I was so excited when I heard this was coming out. The author almost only promoted the monks story leading me to think it was an actual history book focused on the destruction of Mayan literature and culture which inspired my undergrad thesis, but it was actually historical fiction but whatever. The book as a whole was a major fucking letdown. 

The dual POV could’ve been interesting but the relationship between the main characters of each story line felt contrived at best and a connection of random fucking dots at worst. I very much need male authors to stop writing women because they were so passive and one dimensional that you could’ve replaced them with a dog and shit wouldn’t have changed. 

I hated the autistic coding of Cortez. Religious fanaticism and murder being attached to an autistic coded character felt really ableist, as if that was an explanation for why he did what he did. 

The indigenous Maya felt like a stereotype, and again could’ve been replaced with a group of anything without the story changing. Also, considering that De Landa’s personal journal from that time period and the fact that the Catholic Church excommunicated him when he returned to Spain for his crimes against the Maya, this felt too far from actual history for me to enjoy.