Early-Installment Weirdness: For this arc. This book features a brief narration from Lamanai as he sees Ryan, Meagan, and Apollus wash up in his time. This helps show how alien they seem to him and relate his status as a Hidden Backup Prince, but he never narrates in the future books. Probably because he’s more interesting when you don’t know what he’s thinking.
Heartwarming Moments: “I realized something today. I realized horses are the slowest creatures on Earth. No matter how fast this horse trotted ... I could not get back to you fast enough.”
Hilarious in Hindsight: Apollus and Ryan’s plot. First in a humble indigenous village, they then travel to an ancient American city and climb a temple where Human Sacrifice is practiced, before turning around and having to race home to save their loved ones in time. The setting of which is meticulously researched and displayed. Featuring death by snakebite, death by jaguar, a character named Jaguar-Paw, and the god Kukulcan? Are we talking about this book or Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto?
Although it’s worth noting this book is more accurate. Apocalypto mashes up the Mayans and the Aztecs for the sake of The Reveal, creating confusing incarnations of Human Sacrifice and societal decay. The Teutihuacanos in this book are strictly from the Mayan histories.
Paranoia Fuel: Finlay’s reappearance creates this in spades, since he mentions frequenting Frost Cave trying to find the tunnel. Since Jim and Garth have family in Cody, this means he’s been in close proximity to them multiple times and could’ve attacked or followed them easily. It’s only the sheer goodness of his soul (and the confines of the law) that prevented him from taking bloody vengeance on them. The could’ve opened the door on a normal day to find a gun in their face and their families at risk.
