I greatly enjoyed this book. It has an alternate history aspect, unusual to combine with a more regular space exploration story.

The human civilization is based on a non-European history dominated by Aztec and Japanese cultures, which gives the entire story a very interesting flavor. The book is almost worth reading for that alone, but no!

The plot itself involves one of my favorite science fiction memes: an archaeological team on an apparently abandoned planet discovers something very ancient and dangerous. The author deftly juggles the stories of three or maybe more sets of characters in following how they attempt extricate themselves from the immediate peril and prevent further consequences to humanity.

I will be glad to follow this author in other books, whether set in the same universe or not.

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I loved this book! I thought it was excellent, especially for the first book in a trilogy. It is unique, has a nice historical fiction element to it, has elements to it that border on military sci fi, hard science fiction, fantasy, horror, and the surreal. I thought Harlan tied it together pretty well.

In this book, the Aztecs won North American dominance, if not over most of the world many years ago. Now, however, most of the world is ruled by Méxica from the capital of Tenochtitlan, aided by the Japanese, who supply their military. Their only real economic and military human competion is from the Swede-Russian alliance.

Millions of years ago, the First Sun People dominated the galaxy with their technology, living and moving from planet to planet. Some of their leftover technology is rarely but occasionally found on various planets and it’s worth a fortune.

In the book, xenoarcheologist Dr. Gretchen Anderssen has been employed by an unnamed company to go to Ephesus III to find a previous expedition and to obtain as many valuable archeological items that she can, to make the trip (s) worthwhile. At the same time, Imperial cruiser, the Henry R. Cornuelle, is sent to the same location captained by Captain Hadeishi Mitsuharu of the Imperial Méxica Navy. He is carrying a secretive Imperial “judge” with unlimited powers, whose name is Huitzilozoctic, or Green Hummingbird. The name not only means “judge,” but it also means “sorcerer.” It sometimes seems like his power cannot be matched.

Anderssen and her team go to down to the planet’s surface to find important relics they believe to be First Sun relics. These could be dangerous and certainly are powerful. Green Hummingbird views these as hugely dangerous and declares the planet and the space around it off limits to any and every one. Mitsuharu is sent after a gigantic freighter that is now is a huge asteroid field to fire upon it, if necessary, board it, and issue Hummingbird’s commands. Meanwhile, Hummingbird makes his way to the planet. Anderssen is obsessed with finding these objects, to the point of ignoring her crew and going all over the planet tracing the final steps of a scientist who had been impacted by these artifacts and gone insane and disappeared. Hummingbird watches, but follows from a distance. Eventually, he intrudes upon her and they end up traveling together in increasingly dangerous places and situations. Hummingbird believes it’s necessary to bring balance to the planet and the things on the planet to ward off First Sun evil. Gretchen doesn’t understand him, but he tries to teach her. As they go into caves and are attacked by spirits and are followed by relentless shadows, and possible aliens, she starts to wonder and he then tells her she can’t see the real world, she doesn’t know. Her science is no good, which ticks her off. A battle between mysticism and rationalism results. While judges aren’t psychics, they exist to protect the species at ANY cost, including the extermination of entire worlds, and they have reached the absolute best of human perceptual training, among other things. They can’t always necessarily foretell the future, but it seems they see strains of future possibilities. They can bring balance to dark forces, right evil things, manipulate people and things to do their bidding, as long as it meets their final goals.

Hummingbird, at some point, asks Anderssen if she would like to see, actually SEE, to learn, to be exposed to things she’s never dreamt of, and in a moment of either weakness, bravery, or power seeking, she agrees, and as time is of the essence and he can’t take the time to properly train her, he gives her an intense drug that virtually destroys her existence. She lies in a coma-like trance for hours, going through dreams, fantasies, pain, experiences, etc., and wakes many hours later, and she SEES. It’s like living in another dimension. She can see every fiber on every blade of grass in 3D, color illuminated. She can see Hummingbird as he really is, birds, trees, ants, like she’s never seen them before, and she understands things like she’s never been able to understand them before. She understands the universe as inherently hostile and now knows the judges’ need to protect humanity. She’s cautiously excited and repelled at the same time. However, the evil aliens are after them and they must continue to their flight to the planet’s base camp to await extraction.

While waiting, she is given another drug, which goes even further. There, however, for the third, I believe, time, she sees a First Sun alien who appears before her in her own image, talking to her while she tries to escape. Hummingbird has never been with her when she has encountered this alien.

I won’t say what happens at the end, but it wasn’t entirely what I expected and I’ve read that some people are a little disappointed by it. I wouldn’t say I’m disappointed. It was just unexpected. It’s an exciting, action packed, intense, horror-tinged, mind fuck with more to come in future books. If Book Two is as good as this first one is, I’ll be very happy. Five stars. Definitely recommended. ( )

Good world-building and an inviting starting point: alternative-history, future. Good balance of believable characterizations and well-paced plot. Could my apathy about the cat-woman be due to cat overload from teh interwebs? ( )

Wow. Its not often I found a book that follows the science fiction tropes (Alien Archeology, Navy in Space, etc) that takes them, and than flips them on the side. The world building is just amazing. The alternate history, where the Aztec empire conquered the world, instead of Europe - is quite amazing. I also like the fact that I always felt half a step from the culture - it all felt familiar, but took a turn that is not Western.

Now, the characters. Equal amount of time was spent in putting them together - they felt real, they felt human, and most of all, they weren't caricatures. As such, they didn't follow the same paths as is typical in stories like this - they follow orders, but also think for themselves. They don't go off on their own. Its nice to see a story where people act like a group.

The Aztec Priest and his relationship with Gretchen is quite interesting - at first, it builds from mutual disrespect to something close to a student/teacher relationship. Very nicely done, and quite interesting. I also like Hummingbirds take on the universe - it was quite amazing and totally unexpected.

My only complaint, is the species that Magdalena is from - She is too much like a cat - I like her, she is interesting, but she should be more than a cat.

I will admit - this book was slow going for me. A lot of information, not a lot of back story, you have to pay attention to follow it. ( )

SuperScience, Alien Archeology, Military Tech & Tactics and ancient alien legacies billions of years old. All wrapped in a world conquered and controlled by Aztec Civilization. You follow the exploits and frustrations of a white xenoarcheologist as she attempts to solve a billion year mystery under the paranoid powers of the Mexica Secret Police. ( )