AUDIOBOOK
About
Kirkus Reviews' Best YA Books of 2018 That Feed Imaginations
2018 Texas Institute of Letters Award for Best Young Adult Book
The stories in Feathered Serpent, Dark Heart of Sky trace the history of the world from its beginnings in the
dreams of the dual god, Ometeotl, to the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in Mexico and the fall of the great
city Tenochtitlan. In the course of that history we learn about the Creator TwinsFeathered Serpent and Dark
Heart of Skyand how they built the world on a leviathan's back; of the shape-shifting nahualli; and the aluxes,
elfish beings known to help out the occasional wanderer. And finally, we read Aztec tales about the arrival of the
blonde strangers from across the sea, the strangers who seek to upend the rule of Moteuczoma and destroy
the very stories we are reading.
David Bowles stitches together the fragmented mythology of pre-Colombian Mexico into an exciting, unified
narrative in the tradition of William Buck's Ramayana, Robert Fagles's Iliad, and Neil Gaiman's Norse Myths.
Readers of Norse and Greek mythologies will delight in this rich retelling of stories less explored.
Legends and myths captured David Bowles's imagination as a young Latino reader; he was fascinated with
epics like the Iliad and the Odyssey. Despite growing up on the United States/Mexico border, he had never
read a single Aztec or Mayan myth until he was in college. This experience inspired him to reconnect with that
forgotten past. Several of his previous books have incorporated themes from ancient Mexican myths.
2018 Texas Institute of Letters Award for Best Young Adult Book
The stories in Feathered Serpent, Dark Heart of Sky trace the history of the world from its beginnings in the
dreams of the dual god, Ometeotl, to the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in Mexico and the fall of the great
city Tenochtitlan. In the course of that history we learn about the Creator TwinsFeathered Serpent and Dark
Heart of Skyand how they built the world on a leviathan's back; of the shape-shifting nahualli; and the aluxes,
elfish beings known to help out the occasional wanderer. And finally, we read Aztec tales about the arrival of the
blonde strangers from across the sea, the strangers who seek to upend the rule of Moteuczoma and destroy
the very stories we are reading.
David Bowles stitches together the fragmented mythology of pre-Colombian Mexico into an exciting, unified
narrative in the tradition of William Buck's Ramayana, Robert Fagles's Iliad, and Neil Gaiman's Norse Myths.
Readers of Norse and Greek mythologies will delight in this rich retelling of stories less explored.
Legends and myths captured David Bowles's imagination as a young Latino reader; he was fascinated with
epics like the Iliad and the Odyssey. Despite growing up on the United States/Mexico border, he had never
read a single Aztec or Mayan myth until he was in college. This experience inspired him to reconnect with that
forgotten past. Several of his previous books have incorporated themes from ancient Mexican myths.