The Days of the Deer

Portents say visitors are coming to the Fertile Lands from across the vast Yentru Sea. What the Wizards cannot see is whether these visitors are returning heroes or the armies of Misáianes, the nihilistic son of Death, and so emissaries from all of the Seven Tribes are summoned to a Great Council. The Husihuilke warrior Dulkancellin, accompanied by Cucub of Zitzahay, abandons his home for a quest that promises no comforting resolution, only dreadful revelations and irreversible change. Drawing on South America’s myths and history, Bodoc’s debut novel, first published in Argentina in 2000, uses epic fantasy motifs to suggest how the New World’s pre-Columbian inhabitants would have experienced the terrifying arrival of the Europeans. While the characters are a bit flat, the world itself is vividly realized, and Bodoc’s writing borders on the lyrical.[em] (June) [/em]