 First edition | |
| Author | Christopher Evans |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Trevor Scobie and Mark Taylor |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science fiction alternative history |
| Publisher | Gollancz |
Publication date | 1993 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Pages | 352 |
| ISBN | 0-575-05540-5 |
Aztec Century is ascience fiction novel by British writerChristopher Evans. In 1994,Aztec Century won theBSFA Award for Best Novel.[1]
First published in 1993 byVictor Gollancz, it is analternate history novel, in which theAztec Empire conquersBritain. In this world,Cortez changed sides at the onset of theConquistador era in the early 16th century, leading to the repulsion of theSpanish Empire's invasion andcolonization ofCentral America. Due to fortuitously strong central leadership, the Aztec Empire has become a technologically sophisticatedgreat power in this alternate 20th century.
Throughout the novel, hints are dropped as to how the timeline differs from our own, though often from the perspective of Aztec officials with an accompanying spin. The Aztec Empire adoptsChristianity in the seventeenth century; an Anglo-French alliance led byNapoleon, theDuke of Wellington andAndrew Jackson temporarily halts Aztec expansion inNorth America with a victory at New Orleans in 1815.India andSouth Africa are claimed to have 'welcomed' the Aztecs' takeover of their nations from the hatedBritish Empire;Queen Victoria is mentioned as having been assassinated in 1893, and theCaribbean is stated to have fallen in the early 1900s.
Towards the end, a stalemate with theRussian Empire is broken when, in response to Russian use of an experimentalnuclear mine, the Aztecs deploy an orbital laser and destroy the city ofRzhev; by analogy with the atomic bombings ofJapan at the end of theSecond World War, Russia surrenders in the face of a weapon it cannot counter. Finally the last remaining resistance to the Aztecs' hegemonic rule over the Earth is removed in a war between the Empire and an alliance of North American states, named asNew England,Canada and theSioux Confederacy.[2]
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