Title: Daughter of the Sun Author: Barbara Wood
Published: September 4, 2007
Genre(s): Historical Fiction
Page Count: 453
Rating:
Summary from Goodreads:Seventeen-year-old Hoshi'tiwa had a simple life: The daughter of a humble corn grower, she planned to marry a storyteller's apprentice. But her world is turned upside down when she is captured by the powerful and violent ruler of an infamous city with legends of untold wealth and unspeakable acts of violence to its name. Hoshi'tiwa is suddenly thrown into the court of the Dark Lord, and as she struggles for power, she begins an illicit affair with the one man who has the ability to destroy her.
Bestselling author Barbara Wood has crafted a sweeping saga of one woman's struggle to survive within the dangerous and exotic world of the Toltec court. Set against the backdrop of Chaco Canyon and the mysterious Anasazi people, Daughter of the Sun is an unforgettable novel of power, seduction, murder, and betrayal.
I rather suspect that Daughter of the Sun is a deeply inaccurate depiction of history. To be fair, detailed information about Chaco Canyon and the Ancestral Puebloans (better known by the now disfavored term “Anasazi”) isn’t exactly thick on the ground; but still. Don’t come to this novel looking for an archeologically consistent account. That’s not this book. Luckily, as I am unburdened with a great deal of knowledge about the cultures/eras Barbara Wood chose to write about here, my main focus while reading was “is this a good story?” above all else.
The answer to that? It’s not half bad.
Daughter of the Sun reads very old school, in that the characters’ internal lives are not richly explored and the scope of events is wide and sweeping. The novel’s protagonist, Hoshi’tiwa, is a Mary Sue messiah come to save her people from the cruel tyranny of the Toltec colonizers via a message of unity, peace and love. Also, she makes a lot of clay pots. Like…a lot. That’s the main conflict of the book, actually: can Hoshi’tiwa make a pot that the gods will love enough to end the drought that’s cursed the Chaco Canyon settlement?
(Recapping the plot a bit since the jacket copy is pants): Daughter of the Sun starts off with Hoshi’tiwa, a very gifted potter, being enslaved by the Toltecs and taken to “Center Place,” AKA Chaco Canyon, their local base of operations. Apparently in Barbara Wood’s version of history, there are Toltecs running around colonizing northern New Mexico which…is not that likely. But run with it. Once there, Hoshi’tiwa makes a big impression on everyone, from her fellow potters to the lord of the city. Everyone is, like, obsessed with her. Months pass, and some minor tragedies occur, and Hoshi’tiwa metamorphosizes into a self-proclaimed godly vessel to encourage her oppressed people to rise up once again. She’s nearly executed multiple times, evil men in the government are out to get her, she’s involved in a taboo love/hate thing with the lord of the city, and there’s a secret outlawed cult growing in the desert. Also there are human sacrifices, because Toltecs gonna Toltec.
What I’m saying is, this story felt very Dramatic with a capital D. If only Cecil B. DeMille had the opportunity to turn this into one of his flashy biblical films. Alas. Granted, this type of plot won’t be for every reader. Nowadays people generally expect their characters to have realistic flaws, and for historical fiction to be more historical and less “history-based fantasy.” Honestly, I’m baffled as to how Barbara Wood got away with such a 1980s style book in 2007.
But! I think that if you modify expectations appropriately, Daughter of the Sun could be a great read. Hoshi’tiwa’s journey from captured slave to savior of her people is fairly interesting, even though it often feels like all she does is sculpt pottery. The author augments the main storyline (admittedly, Hoshi’tiwa is a bit dull) with several side characters and B-plots, which are all wrapped up together by the end in a satisfying way. The “other woman” character, for instance, gets a solid plot arc and a happy ending of her own, which I felt was richly deserved. Aside from one or two obvious villains, most of the characters are drawn in shades of gray, so that even when they’re pitted against Hoshi’tiwa and must obviously fall, the reader understands where they’re coming from.
But again, just to reiterate the things that this book is not: a detailed examination of history, a romance, and/or masterful character study. This book is all about the grand, flashy plotline. The author wants to explain why the Ancestral Puebloans abandoned the Chaco Canyon settlement, and she’s concocted a far-fetched but entertaining fairytale to fill in the gaps. It’s not a credible account, but if you pretend you’re reading a history-flavored fantasy novel instead, it’s a pretty satisfying read all the same.
