Book description
The first book in the critically acclaimed Obsidian and Blood trilogy:
Year One-Knife, Tenochtitlan the capital of the Aztecs. Human sacrifice and the magic of the living blood are the only things keeping the sun in the sky and the earth fertile.
A Priestess disappears from an empty room drenched…
Why read it?
2 authors picked Servant of the Underworld as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
I love a noir detective story. Set that story in a fantastical, blood-drenched Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec empire, and I’m totally sold.
The story follows Acatl, who is a high priest of the dead, as he, I kid you not, tries to solve what appears to be a murder case. Except he’s not walking the streets of some modern city – his journey takes him through the fascinating world of a familiar yet unique Aztec empire where human sacrifice is the only thing keeping the world spinning in its proper order.
Having familiar conflicts, including family issues, makes…
From Gerry's list on The best fantasy books set in a familiar but strange old America.
De Bodard’s Obsidian and Blood series snagged my attention when I realized that it was set among the Aztec/Mexica in the decades immediately before the arrival of Europeans. It only took a few paragraphs for me to become completely immersed in a civilization with values and virtues that were sometimes familiar, sometimes markedly different. This is a world in which Gods and spirits play an active role in human society and humans, in turn, have binding obligations to the Gods. Servant of the Underworld will not be to everyone’s tastes; it deals unflinchingly with slavery, war, conquest, and human sacrifice.…
From Rebecca's list on The best fantasy and science fiction for Pagans.
If you love Servant of the Underworld...
December on 5C4
Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!
On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…
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