Flight of the Hummingbird : An Aztec Tale of Fire and Rain and the End of the Fifth Sun

Walk with Huitzilin, "the Hummingbird," and witness the Aztec world from within—from the height of its brilliance and beauty to an earthquake of fire and rain that brings their world to its prophesied end. "Walk with your eyes upon the smoking mirror-where truth hides and destiny waits."From the lush chinampas of Tenochtitlán to the inner chambers of imperial power, four generations of one Mexica family rise further than any could have imagined. Huitzilin's father ascends from farm boy to revered jeweler and philosopher-artist. His brother becomes a wealthy merchant, his sister, a renowned feather artist.Huitzilin's own path is different-and destined. Gifted from childhood and shaped by rigorous discipline, he enters the elite Calmecac School, befriends princes, and rises through war, diplomacy, and statecraft to the pinnacle of power as chief advisor to Emperor Moctezuma II.But as the family reaches its zenith, shadows gather. Omens darken the sky. Rumors of strangers from the eastern sea drift like smoke across Anahuac. The world Huitzilin has devoted his life to strengthening is about to face a force unlike anything the Mexica could imagine.Rooted in ancestral Nahuatl cosmology and enriched with fifty vivid color images from fifteenth and sixteenth-century codices, Flight of the Hummingbird is a sweeping family saga. Written with the rhythmic cadence of traditional Aztec speech, it reveals a civilization radiant with meaning, discipline, and fate.Experience the Aztec world as it truly lived and breathed. Read more