Feathered Serpent

Name: Feathered Serpent
Rating: 4.07 (6373 reviews)

by Colin Falconer Book 7 in the Epic Historical Adventure series.

First published 1996

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4.1(6,373)

Mexico, 1519. Hernán Cortés lands with a small Spanish force and ambitions far greater than the authority formally granted to him. Among the women transferred to the expedition is Malinali, or La Malinche, whose knowledge of Indigenous languages and political relationships makes her indispensable as interpreter, negotiator and adviser.

Their partnership develops as the Spaniards move inland, seeking alliances among peoples hostile to the power of Moctezuma and the Mexica Empire. Negotiation, warfare and betrayal carry the expedition towards Tenochtitlan, where personal ambition becomes inseparable from a rapidly widening struggle involving many Indigenous states. The novel presents conquest through the relationship between Cortés and Malinali while emphasising that Spanish victory depended not simply on European weapons, but on translation, local alliances and conflicts already present within Mesoamerica.