Five Dances With Death: Dance One charted the highs and lows of a Nahuatl man, warrior and leader of the Tlaxcala people, Angry Wasp, as he searches for his missing daughter, Dew, during a time where the Monetzuma War rages and a Spanish invasion lead by their dreaded leader, Hernán Cortés, draws near.

I applaud author Austin Briggs’ ability to pack much thought-provoking research and many insights into this book which makes the mysteries of the Aztecs, their beliefs and rituals, stand out from many other eras commonly used in historical fiction. His use of his lead character’s smoke-induced out of body experiences also adds an interesting, fantasy, shamanic-like slant, where Wasp has been taught by his wife, Broken Plume, to step inside another person’s mind (the art of instant travel) an
d appear before them, many miles away, showing the author’s colossal imagination can fly nearly as high as Wasp.

Although Wasp never gave up his search for his long lost daughter, he did seem to swash-buckle his way through the story with little mention of his daughter for a fair while. In addition, the actions of the lead characters must have the most significance as they are responsible to move the story forward and make it interesting, yet at the beginning I didn’t quite get this feeling from Wasp. Maybe it was because his language was stilted at times, or it was just a clever trick by the author to keep Wasp’s language and character within his time period, but he took time to grown on me. Although, I did find his adventures full of facts and amazing chunks of information, which kept me in this historical fantasy setting and piqued my interest enough to finish it, I felt the story lacked that gripping ‘how-does-it-end?’ touch.

Excellent moments
include the action fighting scenes, and the author’s meticulous attention to historical detail, from which I learned a lot of interesting facts about Meso-American society and culture. Wasp’s habit of jumping out of his body (as his double) straight into the next big fight without contemplating the consequences meant that through his transcendental experiences he cleverly met up with some unlikely and seemingly random but useful characters along the way and a surprise ending, no less.

I also appreciate the author’s choice of not going for the real ‘tongue-twisting’ Aztec names like Citlalpopocatzin and Quiahuixtlan, which can be so long and hard to read, they distract the reader from the story. In addition there is a quick pronunciation guide, explanations of 'Places and Tribes' to familiarise readers with the real places and people of Nahuatl, old Mexico, during Aztec times for those historians among you. A thoughtful gesture if ever I’ve seen one. ( )

This book is all bout Aztec culture and mythologies. I don't know much about the culture or the mythologies so this was hard to follow in some places. I really appreciate that the author adjusted the names from the original language, only because it would be difficult to follow if you are not familiar with the language to begin with.

I thought the story was semi-interesting, I think my lack of full attention is due to my own ignorance on the culture. I more than likely would not follow up on the next book. ( )

I wasn't expecting much going into this, with it being self-published and all, but I was very pleasantly surprised. I don't have much trust in the quality of self-published stuff, but I'm willing to give anything about Aztec history and mythology a chance, so I downloaded a sample to see if it was something I could like. The writing style and pacing convinced me to buy. And I ended up quite enthralled with it.

Really, there's isn't much to not like about this book. The research shines through elegantly and is rarely delivered in clunky ways; it pretty much blends seamlessly in with the story. I wasn't overly fond of Angry Wasp in the beginning and there are some inconsistencies with his character (like him having no concept of rape as a tool of power...yeah, not buying that. He's a man of power whose fought in many wars and seen horrible things. Him not agreeing with its use, yes, but not realizing it could be used that way, no.), but he grew on my after a while. At no point did I feel bored with the story and was disappointed that there was no more for me to read once I got to the end.

I would have preferred the author use the actual Nahuatl names for the cities and the historical character, such as Moctezuma the Younger and Cuauhtemoc, but being familiar with the names, it's just a personal preference. I would have also have preferred to get the full 5 parts in one book rather than broken up, since this really isn't a very long novel, and if each part is a similar length, it's still nowhere near as long as Aztec. It does break at a good point though, and I will be looking for the rest of the installments.

Finally, the author calls this a "paranormal", but I think it's closer to fantasy than paranormal. The magic is concrete with rules governing it, and it's taken as matter-of-fact and accepted in the culture as portrayed. And Angry Wasp uses it a lot and gets himself in trouble with it. And the god Tezcatlipoca is an actual character in the book. It might be nitpicking, but it's the difference between say X-Files (paranormal) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (fantasy). I don't mind that it's more fantasy than paranormal, since I love fantasy and am more inclined towards it than paranormal, so the fantasy elements didn't in any way impeded my enjoyment of the book. If anything they enhanced it.

I look forward to the next installment when it becomes available. ( )

Five Dances with Death is a historical/fantasy adventure in which, much like the sorceress Plume plunges her husband into ethereal travel, the reader is firmly immersed in a distant time and place to live in the mind and body of Angry Wasp as he tries to save both his country and his daughter during the onset of the Spanish conquest of Mexico.

The writing is a perfect blend of description while maintaining the feeling of having been translated, which grants the the storytelling an authentic voice. In places, the dialogue is both shocking and humorous. The internal dialogue shows such truth and heart, I found myself growing fond of the rash young man who danced with both demons and nobility.

Often I found myself stopping to reread lines that were especially insightful. In one example, Angry Wasp was asked how he and a trader could both want the same thing, yet they could never agree on anything. Angry Wasp replied, "Time after time, your ideas betray the very principles we warriors believe in. You want to ignore insults. You wish to befriend invaders. You want to risk your head to see the obvious." I love the combination of primitive and noble thought--the adherence to ideals pursued to their absolute end. Even when Wasp has his greatest desire in hand, he will not betray the guiding principles of his life to attain it. The struggle is fascinating, as is this "Aztec Supernatural Adventure Novel."

This novel reminds me of another that I enjoyed, [b:Prophets of the Ghost Ants|11732092|Prophets of the Ghost Ants|Clark Thomas Carlton|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1324471143s/11732092.jpg|16632825]. (I seem to be intrigued by rash and imperfect young heroes on the road to greatness.) Those brash warriors make me wince, yet their actions are never boring. So many NY Times-tooted books that quickly draw large followings seem --often, but not always-- to be shallow, or empty. I'm finding gems among debut writers without all the marketing hype to launch them. I do hope they find their audience as well.

I found nothing to complain about during the entire read of this novel. --And that is highly unusual. I'm now a fan of Mr. Briggs, and am looking forward to the sequel.

( )

A Unique Historical Fantasy

I received this LibraryThings’ Member Giveaway free e-book from the author.

I rated Five Dances with Death, Book 1 by Austin Briggs 3 stars for its creativity, but in truth, if judged on my reading enjoyment, I'd give it 2 stars. For whatever reason I did not fully engage with this story. I do not hold Briggs responsible for my personal tastes. I applaud the quality of his writing, the choice of subject matter and extensive research undertaken.

On one hand, I disliked the protagonist, Angry Wasp, finding his thought processes alien. On the other hand, how else would we describe the leader of a culture that practiced human sacrifice, but alien?

I did not particularly enjoy the chapters dealing with Wasp's magical experiences, although given my reading preferences, I felt I should have. The demarcation between his spirit journeys and reality became blurred a few times. However, it was a brilliant device in forwarding the plot.

On a few occasions, the dialogue stood out with a jarring modernity.

I did enjoy the battle scenes and view of the Conquistadors through Wasp's eyes. There is some gore, but it is always within context of the story, not gratuitous.

The book fell short for me, although I have a high interest in its subject matter. I will follow up with some non-fiction now my interest has been piqued by Five Dances with Death. ( )