Overview
The fascinating history of Mexico that began in the #1 New York Times bestselling novel Aztec continues . . . .Don Juan de Zavala was the most skilled fighter in all of New Spain—as gifted with weapons and horses as he was with women. These pleasures were all he desired. But the magnificent Aztec empire, its grand cities and riches lay broken under the Spanish boot . . . Now valiant men and fearless women rise and battle their brutal overlords. As a warrior-priest leads an Aztec revolt, across the ocean in Spain courageous people battle Napoleon's invading armies. No one, including Juan de Zavala could stay neutral. Especially if a shocking secret from Zavala's lurid past is exposed—a secret so lethal to the Spanish Crown it threatens their very existence. Zavala will be swept from glittering Mexico City to snake-and-croc infested jungles, to lost Mayan civilizations to the torture chambers of the Inquisition, to beautiful Barcelona and the bloody carnage of Napoleon's war in Spain, to the bloodiest and most spectacular of New Spain's (colonial Mexico) revolutions. Everybody wants Don Juan de Zavala . . and many people want him dead: Isabella . . . Instinctively wicked, sinfully seductive. Father Hidalgo . . . Can a man of God take up the sword and lead a people by the hundreds of thousands into a bloody revolution he cannot control? Raquel . . . Attractive, sensuous, erudite, she challenges Juan with her mind—and her body. Marina . . . A gorgeous pure-blood Aztec, she knows too well the oppressor's rape and pillage of her people.
Synopsis
The next installment of the sweeping historical novels that take readers in to the rich past of Mexico.
Booklist
Jennings, this time with two coauthors, returns to the roily history of the Aztec empire and the colonization of New Spain in this latest entry in the best-selling cycle he began with Aztec (1982), followed by Aztec Autumn (1997) and Aztec Blood (2001). The focal character in this atmospheric yarn is swordsman Don Juan de Zavata; it is his swashbuckling adventures, and the threat of exposure of his true parentage, that lead him--and spellbound readers--from colonial Mexico, where the Aztec civilization lies in ruins, to the Spain of Catholic repression and Napoleonic ferment. What the novels in this series do so well, and this latest installment is a prime example, is to lend a resonant understanding of not only Aztec and colonial customs and even mind-sets but also how repressed peoples, whether by the act of conquest or the act of religious control, will indeed have their own day--how their resentment builds, in other words. A beautifully detailed novel for historical fiction fans.
Editorials
Booklist
Jennings, this time with two coauthors, returns to the roily history of the Aztec empire and the colonization of New Spain in this latest entry in the best-selling cycle he began with Aztec (1982), followed by Aztec Autumn (1997) and Aztec Blood (2001). The focal character in this atmospheric yarn is swordsman Don Juan de Zavata; it is his swashbuckling adventures, and the threat of exposure of his true parentage, that lead him--and spellbound readers--from colonial Mexico, where the Aztec civilization lies in ruins, to the Spain of Catholic repression and Napoleonic ferment. What the novels in this series do so well, and this latest installment is a prime example, is to lend a resonant understanding of not only Aztec and colonial customs and even mind-sets but also how repressed peoples, whether by the act of conquest or the act of religious control, will indeed have their own day--how their resentment builds, in other words. A beautifully detailed novel for historical fiction fans.Kirkus Reviews
Answer "no" immediately if someone asks, "Would you like to know . . . about the men I have killed, the women I have loved, the fortunes I have made . . . and stolen?"There's a certain misguided bravado to opening a historical novel with the hoary equivalent of a movie voiceover, compounded by the fact that the voiceover is voiced by a wannabe Zorro-or maybe the Cisco Kid. Don Juan de Zavala, though a Spaniard in Mexico, finds that the other Spaniards in Mexico just plain don't like him. Narrowly avoiding the priesthood by virtue of an unfortunate incident-"I horsewhipped a fellow seminarian who branded me a sodomite after I described my lurid deflowering of a servant girl"-the resonantly named Don Juan becomes a champion of sword-and-dagger action, leading a revolt against the oppressive gachupines on behalf of the noble indios and criollo rebels who have decided that Don Juan is a pretty good guy, even though he's foppish and educated and all that, because he's a tad on the dark side and was called El Azteca Chico, the Little Aztec, as a lad, and because he's good in a fight. You can guess what Don Juan learns about why he's thus complected, but no matter; he's already torn off across the sea to sign up for action in the Napoleonic Wars, but not before having a minor epiphany or two: "Immersion in the ancient indio culture was slowly transforming me." Creaky plot points and sneering villains notwithstanding, though, this franchised novel ("Gary Jennings' Aztec Rage") is soft porn wrapped in swashbuckling garb, and Zavala is frequently seen unbuckling his swash and piercing the waiting maids and maidens of New and Old Spain with various body parts, all in prose guaranteed to thrill the13-year-old boy who stumbles upon this book at a garage sale. If the Aztecs are enraged, it's because one of them read this improbable mess.From the Publisher
"Aztec Rage is the most extraordinary historical novel to appear in years. It will leave you dazed, shaken, delighted, and moved."—Douglas Preston, New York Times bestselling author of Tyrannosaur Canyon"Aztec Rage is a major epic, a grand literary canvas of thrills and chills, fire and passion. Even if you think you know Mexico, you will never again look at Mexico the same way. You will look on the Mexican people with new eyes as well, and you will be changed. The final chapter will move you to tears—'I am mejicano!'—will ring in your ears forever." —Kathleen O'Neal-Gear and Michael Gear, award-winning, USA Today bestselling authors of People of the Moon
"Big, bold, and Bawdy, Aztec Rage is a rip-snorting swashbuckler. . . . It's fiction of the grand tradition."—Stephen Coonts, New York Times beselling author of Liars and Thieves
"This is a book that will change your ideas about Mexican history and the whole history of the Americas. It resonates with original research and vivid drama. "—Thomas Fleming, New York Times bestselling author of Liberty! The American Revolution on Aztec Rage"Aztec Rage is an extraordinary novel for the accuracy of its history, the vivid voice of its narrator, its sense of drama and joy and its explication of love and hate, told by a picaresque hero who is as fast with a woman as with his sword. Backdrop for action and adventure is the Mexican Revolution sparked by Father Hidalgo's Grito—the cry of revolt that engulfs Mexico and in time South and Central America and squashes the Spanish empire. Amply anchored in world history and always fun, Aztec Rage is a splendid read."—David Nevin, New York Times bestselling author of Dream West