The Stone Knife

2024-11-01

I have my qualms about a white author writing a story so clearly drawing upon mesoamerican history and culture for inspiration, but those notwithstanding, The Stone Knife by Anna Stephens is an incredible epic fantasy that is well worth the read. Without a doubt I will be picking up its sequel The Jaguar Path soon. Having not read a proper epic fantasy in over a year, I was delighted to have returned to the genre with this book. The Empire of Songs has spread its Song across all of Ixachipan save for Yalotlan and Tokoban, and very well intends to unite the whole continent under the Song. We follow several viewpoints on both sides, all caught up in this war of conquest. As we grow attached to our characters, we also learn much more about the world at large, its history, cultures, its hierarchical systems, its magic and its gods and its monsters.

Its refreshing to see non eurocentric worldbuilding in fantasy, especially that draws from the new world as opposed to the old, however its a dangerous line to tread for an author that, as far as my research has shown, has no background in the cultures of the area nor studied the cultures at hand. Without a doubt, Stephens conducted copious amounts of research to write this book, however in my eyes The Stone Knife still finds itself caught in several common pitfalls. The Empire of Songs, a clear stand in for the real world Aztec Empire or various Mayan centres of power, is depicted almost wholly as an evil empire. Even when we follow imperial viewpoints, we still have trouble finding empathy for this state, its institutions, and its culture.

An fundamental aspect of the Empire of Songs is the Song. A magical rhythm broadcast across the empire via songstone-capped pyramids. This beautiful and sublime Song both worms its way into the hearts of new subjects, seducing them with its beauty and the allure of becoming a part of something much bigger than themselves (alongside typical methods of subjugating populations), as well as uniting all faithful subjects under one common melodic and beautiful guide. As the Singer, the symbolic ruler of the Empire of Songs and the source of the Song himself declares:

The song beats in the blood of a million people, lulling them to sleep and rousing them to the defence of their homes, succouring the fearful and strengthening the weak. When all the world is brought beneath its harmony, there will be peace. When all the world shows the Singer and the song the reverence we are due, there will be glory. The song is all. The song is good.

In this vein, we can read the Empire of Songs not as a representation of the historical Aztecs, but rather as something more akin to the modern state. The Song is the radio, television, and the internet. It instantaneously connects all those who have access to it (and also enables instantaneous communication, in the case of the listeners) and shapes the emotions and actions of those under its unceasing rhythm. This is remarkably similar to the role of media today, particularly in the case of the authoritarian, but also more inconspicuously in places like the United States, where public opinion can be manufactured. This is why I find the Empire of Songs such an interesting ‘big bad evil empire.’ While its methods of control do involve violence, its true power lies in the gradual manipulation of minds.

Despite this, the use of mesoamerican cultures as the source of inspiration for this empire is in my opinion harmful. It toes dangerously close to the outdated representations various mesoamerican civilizations as bloodthirsty cultures, the same distorted representation that was used to justify the so called ‘civilizing’ of the region by Spain historically. In doing so, I feel that The Stone Knife continues to perpetuate this dangerous narrative about Aztec and Mayan society.