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The Amethyst Ring (The Seven Serpents Trilogy #3)

3.64 of 5 stars 3.64 · rating details · 33 ratings · 3 reviews

Spanish seminarian Juli?n Escobar, known to the Mayas as Lord Kukulc?n and worshipped as a god, witnesses the fall of the Mayan and Incan civilizations with the coming of Cort's and Pizarro.

Hardcover, 212 pages

Published April 1st 1983 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH)

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Jul 07, 2010 Jason Golomb rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: exploration, incas-and-aztecs, south-america, historical-fiction

"The Amethsyt Ring" is the final book in Scott O'Dell's Seven Serpents Trilogy which follows the young Julian Escobar as he walks across New Spain during the early years of Spain's conquest of the New World. In book one, "The Captive", Escobar starts off as a wide-eyed seminarian looking to introduce Christianity to the native "savages", but ends up finding a Mayan culture past its prime while innocently (at first, at least) stepping into the role of the returning god Kukulkan. In book two, "The...more "The Amethsyt Ring" is the final book in Scott O'Dell's Seven Serpents Trilogy which follows the young Julian Escobar as he walks across New Spain during the early years of Spain's conquest of the New World. In book one, "The Captive", Escobar starts off as a wide-eyed seminarian looking to introduce Christianity to the native "savages", but ends up finding a Mayan culture past its prime while innocently (at first, at least) stepping into the role of the returning god Kukulkan. In book two, "The Feathered Serpent", Escobar embraces his role as a god, while exposing his inner religious and moral conflicts, and then runs right into Hernan Cortes as he marches across Mexico towards his fateful collision with Moctezuma and the Aztecs.

Book three follows Escobar after the initial battles in Tenochtitlan leave Cortes' Spaniards seemingly defeated and Moctezuma dead. Spain has gotten word of Escobar's imitation of Kukulkan and a bishop has been sent to the New World to pass along a message to Cortes to have this "God" arrested. While attempting to legitimize his attempts to convert his "noble savages", Escobar allows this bishop to be sacrificed and steals his ring (his amethyst ring). Escobar can never overcome this artificial ordination and is never able to bring himself to baptize anyone in the New World.

He runs south to avoid Cortes and winds his way to Panama where he runs right into Francsisco Pizarro as he prepares his small army to enter the land of the Inca. O'Dell places Escobar right in the midst of Pizarro's conquest of Peru and the Inca, as he did in "Feathered Serpent" with Cortes and the Aztecs. The key moment of conflict in the war with the Incas was Pizarro and his band of less than 200 soldiers, defeating tens of thousands of Inca at Cajamarca and kidnapping their emperor Atahualpa.

I love the stories of the Spanish Conquest and so these fictionalized accounts, targeted to young adults, are the perfect way to introduce these amazing tales of non-fiction. The book is very well written and easy to read and absorb. The hero has flaws and the story doesn't have a Hollywood ending, which makes the tale all the more compelling and interesting. I highly recommend this book.(less)

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Jun 24, 2010 Jen rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 27, 2013 Christopher rated it 4 of 5 stars

A childhood favorite when I read it in the early 1980s.

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Feb 12, 2013 Eddy Allen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy-and-horror

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Shelves: young-adult

Aug 03, 2012 P.M. rated it 4 of 5 stars

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Shelves: young-adult-teen

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Shelves: homeschool-to-read-aloud

Jul 10, 2011 Barbara A. rated it 5 of 5 stars

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About Scott O'Dell

Scott O'Dell (May 23, 1898 – October 16, 1989) was an American children's author who wrote 26 novels for youngsters, along with three adult novels and four nonfiction books. He was most famously the author of the children's novel Island of the Blue Dolphins (1960), which won the 1961 Newbery Medal as well as a number of other awards. Other award winning books by O'Dell include The King's Fifth (19...more

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Island of the Blue Dolphins (Island of the Blue Dolphins, #1)

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