Witness the Mexica world from within.
Walk with Huitzilin, “the Hummingbird,” from the height of a civilization’s brilliance and beauty to an earthquake of fire and rain that brings its world to a prophesied end.
Across four generations, one Mexica family rises from the chinampas of Tenochtitlán to the inner chambers of imperial power. Huitzilin’s father becomes a revered jeweler and philosopher-artist; his brother, a wealthy merchant; his sister, a renowned feather artist. Huitzilin enters the elite Calmecac school, befriends princes, and rises through war, diplomacy, and statecraft to become chief adviser to Emperor Moctezuma II.
As the family reaches its zenith, omens darken the sky. Rumors of strangers from the eastern sea drift like smoke across Anahuac. The world Huitzilin has devoted his life to strengthening is about to confront a force unlike anything the Mexica could imagine.
From the world of the novel
“Walk with your eyes upon the smoking mirror—where truth hides and destiny waits.”