Jaguar Warrior

Imprisoned in a box, Atl waits for death. He is not afraid. Anger burns too deeply within him. Then, unexpectedly, he is released. Released to deliver an urgent message. But it is not the mission that sets him running. It is the sudden chance for freedom. Nothing can stop this Jaguar Warrior. Not even the one who hunts him. Jaguar Warrior is a thrilling page-turner for younger readers by award-winning Australian author Sandy Fussell. Set in ancient Aztec times, this historical adventure novel is about a slave boy trying to protect his people from Spanish invasion, while avoiding being sacrificed himself. It was a Notable Book at the 2011 Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Book of the Year Awards. For more junior fiction reads check out Sandy’s other books, Polar Boy and the Samurai Kids series. “From the opening pages to the climax, Jaguar Warrior will have your heart thumping. The hunt throughout is expertly paced and well-balanced with character reveals and historical information … Fussell has a special prowess in recreating bygone civilisations and filling them with realistic, thought-provoking characters so the past leaps into life. She did it in her Samurai Kids series and achieves it well in Jaguar Warrior.” The Sun Herald “What a page-turner: Aztec blood sacrifices, a ravenous crocodile, feisty companions, secret passages and a heart-stopping pursuit. Indiana Jones move over! … It is not only the fascinating details of Aztec life in Mexica and the Spanish invasion of that civilisation that hold the reader captive – Atl and Lali are resourceful and engaging and their lively bickering provides welcome touches of humour as a counterpoint to their terror. Fussell manages to integrate facts without ever breaking the tension of the narrative. Atl and the Captain speak alternatively, their voices vivid and compelling. The language is poetic yet riveting.” Magpies magazine “Fussell, a gifted writer, has again created outstanding characters and a suspenseful, informative and well-crafted storyline.” Good Reading magazine “A gripping historical novel for children, set in Aztec times … Set in a well-researched, thoroughly believable world, this is a thrilling adventure which will appeal to upper primary and secondary readers. Brilliant.” Aussie Reviews

Read the complete trilogy of this highly additive paranormal series, by USA Today Bestselling Author, Juliana Stone. “Fantastic, fresh world–impossible to put down.” -New York Times #1 Bestselling Author, Christine Feehan "Juliana Stone is on her way to becoming a paranormal favorite." - New York Times Bestselling Author Sherrilyn Kenyon. Includes, His Darkest Hunger, His Darkest Embrace, His Darkest Salvation and a bonus chapter from Wrong Side of Hell, book one in the spin off series, League Of Guardians.

Describes daily life in the Aztec world, including coverage of geography, foods, trades, arts, games, wars, political systems, class structure, religious practices, trading networks, writings, architecture and science.

Consists of v. 2 and 4 of Berdan and Anawalt's The Codex Mendoza (4 v. -- Berkeley : University of California Press, c1992).

Jaxon Castille: jaguar shifter, warrior, assassin. He has long hungered for the chance to make his former lover, Libby Jamieson, pay for her deadly betrayal. After three long years he’s finally found her. The hunt is over… But the Libby that he finds is not what he expected. She has no memory of their tumultuous affair; of her treachery; of anything beyond her own name. A shadowy and deadly clan has marked them both for death, and in an instant the game changes: the hunter has become the hunted. On the run, with the ghosts of their past between them and a dark, desperate hunger quickly reclaiming their bodies and souls, Libby and Jaxon must discover the truth behind the dark forces working against them. Together, they must grab hold of a destiny that has the power to either heal them or destroy them. But the truth is far more shattering than anyone could imagine…

This first comprehensive work on women in precolumbian American cultures describes gender roles and relationships in North, Central, and South America from 12,000 B.C. to the 1500s A.D. Utilizing many key archaeological works, Karen Olsen Bruhns and Karen E. Stothert redress some of the long-standing male bias in writing about ancient Native American lifeways. Bruhns and Stothert focus on several of the most thought-provoking areas of study in the Americas: the origins of agriculture, the development of complex societies, the evolution of religious systems, and the interpretation of art and mortuary materials. The authors pay particular attention to the problems of interpreting archaeological remains and the uses of historic and ethnographic evidence in reconstructing the past.

Icons of Power investigates why the image of the cat has been such a potent symbol in the art, religion and mythology of indigenous American cultures for three thousand years. The jaguar and the puma epitomize ideas of sacrifice, cannibalism, war, and status in a startling array of graphic and enduring images. Natural and supernatural felines inhabit a shape-shifting world of sorcery and spiritual power, revealing the shamanic nature of Amerindian world views. This pioneering collection offers a unique pan-American assessment of the feline icon through the diversity of cultural interpretations, but also striking parallels in its associations with hunters, warriors, kingship, fertility, and the sacred nature of political power. Evidence is drawn from the pre-Columbian Aztec and Maya of Mexico, Peruvian, and Panamanian civilizations, through recent pueblo and Iroquois cultures of North America, to current Amazonian and Andean societies. This well-illustrated volume is essential reading for all who are interested in the symbolic construction of animal icons, their variable meanings, and their place in a natural world conceived through the lens of culture. The cross-disciplinary approach embraces archaeology, anthropology, and art history.

Northeast of modern-day Mexico City stand the remnants of one of the world's largest preindustrial cities, Teotihuacan. Monumental in scale, Teotihuacan is organized along a three-mile-long thoroughfare, the Avenue of the Dead, that leads up to the massive Pyramid of the Moon. Lining the avenue are numerous plazas and temples, which indicate that the city once housed a large population that engaged in complex rituals and ceremonies. Although scholars have studied Teotihuacan for over a century, the precise nature of its religious and political life has remained unclear, in part because no one has yet deciphered the glyphs that may explain much about the city's organization and belief systems. In this groundbreaking book, Annabeth Headrick analyzes Teotihuacan's art and architecture, in the light of archaeological data and Mesoamerican ethnography, to propose a new model for the city's social and political organization. Challenging the view that Teotihuacan was a peaceful city in which disparate groups united in an ideology of solidarity, Headrick instead identifies three social groups that competed for political power—rulers, kin-based groups led by influential lineage heads, and military orders that each had their own animal insignia. Her findings provide the most complete evidence to date that Teotihuacan had powerful rulers who allied with the military to maintain their authority in the face of challenges by the lineage heads. Headrick's analysis also underscores the importance of warfare in Teotihuacan society and clarifies significant aspects of its ritual life, including shamanism and an annual tree-raising ceremony that commemorated the Mesoamerican creation story.