The book I hold, titled The Eye of The Gods, has on its cover, a large red 2012 above a picture of a forest and a mountain. A smaller text explains that this novel is about 'An Awakening of the Conscience'.
It is a plot set in the ancient Mayan civilisation that also foresaw the supposed, and now curiously anticipated, end of the world in the December of 2012.
Although the novel does not deal with doomsday itself, you can't deny that stamping a 2012 on the cover makes for fine selling sense. This is the story of Ah Ak'tun and his priestly mentor Itzam Ik. The former is a young boy in the ancient city of Mutul who has lost his father to a beast in the forest. His mother entrusts young Ah Ak'tun to the wise old Itzam Ik so he will learn to be a healer and a priest — an exalted position in Mayan community.
Begins, thus, the education of young Ah Ak'tun under his watchful 'Grandfather'. It is mostly in these lessons that the author communicates the importance of the human race and nature establishing a harmony — Ah Ak'tun is taught that the forest, animals and Mother Earth are to be treated with 'love and respect' (words that are forced down your throat so many times in this book, you resolve bitterly never to love or respect anything again).
Told in retrospect is a tale of Ah Ak'tun's coming of age, his transformation from a young boy to a grown man, a love interest, his friendships with other boys, animals, aluxes (forest spirits) and the deeper secrets about the human race that will be discovered in the ruins of another city.
The now prominent form of the historical novel is as formidably difficult to construct as it makes for such fulfilling reading. Perhaps more. D'Cresenzo attempts to paint a picture of the Mayan people, through her research, by including detailed descriptions of dresses, rituals and sometimes the social and political structures of Mayan communities. What the author fails at, however, is in constructing a compelling novel.
Writing in the first person has pitfalls that the author is oblivious to. The novel is narrated in the first person (as it is an aged Ah Ak'tun recounting his story to his disciple) but continues to explain the rationale behind everybody else's thoughts, presenting to us to a protagonist through who the author's voice jarringly bursts out.
It feels petty and small to mention the importance of grammar, spelling and proofreading a novel before it is printed as a basic obeisance paid to the publishing process, but The Eye of The Gods seems to have emerged without an assault by a discerning editor.
There are several ideas and philosophies in The Eye of The Gods that are worth considering. Perhaps in the hands of a more skilled writer with a less tenuous relationship with the English language, this could have been a more enjoyable book.
It is particularly hard to appreciate writing that seems to have a very primitive understanding of human relationships or human nature itself and prefers instead to deal with everything in superlatives.
There is little reason to hurry and read this book, for, it gives you nothing by way of pleasure or assistance in the understanding of an ancient culture.
It is a plot set in the ancient Mayan civilisation that also foresaw the supposed, and now curiously anticipated, end of the world in the December of 2012.
Although the novel does not deal with doomsday itself, you can't deny that stamping a 2012 on the cover makes for fine selling sense. This is the story of Ah Ak'tun and his priestly mentor Itzam Ik. The former is a young boy in the ancient city of Mutul who has lost his father to a beast in the forest. His mother entrusts young Ah Ak'tun to the wise old Itzam Ik so he will learn to be a healer and a priest — an exalted position in Mayan community.
Begins, thus, the education of young Ah Ak'tun under his watchful 'Grandfather'. It is mostly in these lessons that the author communicates the importance of the human race and nature establishing a harmony — Ah Ak'tun is taught that the forest, animals and Mother Earth are to be treated with 'love and respect' (words that are forced down your throat so many times in this book, you resolve bitterly never to love or respect anything again).
Told in retrospect is a tale of Ah Ak'tun's coming of age, his transformation from a young boy to a grown man, a love interest, his friendships with other boys, animals, aluxes (forest spirits) and the deeper secrets about the human race that will be discovered in the ruins of another city.
The now prominent form of the historical novel is as formidably difficult to construct as it makes for such fulfilling reading. Perhaps more. D'Cresenzo attempts to paint a picture of the Mayan people, through her research, by including detailed descriptions of dresses, rituals and sometimes the social and political structures of Mayan communities. What the author fails at, however, is in constructing a compelling novel.
Writing in the first person has pitfalls that the author is oblivious to. The novel is narrated in the first person (as it is an aged Ah Ak'tun recounting his story to his disciple) but continues to explain the rationale behind everybody else's thoughts, presenting to us to a protagonist through who the author's voice jarringly bursts out.
It feels petty and small to mention the importance of grammar, spelling and proofreading a novel before it is printed as a basic obeisance paid to the publishing process, but The Eye of The Gods seems to have emerged without an assault by a discerning editor.
There are several ideas and philosophies in The Eye of The Gods that are worth considering. Perhaps in the hands of a more skilled writer with a less tenuous relationship with the English language, this could have been a more enjoyable book.
It is particularly hard to appreciate writing that seems to have a very primitive understanding of human relationships or human nature itself and prefers instead to deal with everything in superlatives.
There is little reason to hurry and read this book, for, it gives you nothing by way of pleasure or assistance in the understanding of an ancient culture.