A  Kirkus Reviews  Best YA Book of 2018  2018 Texas Institute of Letters Award for Best Young Adult Book The stories in Feathered Serpent, Dark Heart of Sky trace the history of the world from its beginnings in the dreams of the dual god, Ometeotl, to the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in Mexico and the fall of the great city Tenochtitlan. In the course of that history we learn about the Creator Twins―Feathered Serpent and Dark Heart of Sky―and how they built the world on a leviathan's back; of the shape-shifting nahualli ; and the aluxes , elfish beings known to help out the occasional wanderer. And finally, we read Aztec tales about the arrival of the blonde strangers from across the sea, the strangers who seek to upend the rule of Moteuczoma and destroy the very stories we are reading.  David Bowles stitches together the fragmented mythology of pre-Colombian Mexico into an exciting, unified narrative in the tradition of William Buck's Ramayana , Robert Fagles's Iliad , and Neil Gaiman's Norse Myths . Readers of Norse and Greek mythologies will delight in this rich retelling of stories less explored. "Bowles' dense yet lyrical prose raises the narrative to a level suited to high mythological tradition and illuminates the foundations on which contemporary Mexican culture is laid." --Kirkus (starred review) " Feathered Serpent, Dark Heart of Sky presents the tales of Mexico's ancients not as improbable fables but as flesh-and-blood narrative. Great writing, spectacular characters, and a surprising, uplifting ending pertinent to our times. Take that, Book of Revelation!'' --Gustavo Arrellano, author of Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America ; columnist for the Los Angeles Times . Bowles's Feathered Serpent, Dark Heart of Sky will be crucial to Mesoamerican literary and cultural studies as well as important to Mexican and Mexican American rediscoveries of effaced pasts, for many years to come. Scholars and readers of mythology and folklore: add this to the classics. -- World Literature Today "David Bowles' Feathered Serpent / Dark Heart of Sky: Myths of Mexico deserves to be a best-seller for all the right reasons: accessible, informative, essential. It's destined to be the cultural anthropology equivalent to Occupied America for C/S majors." -- La Bloga "Vibrant and vital, this collection is an essential addition to library collections." -- School Library Journal (starred review) Legends and myths captured David Bowles 's imagination as a young Latino reader; he was fascinated with epics like the Iliad and the Odyssey . Despite growing up on the United States/Mexico border, he had never read a single Aztec or Mayan myth until he was in college. This experience inspired him to reconnect with that forgotten past. Several of his previous books have incorporated themes from ancient Mexican myths. Look upon our beloved Mexico―the ancient singers gave her such lovely names:Navel of the MoonFoundation of HeavenSea-Ringed WorldDavid Bowles stitches together the fragmented mythology of pre-Colombian Mexico into an exciting, unified narrative in the tradition of William Buck's Ramayana , Robert Fagles' Iliad , and Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology . A product of a Mexican-American family, David has lived most of his life in south Texas, where he teaches at the University of Texas. He has written several books, most notably the Pura Belpré Honor Book The Smoking Mirror .