Austin Brigg's debut novel, Five Dances with Death, is a historical fantasy set during the time of the Spanish Conquest in Mexico. It follows the story of Wasp, the war leader of the Tlaxcalteca, who are besieged by the Mexica.
This book is fantastic. I just need to get that out there straight off. If you're at all interested in historical fantasy, or non-western thought, or Meso-American history, go ahead, go to Amazon and buy it. You won't regret it. Unless you hate gore and violence. It's not overly graphic, but descriptions of human sacrifice and war are common topics here.
It isn't purely historical, however. There is some mysticism and magic going on, but it serves as a device to allow us to see the big picture. Of course it would be difficult to express the scope of goings on without this intervention. In some books this might have been a little heavy handed on the part of the author, but here it is also used as a way for us to explore the mythology of the Azteca and to further understand our character.
There's a glossary at the beginning of the book that I didn't read before starting, because the Kindle book starts after it and I don't always go back to check if there's a map or a glossary. This time I had to go back and check because Nahuatl is a tongue twisting language and I wasn't familiar with all the nations that we were talking about.
On maps, I only had an idea of the areas that were talked about because I live in Texas and am pretty familiar with Northern Mexico. I hope that in the next book the author includes a map, because I'm afraid most people probably aren't familiar with the territory, and the travel in the book can get a little confusing for the thorough reader.
This book is action packed, emotion filled, and character driven. Wasp is compelling, as are his rivals and his wife. I couldn't put this book down without picking it right up again to see what happens next.
The only complaint I would have is that the dialogue doesn't feel natural all the time. But I hesitate to make that complaint because on the other hand, the dialogue also feels like it's translated, which does make the book feel very... legitimate? The conquistadors' dialogue does not have this problem, in the small portions
Not only is this a great book, but I also feel it's an important book. So little fiction is written in the voice of native Meso-Americans, and even less is written solely in this voice and with the backing of solid history. Being half Mexican-American, these histories are a part of my history, and a lot of the time it feels like a history that is not appreciated. In many books and schools, the history of Mexico starts with, "And the Spanish came and found..." Books like this remind us that there's more than just that story. There's also the ones who found the Spanish, to their peril.
Austin Briggs is going on my list of authors to look out for, and I'm excitedly waiting for the next installment to this series.
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