FLIGHT OF THE HUMMINGBIRD

Quintero’s historical novel explores the world of the Aztecs through the story of one man’s life and loves in 1400s Mexico.

In Tenochtitlan, a young boy named Huitzilin comes of age at the height of the Aztec Empire. As a child, Huitzilin learns much of what he knows through the practice of oral tradition, in which his family members pass down their personal histories in addition to Aztec beliefs and mythology. Speaking of his father, Cuauhtli, Huitzilin says, “His story was not written—it was lived, and I carry it now, as he carried the flame.” When Huitzilin finishes school at Calmecac, “where the empire’s noblest sons [are] trained in wisdom and war,” the 18-year-old marries the lovely Teoxochitl. The couple have two children, and Huitzilin becomes a revered Aztec warrior. Later, when Huitzilin is in his 50s and has experienced success and loss in equal measure, he expands his family, builds beautiful temples, and eventually achieves noble status. Supplemented with historical images from codices, this tale operates primarily as a vehicle for enlightening readers about Aztec history and culture (one of the more fascinating cultural aspects is the nagual, “a Shadow Spirit that walks beside us”). Through Huitzilin’s eyes, the author compellingly depicts various details of Aztec life—for example, when Huitzilin steals feathers from his sister, his father administers the traditional punishment of wafting chili smoke into the child’s eyes. Quintero’s prose is lyrical: “If you would know the truth of this world, listen to the blood in the stone, the silence between names, the pulse beneath the dust.” Sometimes, however, the writing grows overwrought, as when Huitzilin talks about a cave he found: “It will hold more than men, if allowed…It holds the breath of the mountain, the attention of the gods. It will hold what men become there.” Still, Quintero’s story manages to be educational in a way that will hold readers’ attention.

A tale that is as evocative as it is informative.