Sun of Blood and Ruin, by Mariely Lares, is an exciting, engaging tale of 16-century Mexico under Spanish rule. The heroine, Leonora de las Casas Tlazohtzin, is a sort of gender-flipped Zorro, fighting oppression as La Pantera (The Panther) with both her Sword of Integrity and her inner tonalli power, as she struggles with court politics, with her heart, and with her own cursed destiny.
Her mixed heritage is central to her struggles, as her parents were Spanish and Nahua (the indigenous group including the Mexica, also known as Aztecs). The people love Pantera, but Leonora is disrespected and devalued by both the Spanish rulers and by La Justicia, the popular resistance. However, she is the half-sister of the 14-year-old viceroy, Jerónimo, and his regent (the vicereine, his mother and Leonora’s stepmother) forces her to become betrothed to Prince Felipe. The prince is not repulsive, but she has no desire at all to leave her home and accompany him to Spain.
But while struggling with the world as it is, she also struggles with herself. The current story periodically pauses for flashbacks from when she was studying to master her swordsmanship and her tonalli sorcery in a half-mythical paradise. Master Toto’s teachings were ambiguous, and eventually she was told she had failed her trials and had to return to palace life. So her powers are impressive but incomplete, and since she necessarily conceals her “sorcery” from the Christian court, nobody there believes her warnings of the imminent earthquakes that she feels through her tonalli..
Because of the conquest by Christians, who did and do their brutal best to stamp out indigenous beliefs, the New Fire ritual has not been performed to carry the land through the last Dead Days of the year, and Leonora fears that great destruction is coming to the land. She also has her own personal curse, having been told she’ll die young in battle.
However, she is not alone in all this. Her faithful servant Inés, whose history motivates her own desire to strike at the oppressors, helps Leonora maintain her secret identity, covering for her absences and stitching her wounds. There are patches of local resistance, who have their own leaders and goals. And soon, she encounters a fascinating newcomer, Lieutenant Ayeta, who has the strongest tonalli she’s ever encountered here. His actions are equivocal, and their verbal fencing is as fun to read about as her sword battles with soldiers and the thoroughly hateful Captain Nabarres.
This is a very involving story, with plenty of passion. There’s a lot more happening that I won’t spoil, but like xocolatl, the original chocolate drink, this book is a rich, frothy brew, and the conclusion, although it has its bittersweet elements, goes down smoothly. If you’re interested by historical fiction with plenty of kinds of conflict, or in Mesoamerican culture, plus a fantastic cover, you should consider giving Sun of Blood and Ruin a try. It comes out on Feb. 20 from HarperCollins.
Content warnings: Bloodshed, deaths, and religious, ethnic, and sexist oppression (historically accurate, and resisted).
Disclaimers: I received a free eARC of this book for review.
