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Rating: 
Summary: Part3: Light of Machu Picchu + a general view of the trilogy
Review: After reaching the end of the third book of this trilogy, I was left with the following impressions:1. The most interesting thing about this trilogy is that it focus on a subject that is almost forgotten in historical fiction: the Inca civilization. That alone is reason to buy the trilogy, for those who are interested in the subject. 2. The books are a blend of accurate history and a somewhat corny and water-and-sugar clicheed love story; there are better books on similar subjects, like Gary Jennings' "Aztec" and Collen MacCullough's "First man in Rome" series. 3. The authors chose to portrait too many characters, sometimes confusing the readers, especially when concerning Inca characters. Excluding the Sapa Incas, the other native pre-columbian characters are almost always variations on the same one. 4. When Gabriel, the spanish central character, is not part of the plot, the chapters just drag along, many times boring and tiresome. Anamaya, the main Inca character, lacks strenght. 5. As I read the books, I realised the trilogy starts very well, but ends badly. This should not be a trilogy, but only one book, better edited, with a better-developed plot. The authors focused too much on dead-end fictional characters, while historical figures, when they appeared, were always portraied as evil people. The third part is very similar to the first two, and the three books should be read as one. After closing this third book, I felt I liked the trilogy, but could have enjoyed it more, due to the reasons stated above. But as this is the only (as far as I know) fictional account of the Inca civilization, it should get the attention of historical-fiction addicts. Grade 8.0/10
Rating:
Summary: Part3: Light of Machu Picchu + a general view of the trilogy
Review: After reaching the end of the third book of this trilogy, I was left with the following impressions: 1.The most interesting thing about this trilogy is that it focus on a subject that is almost forgotten in historical fiction: the Inca civilization. That alone is reason to buy the trilogy, for those who are interested in the subject. 2.The books are a blend of accurate history and a somewhat corny and water-and-sugar clicheed love story; there are better books on similar subjects, like Gary Jennings' "Aztec" and Collen MacCullough's "First man in Rome" series. 3.The authors chose to portrait too many characters, sometimes confusing the readers, especially when concerning Inca characters. Excluding the Sapa Incas, the other native pre-columbian characters are almost always variations on the same one. 4.When Gabriel, the spanish central character, is not part of the plot, the chapters just drag along, many times boring and tiresome. Anamaya, the main Inca character, lacks strenght. 5.As I read the books, I realised the trilogy starts very well, but ends badly. This should not be a trilogy, but only one book, better edited, with a better-developed plot. The authors focused too much on dead-end fictional characters, while historical figures, when they appeared, were always portraied as evil people. The third part is very similar to the first two, and the three books should be read as one. After closing this third book, I felt I liked the trilogy, but could have enjoyed it more, due to the reasons stated above. But as this is the only (as far as I know) fictional account of the Inca civilization, it should get the attention of historical-fiction addicts. Grade 8.0/10
Rating: 
Summary: The second and better part of the trilogy
Review: After reading the first two parts of the Incas trilogy, I can say that "The gold of Cuzco" is better than the first part, "The puma's shadow". The three authors have now achieved the consistency and class their book deserved. In this second part, the spanish conquistadores are now a part of the Inca empire's life: there's no way to pretend they're not there, and after the death of Atahualpa it's the spanish that now rule de facto. However, the spanish Governador, Pizarro, must be an almost perfect politician, because he has to rule over the increasing fight for gold and power among the spanish officials and he must not let the remaining of the inca army to uprise again. Meanwhile, Gabriel and Anamaya, the main characters and love-duo of the first book, even in a crazed lust for each other, are not able to be together that often: Anamaya is the wife of the revered statue that represents all incas' ancestors, and Gabriel is spanish, which means that all incas see him as ruthless, evil and whose only interest in their lands is gold and raping women (not a beautiful vision). The style remains the same: narrated in first person, the story seems to flow smoothly and continuously. But the plot is better, more exciting and interesting. The characters, though, at some times seem formulaic: the spanish are bad people, the incas are naïve, the inca princess falls in love with the only spaniard that stands for the inca people. Yes, I've seen it before, but "The gold of Cuzco" is nevertheless a good book. Descriptions of the peruvian Andes countryside are very rich and real. The slow pace of the narration provides the reader with a very accurate mental image of the scenes in the story. As I've written in my review of the first book in the trilogy, the three authors have the needed background to write the story mixing essencial historical facts with the right amount of fiction to deliver an interesting book of historical fiction. Now, on to "The light of Macchu Picchu", the third and final part of the series. Grade 9.0/10
Rating: 
Summary: A Big Letdown
Review: Having been recommended this book by Amazon and hearing reviews comparing it to Gary Jenning's Aztec, I was expecting a whole lot more. It was like expecting Raiders of the Lost Ark and getting Remo Williams instead. This book is painfully slow and I found myself stuck on the first 200 pages. The story of the Incas centers on the death of the current ruler. He has not named a successor though his various sons are vieing for the privilege. Just before his death the ruler had confided in a blue eyed girl who was stolen from another tribe. After his death everyone wants to know what was said to her and whether the ruler named a successor. Meanwhile in Spain, there is a kind of scoundrel named Gabriel who escapes the Inquisition and somehow ends up with Pizarro. Pizarro tells of his gruelling trip to Peru and the gold that awaits there. He is trying to get together an invading force to sail to the New World and exploit the gold. All of this sounds way more interesting than the book actually is. The book is followed by two more but I think I'll stop at this one. Read Jennings instead. The story of Cortez's invasion of Mexico is way better!
Rating:
Summary: A Welcome Book about an Obscure Subject
Review: I have always been fascinated with the Incas, so I have been eagerly devouring this trilogy. There is no shortage of historical fiction about, say, Victorian England...or Celts...or other Europeans. As for South Americans, and other non-white peoples...they are virtually untouched. It's about time someone gave the Incas the shelf-space they deserve. The plot has been covered in several other reviews, so I'll be brief. Gabriel is torn between his loyalty to the conquistador Francisco Pizarro and his love for Anamaya, a beautiful Indian woman who is a sort of supernatural advisor to the Inca Emperors. She in turn loves Gabriel but is sworn to support the Emperor Atahualpa, taken hostage by the Spaniards...and then the newly crowned Manco, who swears to throw the Spaniards from his land. It is probably the oldest plotline in the world- "man from conquering tribe loves woman from soon-to-be subjugated tribe"... and occasionally "A. B. Daniel" resorts to corny cliche. Example: when Gabriel and Anamaya lay eyes on each other, they instantly fall in love and know that their destinies are linked. Anamaya, who comes from a remote jungle tribe, has blue eyes, which makes the Incas view her as supernatural. I think this is a genetic impossibility, even if her father happened to be a wandering white explorer. In basic genetics we are taught that a child with blue eyes must have two parents with at least one recessive blue-eye gene. This crude plot device is jarring to me. The pacing of these books could use some improvement. The author(s) don't seem to know what to leave in and what to cut. So there are some sections which are draggy and confusing. Characterizations are less focused than I would like, and motivations for some events remains murky. On a positive note, these books are very well researched, and they provide a richly textured view of life in Inca times. The spiritual life of the ancient Peruvians is well portrayed. In general I am enjoying these books and finding them passionate, gripping and well worth the effort. I am glad that "A. B. Daniel" finally brought this awesome and neglected culture to life.
Rating:
Summary: Cheezy but somewhat interesting!!
Review: I've read this first part of the trilogy. And i think the book was okay, but did rather poorly in dragging me into the inca world and mythology.. I Certainly didn't like to have to flip to the end of the book to find out what "Ushnu" means. The story is somewhat romanticizing the conquest, which doesnt make it any REAL to the reader (so to speak). G. Jennings had alot of real shocking elements in a story about a shockingly cruel yet poetic and complex civilization. But when it came to Human Sacrifices in this book it was entirely averted (we know they sacrificed people... lets not sidestep the issue to make it comfortable to readers!). It has a bad romantic story involving the two main characters of the story in what can only be described as a typical french passion, which can only be a story to target the female reader. Alot of the side characters come in and out of the story in a flimsy uninformative manner and they feel kind of left out. They should also have studied more on other tribes surrounding the empire, as Jennings laid out in his book, before the spanish arrived. Either that or the Andes was a real boring place to visit before the conquest. But i'll read the next 2 parts as i've already bought them, and they kill time at work..
Rating:
Summary: Interesting start for the trilogy
Review: Nowadays, the reader has to be careful about historic fiction. There is a big number of authors who, having made the smallest research about some point or other in history, give birth to terrible books advertised as "historic fiction", whereas "historic" is some tiny background barely mentioned in the plot, and the "fiction" is the worst possible. I must admit I had this feeling about the Inca trilogy, but since there is very few fiction books concerning the Inca people, and I enjoy reading about pre-Colombian people, and (best of all) I received this one as a gift, I fave it a try. About the author: in fact there are three authors (Antoine B. Daniel is a kind of compilation of their names); one of them is a history scholar, the other one is a awarded fiction writer, etc, and the story behind the book is that they gathered to write about the Incas like Jennings wrote about the Aztecs. "The puma's shadow" (in Brazil, like in France, the title is "Princess of the sun") is the first part of the trilogy. In this first volume, we get to know the Inca empire shortly before the arrival of the spanish: the struggle for power between Huascar and Atahualpa, based on the visions of the female main character of the book: the strange, blue-eyed Anamaya. On the other side, in Spain, we are acquainted with Don Gabriel, a deserted young man, who seeks fortune in the new lands of Peru. The first part of the trilogy is where the reader knows the backgrounds (the dying days of the Inca empire) and the motivations of the main characters. I think this may be the slowest book of the trilogy, but it's very well written and the research seems well done. The three authors deserve the praise to have acomplished a good book with an unusual theme and fairly developed characters. Grade 8.8/10
Rating:
Summary: A sharp drop off from the first novel . . .
Review: The first novel read more like a descent work of historical fiction. The second read more like a bad love story.
In "The Puma's Shadow" you were introduced to the Inca culture and lands and the events leading to their demise. Atahualpa and Pizarro came to life and the chapters detailing the events that took place in Cajamarca took me back to a place I visited years ago.
"The Gold of Cuzco" took me no where. The story line was in short, totally unbelievable. The "setting up the scene" was not much better. I was especially disappointed in the descriptions of Sacsayhuaman and Coricancha. It was almost as if the authors had never visited Cuzco, a place from which I had just returned.
Read it if you want to finish the trilogy but don't expect to enjoy it too much.
Rating:
Summary: Superb
Review: Volume one of this translation from the French is a sparkling story set against the conquest of Peru and the Inca Empire by Pizarro. The Puma's Shadow tells the story of the blue-eyed - and therefore mystical - Anamaya who was abducted by the Incas when her village was razed as a child. An outcast she becomes the wife of the Sun King's Huayna Capac Sacred Double after he passes the secrets of the ancient Incas to her on his deathbed.
Her life at the Inca Court becomes fraught with danger as the warring family factions seek to become the new Sun King as the prince designate Atahualpa refuses the crown. With the attentions of Manco, Guaypar and Inti Palla she is mentored, begrudgingly at first, with pride later, by the High Priest Villa Oma as her visionary abilities begin to flower. A world away, a dashing Don Gabriel is freed from Spanish prison of the Inquisition, disavowed from his family inheritance and joins Capitan Pizarro petition to conquer the New World and find the endless rivers of gold of Peru.
As each's fate comes closer together, the lives of Don Gabriel and Anamaya are intricately woven into a powerful tale of mystery, romance and breathtaking exhilaration as the fate of a peoples is unravelled in this novel.
The author has created a gripping historical fantasy at the time when old and new worlds collide and has certainly ensured reading the next volumes.
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