I'm not exaggerating when I say The Seventh Sun is my favorite fantasy novel from the past few years. I read some Mesoamerican time travel in elementary school, which first introduced me to the world of obsidian swords and calendars that end in apocalypse. But I'd never seen a fantasy book set in that kind of world, and man, did this deliver.
Every morning in the Chicome empire, the emperor must shed his blood to make the sun come up. This sun is the seventh one to hang in the sky, each one born when a god sacrifices themselves to stave off apocalypse. To repay the gods, animals are slaughtered at feasts and special ceremonies.
And sometimes people. Prince Ahkin loses two parents in the space of one night when his otherwise healthy father suspiciously passes away in the night. Hot on his heels, his mother plunges a dagger into her chest to join her husband in the underworld. Now it falls to Ahkin to raise the sun every morning and pick a wife to rule at his side.
Mayana hasn't been able to stomach sacrifices ever since her father killed her pet dog to please the gods. She knows she is a descendant of the water goddess and pricking her hand calls forth a very real power to command the waters. But do the blood offerings of animals and ordinary people really placate the gods, or are they the desperate acts of apocalypse-minded people to feel some sense of control over their lives? Mayana has learned to keep her doubts quiet to avoid being branded as a heretic, and that's never more important than when she's summoned to the Chicome capital as bridal candidate. Six girls from divine bloodlines compete for Prince Ahkin's hand. One will be crowned empress. The other five will be sacrificed to bless the marriage.
Time is running out in more ways than one. Ahkin only has a few days to pick a wife before the unlucky period at the end of the calendar cycle. A few days to condemn five girls to death and marry a stranger, a stranger who will eventually meet the same fate as his own mother. And ever since Ahkin took the throne, the sun isn't staying in the sky as long as it used to.
From the beginning, the premise is naturally set up for a twist ending. On the surface level, the stakes are "Will Bachelorette #6 die or get married?" but the deeper ones are, "Do they find a way to sabotage the contest or does apocalypse come first?" So there were really four possible endings on the table and I felt a very real suspense. Though the premise is dark and their entire culture runs on sacrifice, I actually enjoyed this book on a very spiritual level and it felt like a light in dark times. I've watched a lot of people settle into apocalyptic moods as a result of covid culture and recent social upheaval, so the motif of humans practicing ritualistic behaviors to tell themselves they had the end of the world under control really hit home. Ultimately, it comes to a beautiful, hopeful conclusion.
I adored the lush Mesoamerican worldbuilding. The Mayan-inspired names, the incorporation of myths, the tropical flora and fauna, the warfare, the food-it all just sings of research. Ahkin and Mayana's magic also gave me an Avatar the Last Airbender vibe.They remind me of fire and water bender respectively. There's a cute moment in Mayana and Ahkin's initial meeting where she points out that water and light together make rainbows. In addition to raising the sun, Ahkin's magic lets him bend light, so he can turn himself invisible in battle when he needs to. I was so excited to read this book that I refunded another book's audible credit to get it. Now I'm pumped for the release of the sequel next month (February 2021), which is set to incorporate what I think it one of the coolest figures of Mayan mythology: the return of the god Quetzalcoatl.
And now, for an interview with author Lani Forbes:
1. Where did you get the initial idea to write a Mesoamerican fantasy? Once you had that initial spark, how did you flesh out the idea to build the story?
My stepfather had lived in Mexico before my parents got married and he and my mother decided to move back to start a drug treatment center after my sisters and I all graduated. They live there now and my sisters and I try to go down and visit them as often as we are able. When I was growing up, he shared so many stories of his time living there and I always held a fascination for ancient civilizations, so Mesoamerican history was of particular interest to me. I read about the creation myth of the Five Suns and the idea for the story began to take shape from there, specifically from the idea of the world being destroyed and recreated multiple times.
2. How did human sacrifice catch your interest?
I think what captured my interest is the fact that it’s often so misunderstood and misrepresented. When studied in context, any kind of blood sacrifice was extremely important and significant to ancient Mesoamerican thought. They believed strongly in the idea of giving in order to receive, and as the gods blessed them with gifts of life and sustenance, they owed the gods in return. Blood contained the power of life and fertilization, and one of the many creation myths believed that the gods sacrificed their own blood to give humanity life. So in their view, they were repaying a debt. Human sacrifice itself is often misrepresented as well. Most ritualistic killings were captured soldiers of enemies and no different from our own cultures killing enemies on the battlefield. The main difference was just when the killing happened. In fact, the purpose of many battles was to capture, not kill, the enemy, making their battles likely less bloody than warfare in Western cultures. You will notice that other than the selection ritual in the story, the only other instance of human ritual killing in the book is with captured enemy soldiers after a battle.
3. What are some of your favorite research tidbits you picked up that you incorporated into your story?
A fun random bit of research I found fascinating was in some of the beauty rituals and routines that women used. For example, in The Seventh Sun, when Mayana is being prepped for her journey to Tollan, many of the beauty products and rituals are from my historical research (including the face cream with pigeon droppings!).
4. Without spoiling anything, there's a twist at the end of Seventh Sun. Was the ending in the initial outline, or did it evolve as you kept drafting and revising?
The major twist at the end was always part of the story from the very beginning. In fact, it was one of my first ideas that got me excited to write the rest of the story! In the earliest drafts, the events of book two were actually shortened and included at the end of book one. As I got closer to the end of book one, I decided to save the events of book two for their own book.
5. Were there any specific myths or folktales that influenced Seventh Sun or Jade Bones?
The main myth that influenced The Seventh Sun was the Mexica creation myth of the five suns. The Jades Bones and its portrayal of the underworld is influenced by the Popol Vuh texts of the ancient Maya populations in Guatemala and Belize.
6. Without giving too much away, what can readers look forward to in your second book, releasing next month?
Mayana and Ahkin got significantly caught up in the drama of the selection ritual, but now that it’s over, they have to deal with the fact that they don’t really know much about each other. I had a lot of fun seeing how their dueling personalities came out in the hardships they face in book two and how they really deepen and mature their relationship through their various trials. The other exciting part of book two is that I introduce a new POV, which is Yemania, Mayana’s close friend. Yemania gets her own exiting storyline and love interest in book two that I enjoyed writing just as much if not more than Mayana’s! I love that Yemania really learns a beautiful lesson of self-acceptance through her story!
7. How many books can readers expect to see in the series?
The Age of the Seventh Sun series is a trilogy, so there will be three books total!
Thank you for joining us! Jade Bones releases on February 16, 2021. Seventh Sun and its sequel are also both available for download on Audible. I plan on reading it before studying abroad in the Yucatan Peninsula this summer to learn more the ancient history and mythology of the region.
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