Master of the House of Darts

Master of the House of Darts is the third and final book in Aliette de Bodard’s Obsidian and Blood trilogy of Aztec mystery fantasy novels. We rejoin Acatl, High Priest of the Dead and sometime investigator of magical murder and intrigue, some four months after the events of Harbinger of the Storm. The Mexica emperor, Tizoc, has returned from his coronation war with too few prisoners to offer up as sacrifice, and Acatl is again worried that the balance between the heavens, the earth and the underworld is at risk. (The world of Obsidian and Blood seems to be on the constant edge of a Mesoamerican Ragnarök.) When a plague strikes the Sacred Precinct and threatens to spread across Tenochtitlan, Acatl is once again called upon to save the day.

Selfless, utterly sincere and a bit colourless, Acatl is in stark (and necessary) contrast to a cast of self-interested and scheming priests, warriors and politicians, and a vividly painted society in which blood sacrifices are necessary to keep the sun in the sky and ensure the survival of life on earth, and the gods are neither imaginary nor distant. As enjoyable as the first two books — which is to say, yes, read them.

Previously: Aliette de Bodard’s Aztec Mystery Novels.

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