This novel explores a historical event almost totally unfamiliar to me as a U.S. reader -- a single afternoon when explorer Hernan Cortes and his Castilian soldiers meet the emperor Moctezuma and his court and subjects. Moctezuma is the ruler of a society entangled in elaborate hierarchies, stifling etiquette, ritual murders and frequent consumption of hallucinogenic drugs; Cortes and his men are crass opportunists who have killed their way to the capital city of Tenochitlan and recruited a trailing army of locals itching to overthrow their Aztec rulers. As these leaders meet and attempt to understand each other, we see the dawn of New World colonialism play out -- and the other possible paths that this encounter could have taken become increasingly clear.

As someone who doesn't know much about Mexican history, I found this book easy to jump into but fairly difficult to read. Alvaro Enrigue excels at making his characters recognizably human even in the context of a culture that functions very differently from how we live today. I definitely appreciated the author's note to his translator at the beginning of the book which helped make the Aztec names more readable; however, I still had to pay close attention to sort out the long similar-looking names and titles. Fortunately, Enrigue's prose is so well-written that paying close attention is a pleasure. And as the narrative continues, it gradually begins to detach from the past in surprising ways.

Enrigue provides much more than a simple historical recreation here. Enrigue's history is like Moctezuma's palace at Tenochitlan -- disorienting, not following any observable plan but instead breaking off into corridors and courtyards and reception rooms that don't seem to have any purpose and then doubling back on itself to take you somewhere that looks familiar but may be a new wing entirely. It's a fascinating way of reconsidering the events of that long-ago afternoon and their meaning to the people who were there and the people that we have become since. ( )

A densely-packed story, set between lunch and dinner on the momentous eighth of November, 1519, when Hernan Cortés arrives in Mexico City as the guest — or prisoner? — of the emperor Moctezuma. We follow the principal characters — the emperor and his sister, the mayor of the city, Cortés and his mistress/interpreter and a (fictional) captain in his small party of Castilian adventurers — through the confusing corridors of the palaces and temples, in a situation where no-one quite knows what is going on or what (if anything) the emperor is trying to achieve. Hallucinogenic drugs come into it too, of course, and only confuse things further.

Enrigue is playing with our ideas about the inevitability of past events, of course. Few big events in history have ever been as contingent as Cortés’s more or less accidental “conquest� of Mexico, and it’s pretty clear that in the world of this novel, it isn’t necessarily going to come out the way we think it did in “real life�. Whatever that is.

There’s a lot of things going on under the surface here — Enrigue goes to some length to de-hispanisize (is that a word?) names and concepts from pre-colonial Mexican culture, so even with the quick glossary he gives us in his preface we are often struggling to work out what people are talking about, and then we get odd bits of destabilising content, like the T-Rex song Moctezuma finds himself jiving along to four and a half centuries too early in one of his trances. Obviously significant, but we’re left to ourselves to work out why… ( )

So, Cortez is in Tenochtitlan, and there's a whole lotta colonialism going on. But things are also super trippy and expansive. Cities are floating, hallucinogenic mushrooms are in the water supply, and Monteczuma is absolutely rockin' it. I normally have a somewhat difficult time reading books without quotation marks for dialogue and You Dreamed of Empires was no exception to this, but GOD DANG this book rules so much. ( )

This would be a choice for the end of the year once it’s out in paperback. I heard the interview with the author on an NPR showthat was followed by discussion . Historical novel set in 1519 in what is now Mexico City. The clash between Aztec civilization and the Spanish conquistadors is richly detailed narrative by an award winning Mexican writer. 240 pp. Luba

As a lover of historical fiction to was anxious to read this especially since it told a story much different than much of the European history. I can say I was easily pulled into the story in spite of the many many strange words and especially names. The author does a great job of imagining the setting - the colors, the smells (many and mostly offensive), the sounds.

The story is told from the viewpoint of a member of Cortez' army - a man who has helped finance the expedition first to explore and then later to colonize. There are two interpreters: a former priest and a young woman who becomes Cortez whore (maybe the word). Then it gets just plain weird - all of a sudden the reader comes across a modern day British singer and his band TRex (which I had to look up as I've never heard of both). There is humor, there is some history, but then I realize I'm reading some sort of satire. Unusual to say the least. ( )