La ciudad de los dioses

by Luis María Carrero Pérez

The reader travels to the New World with Hernan Cortes, seeing first-hand the clash between the Spanish Conquistadores and the Aztec civilization. This tale is seen through the eyes of Francisco de Alcatraz, Cortes's secretary and friend.

Genres: Spanish Literature

72 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1998

Reviews

[Holly]

Esta historia tiene errores históricos. Pobre Malinche.

[Vicky Hunt]

Burning Ships/ Burning Bridges

A story of greed and adventure, of love and betrayal, of religious zeal and fierce warfare; Luis Maria Carrero's telling of the Spanish conquest of Mexico is both sensitive and breathtaking. By writing the story as journal entries made by a fictitious secretary to Hernán Cortéz, the author creates a sympathetic character to reflect on the sense of loss and destruction felt by the inhabitants of the city. This graded reader is a bit longer than the others up to this point, and it reads like a regular book in many ways. It is as gripping as any plot, even though we already know what's bound to happen historically. The book captures the moments in vivid emotion.

"Ahora, por fin, vemos la verdad. El país que queremos conquistar no es pequeño ni pobre. Es un país más rico y fuerte que muchos países de Europa. Y así, los aztecas, con sus amables regalos, han traído también el miedo a muchos de nuestros hombres."

-In English: "Now, at last, we see the truth. The country we want to conquer is not small or poor. It is a richer and stronger country than many countries in Europe. And so the Aztecs, with their kind gifts, have also brought fear to many of our men."

I enjoyed reading this immensely, and found it difficult to put down. It was at the same level as the last two I read, having less than 700 vocabulary words. I highly recommend this particular story to language learners. My next read will be leveling up to Level three, with less than 1,000 words. With Indigenous People's Day approaching on the tenth, I'd like to get to the Level three book on Columbus within the week. But, I'm going to read Marianela first.

-¿Qué hombres sois vosotros, que matáis a otros hombres para beber su sangre?
-¿Y qué hombres sois vosotros -contesta Moctezuma que matáis a miles de hombres para conseguir oro?

-In English: "What kind of men are you, who kill other men to drink their blood?"
"And what kind of men are you?" answers Moctezuma, who kill thousands of men to get gold?

[Andrew Hein]

This book documents the Spanish takeover of Mexico City. It is narrated the fictional character Francisco, the advisor of Hernan Cortés. Cortés is the main character who is on a quest to conquer the almighty city of Tenochtitlán. The book is written in Spanish, and written as a journal.
"Estas noticias Jan cambiado la vida en Cuba. Nadie habla de otra cosa: hay Que conquistar el país do los aztecas." (pg. 8)
The book interests me, but I have a tough time understanding exactly what's going on.

[Ulla Ahlburg Madsen]

Jeg synes, det er lidt svært at lære spansk ved at læse denne bog. Der er for mange byer og historiske personer at holde rede på, og jeg bruger energien på at finde ud af, hvem de er i stedet for på at lære spansk.
Men det er nok også fordi, jeg ikke er specielt interesseret i at gå i dybden med historien i Mexico omkring år 1500.

[Lisa Rogers]

Although fictional, it was entertaining to travel back to Mexico at the time of Cortes' conquest of Mexico. Now I know who Malinque was.

[Lulu Morales]

Libro 22/2025 (Eng-Spa review)
This book defines the term unreliable narrator, although I doubt that was the author's intention. It is a Spaniard telling the Spaniards' version of the story during their conquest of the Aztecs. The historical information should be taken with a pinch of salt, but it seems a pretty good book for Spanish learners who want to do some reading.
Este libro define lo que es un narrador no fiable, aunque dudo que haya sido la intención original del autor. Un español contando la versión de la historia de los españoles en su conquista a los aztecas. Se debe tomar la información histórica con una pizca de sal, pero parece bastante bueno para personas que están aprendiendo español y quieren leer.