malinali grew up in the Yucatan valleys, the daughter of a priest and a Mexica aka Aztec woman. Her mother despised her for not being chosen to be sacrificed and her father loved her. When she was still a young girl, her father told her that in the year One Reed, Quetzalcoatl aka Feathered Serpent would return to Tenochtitlan from the Cloud Lands to the East and topple the Mexica monarchy and the hated emperor, Motecuhzoma aka Montezuma. Not too long after that, Motecuhzoma had her Malinali's father killed in the town square for speaking about Motecuhzoma being removed from the throne, his birthright. Malinali's mother remarried and had a son, and when Malinali was 9, she was sold to slavetraders so that the new baby boy could inherit all of the lands of Malinali's family one day. Malinali ends up as the slave of a Mayan cacique, and when she is 19, she is given to a band of strange white men with beards. The year is One reed. The leader of the men must be Quetzalcoatl (it's really Cortes). When Cortes realizes Malinali is fluent in Nahuatl and Mayan, she becomes one of his translators along with a holy man named Aguilar, who despises Malinali because of her heathen and sexual ways. And from there begins a long journey across the lands of the Mexica, the Toltecs, the Maya, and many other tribal lands of modern-day Mexico as Cortes comes closer and closer to Tenochtitlan, where he plans to overthrow Motecuhzoma and make King Charles of Spain the rightful ruler of the land and take all of the gold in his name. However, the Mexica people of Tenochtitlan are outraged at Cortes, who they know is not Feathered Serpent. He has dared to destroy their religion and try to baptize them all into a new faith. He has dared to steal from them. He has dared to bring down their weak king. And all of this has happened because he has listened to Malinali. And so the people of Tenochtitlan attack Cortes and his armies, running them out of Tenochtitlan and forcing them to swim across the lake the city sits on, causing most of the armies to drown and all of the tons of gold they had taken and claimed to sink to the bottom of the lake. Malinali and Cortes survived, but their lives are not the same. The man she thought would save her was not Cortes, she realizes, and all of the work she has done and all of the hard work she put herself through was all a lie. She destroyed her own people. And even today she walks the streets of Mexico City crying for the losses she caused as La Llorona.
This book was very good and very well researched, at least in the fields of Mexican culture. There were a few problems I had with this book though:
1. Almost everything told about Malinali in this book was not true. Malinali was not born in 1500, she was born in 1505, so she was only 14 when she was given to Cortes, not 19. Malinali's father was not a priest, he was a cacique, a ruler, of Painala, and he died of a fever, not from being murdered by Motecuhzoma's guards. And Malinali did not have brothers and sisters, she was an only child. The author's research was poor in the areas of Malinali, and I think he needs a new editor.
2. OMG I have never seen so much sex in one book in my entire life! Almost every 20 or less pages there is a new scene between new people! And need I say that Rain Flower, Malinali's friend, certainly gets around a lot. This seemed more like a porn than a historical fiction or even a romance! And did we really need to read THAT much detail...
3. The language and swears used here are not ones you would normally here back then, and why must we read the same swear by one of Cortes' men every single page? It gets boring, although when Malinali called one of the soldiers something when she was learning Castilian and didnt know what it meant it was rather funny.
And so, I truly enjoyed this book and it is a very good story, but don't use it for school or if you want to learn anything nonfictional about Malinali, as most of it is false. In fact, that makes me question the author's research of the Mexica cultures and Cortes' life and soldiers....

Rating:
Summary: An exciting read!
Review: I was drawn to this book by its beautiful cover, but don't be fooled--there's a very entertaining and readable story inside.

Colin Falconer tells the tale of La Malinche with a great deal of panache. His version is mainly from her point of view, and as such it's different from Gary Jennings' Aztec novels. There's plenty of battle, bloodshed, treachery and romance, but it's the first book I've ever seen about the conquest that incorporates a woman's point of view. Many writers treat the story as if there were no women around at the time. Mr. Falconer actually gives us a well-rounded, historically accurate picture from both the male and female perspective. There are several other characters and subplots who round out the relationship between Malinche and Cortes, as well as an excellent recreation of Montezuma and his lords, priests and warriors.

This novel held my attention and reminded me in many ways of the great epic movies of Hollywood's golden age. It's colorful, exotic and entertaining, and does not insult the reader's intelligence.