Tenth in the Casca series. Casca falls into the hands of the Spanish Inquisition at the start of the book (guess he wasn't expecting them...) and endures torture at their hands. He ends up being imprisoned for a very long time before eventually killing himself and being buried, then reviving half-buried in a corpse-pit outside the city walls. That was a fun scene, though I am left wondering why he didn't kill himself long before that point, knowing he would revive. He spent years urinating on a length of chain hoping the uric acid would corrode the metal. Talk about a long-term strategy.

In any event, Casca then signs up for Hernan Cortes' expedition to Mexico and participates in the fall of the Aztec empire. Casca has apparently been here before (in a book I haven't read, apparently) and is to blame for the legend of the return of the Aztec god. Casca's interactions with King Moctezuma are well done, as is the final battle sequence when the remaining Spanish forces attempt to break out of the siege of the capitol, where they have been holed up. The book ends without much resolution, and it;s not entirely clear where Casca will head next.

Not bad, but not outstanding either. I've read five of the Casca books thus far and have not yet encountered any that were so brilliant it justifies the long-term cult appeal of the series.

Review copyright 2008 J. Andrew Byers ( )