Return of the Plumed Serpent cover art

Return of the Plumed Serpent

War God, Book 2

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Return of the Plumed Serpent

By: Graham Hancock
Narrated by: Barnaby Edwards
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About this listen

Graham Hancock, an expert in ancient civilisations and author of the nine million selling Fingerprints of the Gods, and expert too, on the use of hallucinogens to achieve higher states of consciousness, brings these two interests together in the second volume of the War God trilogy.

The conquistador Hernán Cortés is dreaming of Tenochtitlan, the golden city of Aztecs. But in order to win the Aztecs' gold, Cortés and his small force of just 500 men will have to defeat the psychotic emperor Moctezuma and the armies of hundreds of thousands he commands.

Cortés expects that the Tlascalans, hereditary enemies of the Aztecs, will join him, but instead finds himself locked in a deadly struggle. As Cortés risks all against the Tlascalans, he plays mind games with Moctezuma, aiming to defeat the Aztec emperor psychologically before ever having to face him in battle.

In this he is aided by his lover Malinal, a beautiful Mayan princess. It is from Malinal that Cortés learns of the myth of Quetzalcoatl, 'The Plumed Serpent'. She shows him how to exploit the prophecy of the fabled god king's return to weaken Moctezuma's resolve and keep alive the suspicion that the conquistador might actually be Quetzalcoatl himself.

©2016 Graham Hancock (P)2016 Audible, Ltd Action & Adventure Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Historical Royalty Ancient History Paranormal Latin American Mexico

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All stars
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Having visited Latin America, I was always fascinated by the ancient culture and history. Though this is a fictional account, it still shows how wrong Religious practices can destroy cultures and civilisations. The European colonists in the name of religion plundered these ancient cultures. However they also contributed to their ruin by their shameful practices and inner turmoil. Brilliant narration and writing

Amazing storyline continues

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Graham has such a gift for writing coupled with the talented narration from Barnaby made this just a joy.

Fantastic

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I struggled with the first book as ot was very slow and boring in places. However I decided to give this one a go and I am very glad I did!! Plot and characters were good and the story was a lot more interesting and fast paced. I am looking forward to the next one

very entertaining

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Having read all 3 books in this series I am still amazed that a factual writer such as Hancock has the talent for such enjoyable epics.

It is a continuation of the first book and also a continuation of the brutality by both sides. The arrogance and greed of the conquistadors in the name of God and King is only matched by the hypocrisy of challenging human sacrifices by the wanton slaughtering of those they considered to be subhuman, despite the incredible achievements by the indigenous people. The reader will obviously conclude that the spread of Christianity should have been that of living with these people, earning their trust where possible and living by example, rather than the slaughter of many thousands. Of course, human sacrifices are horrific, but to attempt to stop this through violence, fear and oppression was only ever going to have one outcome.

Barnaby Edwards with with his repertoire of 'English accents' is superb. His talent for narration is demonstrated by the number of audiobooks he has been asked to narrate. And again, this book can interfere with your sleep and work as you feel compelled to keep listening. This is every bit as good as the first book and I can very highly recommend it.

The second epic the War God series

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Although based upon the invasion of the south of America by the Spanish, this book is great and thrilling imagery of a world changing time. Highly recommended listen. Now I have to listen to the next book . Cliffhangers? I’m back at the Saturday morning movie shows of my childhood.

Nail biting

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