Reviews with content warning for Murder - You Dreamed of Empires

We meet Moctezuma as an aging, highly irritable, depressed ruler, high on mushrooms and seemingly losing his grip on the kingdom. His closest advisors doubt his abilities to take control of the kingdom especially when the Caxtilteca- the Spaniards led by Hernan Cortes show up and get all the way to Tenochtitlan unharmed- everyone is questioning Moctezuma’s sanity. I would too to be honest. We know what happens in the real world because we speak Spanish and English in the Americas. This book allowed me to read and think about a different outcome if just for a moment.

I haven’t read anything like this before and I want more. I want to read more colonial revenge stories. I want to feel as immersed in the next world as I was in this one. I think it helped that I went to see the Mayan ruins in chichen itza midread. Different group of people and different regions of Mexico, but it helped me envision more the daily goings on of this book and what it could have felt like to live in the jungle back then. Between the temple and the ball court and the old houses. I find the way the characters are envisioned in this book accessible, sort of modern in a way and 3 dimensional. This book was tense and violent while simultaneously giving us a look into daily life for Aztec royalty. The inner working of the court, ethnic divisions, succession, spirituality, power, war. We’re on the edge of life changing but first Moctezuma needs to take his nap.

I was worried Moctezuma didn’t know what he was doing but he knows his job better than me lol I was not an huey tlatoani with at least 3 rebelling cities under my rule.

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bisexualwentworth's review against another edition

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Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is a very strange book. I think it accomplished what the author wanted it to, and I think I liked it. I certainly looked at the world through a slightly shifted lens for a few hours.

You Dreamed of Empires is experimental historical fiction that reads like fantasy. I mean that in a complimentary way.

I will probably revisit it at some point.

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violinknitter's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

This is not the kind of book I typically read. But somewhere on social media someone complained about a racist review of it in the New York Times, and then recommended a review by Silvia Moreno-Garcia in the LA Times instead.

Moreno-Garcia I *do* read, and her review convinced me to try this book. And I’m glad I did! It has a moody and almost pointilistic in texture, and I found the characters fascinating. Not likeable, but that wasn’t the intention.

It took me a bit to get used to the complete absence of any dialogue punctuation, and the sff muscle-memory of being dumped into a world where many of the names & words are unfamiliar served me well. (While I was wondering to myself “why AM I so unfamiliar with so much of this? I’m a lover of history, and it’s literally the country next to mine!”)

Anyway, I think it was well worth the read.

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patlo's review

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

GORGEOUS retelling of the historical events of Spanish conquistadors under Hernán Cortés entering the city of Tenochtitlan and meeting with the court of emperor Moctezuma.

It's rare that, as I'm reading a book, I wished it were MUCH longer, or a series. But this one is an entire world, and reimagines a dense and complex world that many of us have some passing familiarity with. It's trippy hallucinogenic; it thrives in court politics and religious variety; its characters are all well shaped. The reader's head swims in a fast paced, dense story with color and flavor everywhere.

Think multicultural Game of Throes meets Hunter S. Thompson packed into a 220 page novella.

TIP: Don't skip the author's notes to the translator in the first pages.

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theministy's review

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adventurous informative fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is the revenge fantasy novel I never knew I wanted. Holy shit this was so good.

It's not like anything else that I've read before.

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arijones91's review

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challenging mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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