Wholly absorbing novel concerning the last few decades of the Inca Empire as lived by an Incan warlord, Cusi and his wife Micay. We are thrust into a whole civilization and its waning years. The so-called "Bearded Ones" [the conquistadors] arrive in their "floating houses" with their "military beasts", "metal blowguns that shoot thunder" and greed for gold. They finally wipe out the whole culture. We live through family life, court intrigue, smallpox epidemic [fought by Micay and her bevy of healers, known as "White Women"], the civil war between the ruler and a brother, and final downfall of the empire. A fascinating look at this culture. Heavily detailed: the author must have researched his material thoroughly except I regret the lack of a bibliography. I was glad human sacrifice was not brought into the story but for a couple of ambiguous references to "sacrifices". I learned a lot, the main thing being: Incas were only one tribe among many, but they were the aristocrats and rulers; the other 30 or so tribes were subservient unless a member was made an honorary Inca. As the novel was 1000+ pages, I often felt the novel could have been pruned to a more manageable length. I was glad for the glossaries: names of characters; Quechua [the Inca language] terms; geographical locations and names of tribes. I kept referring to them all through the novel.

Recommended. ( )

I would recommend this book to prudish or squeamish readers that can't handle the Aztec novels by Gary Jennings. The Peters does not even make note of human sacrifices while Jennings may give some people nightmares. Peters infuses a little too much European culture into the Incan society, in my opinion. My editorial deletions would have included his use of the terms, "My Lord" and "My Lady." I prefer Jennings use of first person narrative and his ability to give respect while still showing the faults in the Aztec culture. Peters idealizes the Incas but he did show how faulty politics led to their downfall. Social drama drives most of the book so people with limited patience in exploring relationships should be wary of this novel. Peters does capture the affect of the smallpox epidemic very well and I prefer his passages of sexual content to that of Jennings. ( )