Ratings2
Average rating4
Two standalone books with alternating chapters—the way the combination is meant to be read.
They’re devoted to God. But will doing the Lord’s work lead them into darkness?
1549. Convinced he’s destined to fulfill a whispered prophecy, Friar Diego de Landa labors to convert the Maya of the Yucatán Peninsula. Discovering a brutal Spanish landowner persecuting the native population, Friar Diego determines to protect them and punish the cruel man. But when he repatriates thousands of Maya and uproots centuries of indigenous traditions, the priest’s obsession may end up destroying them all.
2010. Cortez Vuscar is convinced his father will return if he can grow their church’s congregation. Certain he’s found his true love and believing they can attract churchgoers together, Cortez sets out to win her from her wealthy and unfaithful boyfriend. But his fascination with the famous literature she’s reading infects his mind with a deadly descent into madness…
Can these men save their religion without destroying what they love?
Where They Burn Books, They Also Burn People is the gripping combination of two books in the Hispanic American Heritage Stories series, based on historical events. If you like indigenous revenge, villain origin stories, and the consuming force of religious fervor, then you’ll love this illuminating tale about Catholicism’s shadowed past.
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3.5 rounded up.
There were aspects of this book that I really enjoyed and aspects that left me feeling that the book was unfinished while also being far too long for my liking in some parts. I was especially challenging because the characters we spent the most time with were so unlikable.
I enjoyed the church's internal drama and the friar going all the way wrong while so full of good intentions (but also of even more hubris). The Cortez storyline was far clumsier and the entirety of Alara's POV seemed underdeveloped which was fine until the prophecy stuff at the end. The story itself is a very interesting concept and oddly enough for me I think it would have benefited from being longer.
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