Am glad to see another review of the Turquoise Serpent! Thanks for the explanation of the ironwood blade. Had wondered what that thing was. Wiki says "Its sides are embedded with prismatic blades traditionally made from obsidian." Sharp wood didn't sound quite right, even if iron.
My review didn't capture the energy of the book near so well as yours. Perhaps I wrote it too soon after reading. TS is, after all, rather different than the ordinary fiction you'd find at a bookstore and we need to think of it differently.
As always, when dealing with an historically inspired setting, I wonder how accurately the novel captures the mindset of the fictional population. We don't want modern-people-in-ren-faire-costumes style of fantasy. While I'm not aware of the historical character of the historical pre-Columbian peoples, the folk of Kalak Mool are at least not moderns in drag.
A comparison of Cayucali to Conan could be interesting. Lot of similarities but Cayucali has a woman, so he's put down roots. Rather than a wandering adventurer, he has direction and purpose. Guess we'll see if he makes it back to home and hearth in the next book.
Am glad to see another review of the Turquoise Serpent! Thanks for the explanation of the ironwood blade. Had wondered what that thing was. Wiki says "Its sides are embedded with prismatic blades traditionally made from obsidian." Sharp wood didn't sound quite right, even if iron.
My own review left me unsatisfied: https://blindprisonofthemind.substack.com/p/an-obscurity
My review didn't capture the energy of the book near so well as yours. Perhaps I wrote it too soon after reading. TS is, after all, rather different than the ordinary fiction you'd find at a bookstore and we need to think of it differently.
As always, when dealing with an historically inspired setting, I wonder how accurately the novel captures the mindset of the fictional population. We don't want modern-people-in-ren-faire-costumes style of fantasy. While I'm not aware of the historical character of the historical pre-Columbian peoples, the folk of Kalak Mool are at least not moderns in drag.
A comparison of Cayucali to Conan could be interesting. Lot of similarities but Cayucali has a woman, so he's put down roots. Rather than a wandering adventurer, he has direction and purpose. Guess we'll see if he makes it back to home and hearth in the next book.