I haven't read historical fiction in a while and it's quite rare to find historical fiction novels set in Native American societies. I won this book in a giveaway and was excited about the prospect of reading something that seemed different from most historical fiction books I had read before. It was a short book too, only 148 pages long. It had a few historical inaccuracies, but they were small enough that they could be ignored and didn't interfere greatly with my enjoyment of the story.
Without spoiling anything, I can say that I think the story was okay, but not outstanding. I loved that the book jumped into the action very quickly, but I also wish we had more time to get to know the characters and have the romance in the story develop a bit more. Some parts of the story seemed to be resolved too easily for my taste. I like conflict that isn't too easy to get out of to give it a more realistic effect. This book fell on the border of being an insta-love story, where the characters fall in love a bit too quickly. I wouldn't say that I hated their relationship, by any means, though. I think the fact that the male main character is from a Mayan society and has certain cultural beliefs made it easier to believe he was willing to sacrifice so much for the main character. The book isn't overly saturated with romance, so for those who are like me and aren't too big on overly romantic stories, this might be a good choice. Overall, I liked the story all right and give it 3/5 stars.
SPOILER SECTION: Don't keep reading if you haven't completed the book.
The story starts off with a prologue which gives insight to the main antagonist of the story, Ah Tusik. He ends up sacrificing his wife, Lady Nicte, to the Mayan rain god Chaac, leaving their child motherless. His brother Balam together with his wife end up helping to care for the child after her death. Based on the other character's reactions to the events in the prologue, it can be said that the Mayan people don't necessarily think their ruler is a benevolent leader.
The story moves on to present day in the first chapter. The main character Jasmine, is on a holiday trip that she was supposed to be taking with her boyfriend Gavin. However, a few days before the trip, he breaks up with her. The story makes it clear that she had paid for the trip and so she opts to go alone on this trip to the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. A few details are revealed at the beginning of this story about this character, including that she is half white and half Mexican. I like that the story's pace is reasonably quick, but doesn't feel forced. Jasmine is quickly transported to Ancient Mayan society when she's alone in her hotel room. I could feel from the beginning of the book that this wasn't a story that was going to drag on as many stories I've read before do. She ends up being found by a Mayan Warrior, Ki who tries to keep her from being captured.
Jasmine is taken to Ah Tusik and as expected from someone who doesn't know she's in a Mayan hierarchy, says all the things that make people think she's odd and disrespectful. Ah Tusik ends up declaring her as the next sacrifice to the gods. This makes Ki very somber since Jasmine reminds him of Lady Nicte, whom he seems to have previously have had romantic feelings for. Ki serves Jasmine as a comfort for most of the book and I can see where they might have quickly become romantically involved since they were both emotionally vulnerable. Jasmine is a strong female character and uses her wits to get herself and Ki out of a pinch when she has to. Ki is also very kind and fair character that tries to help all he can. He seems like the type of person who would have tried to help Jasmine even if she wasn't beautiful or reminded him of Nicte.
It takes a while for Jasmine to realize she has been transported to a Mayan Civilization and I'm not a big fan of her internal dialogue because it comes off as a bit cliché when she does. The entire time Jasmine is in the past, her quetzal necklace is mentioned a lot and seems to be the source of the magic that transported her to the past. It is never really explained how the magic works, which I don't really mind. Some stories actually end up with plot holes and such when they try to science the magic, so it's cool.
I like that Jasmine was able to delay and eventually avoid her execution together with Ki's by pretending she was a messenger of the gods. The description of the Mesoamerican ball game gives a good visual of what's going. It might be slightly inaccurate in terms of the rules of the game based on some research I did about it. However, it doesn't affect the credibility of the story and I'm not an expert on Mayan civilization to be judging P.J. Smith too harshly.
As far as the romance, we mostly only get descriptions of how Ki and Jasmine feel about each other. Ki is a very noble person and does a lot for Jasmine but at times it seems that he is willing to give up too much way too willingly and way too fast. It's not as bad as I've seen in other books with romance elements, but it isn't great either. Had we spent more time with the characters getting to know each other and laughing together and such I think the progression of their relationship would have felt more natural.
By the end of the book it's great to see how Jasmine used logic and knowledge about the Mayan beliefs in the gods' will to convince the entire city that Ah Tusik was an unfit ruler. The ending seemed reasonably satisfying, but again, a bit too easy. In three years' time when Ki and Jasmine go to the present, Ki ends up being on his way to get a Ph.D. because of his knowledge of excavation sites originally inhabited by his people that no one but him and Jasmine know about. Had the author established that he was going to college and got a job as a curator at a museum, or something more realistic, I think I would have believed it. A Ph.D. in three years, though? That's pushing it a bit much. Especially since I'm sure Ki had to learn about a lot of things all at once, like electricity, taxes, bills, etc. I think he'd have to start with getting his paperwork in order and graduating high school.
All in all, the story was entertaining, but I don't think it's something I would go out of my way to buy and add to my cook collection.
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Follow me at: www.goodreads.com/nerdreads
