Subject: AZTEC CENTURY by Christopher Evans

From: [email-masked] (Evelyn C Leeper)
Date: Mon, 7 Nov 1994 18:43:51 GMT

AZTEC CENTURY by Christopher Evans
   Victor Gollancz, ISBN 0-575-05712-2, 1993, 352pp, GBP4.99 (CAD7.99)
                   A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
		    Copyright 1994 Evelyn C. Leeper

     You can tell this is a British book--it is a much darker vision
than a United States book would be, even an alternate history in which
the Aztecs rule the world.

     The premise is that the Spanish did not defeat the Aztecs at
Tenochtitlan, in part because Cortez joined them and helped them drive
off the European armies.  And instead of smallpox killing off 90% of
the American population, the New Indies pox was carried back to Europe
where it killed as many as the Black Death had two centuries earlier.

     It is now the present in this world, and the Aztecs are making
their final push on the British Isles.  They control most of the
Americas, and are trying to conquer the parts of Europe that still
remain outside their control.  At the start of the book, the British
Royal family is in hiding in Wales, but they are quickly captured and
brought to London to help give respectability to the puppet government
that the Aztecs have set up.

     To some extent this follows in a long line of "Britain under the
heel" books, which stretch back at least as far as Saki's WHEN WILLIAM
CAME.  That was set in the future, but there have been other alternate
histories, including many of Britain ruled by victorious Nazis.  I
think America's distance from other world powers has made authors less
likely to use America as the conquered country, so there is a certain
irony to the fact that the conqueror here is from that very distant
land, America.  In any case, Evans carries on the line with a well
thought-out portrait of what an Aztec-conquered Britain would be like.

     Evans does many predictable things, including some fairly unsubtle
parallels to the Irish situation, but he also has some original ideas
as well.  The characters are well-drawn and more ambiguous than one
often finds in works such as this which rely more on setting than
character.

     On the other hand, Evans has used a couple of the cliches of
alternate histories.  One might question whether the history of Russia,
for example, would have been as similar in Evans's world as ours, or
whether a Karl Marx, albeit a somewhat different one, would even have
existed.  And having a fast food place called MexTaco with golden
arches is a bit unlikely.  (Maybe it's just a manifestation of a belief
that fast food will come from America, no matter what.)  But these are
relatively small quibbles.  My one suggestion to the American publisher
(I assume there will be one) is that they might want to  include a
pronunciation guide for the Nahuatl words and names.  This is an
alternate history that I can enthusiastically recommend.

%A   Evans, Christopher 
%T   Aztec Century
%I   Victor Gollancz
%C   London
%D   1993
%G   ISBN 0-575-05712-2
%P   352pp
%O   paperback, GBP4.99/CAD7.99

--
Evelyn C. Leeper | +1 908 957 2070 | [email-masked]
"The pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, an almost fanatical love of justice,
and the desire for personal independence--these are the features of the Jewish
tradition which make me thank my stars that I belong to it."  --Albert Einstein