The Gold Eaters by Ronald Wright
Waman, a boy on the cusp of manhood, leaves his small Peruvian
fishing village to join the crew of a ship leaving from a busy port. He couldn’t know that the adventure he was
seeking would be very different from the adventure that he receives. Waman’s ship, instead of fishing in deep
waters or journeying to the South Pacific, instead is boarded by strange men
from the north. He is captured by Pizarro’s
crew, recently left from Panama and about to give up their search for the
reputed gold filled lands of the south when they capture Waman’s ship. Waman is taken prisoner and becomes the
reluctant translator for Pizarro and his men for over a decade. Through Waman’s eyes we see the fall of the
great Peruvian Inca civilization at the hands of the Spanish by disease
(smallpox), warfare and treachery.
I was fascinated by the subject matter of this book, I had never
read anything about this time period, and was looking forward to reading a book
from an Incan point of view. Waman is
unique since he understands Incan culture, yet is forced to live with the
Spaniards (even visit Spain) and translate for people he loathes who are
killing his homeland.
From the little I know of Pizarro’s conquest the book followed
the events and painted a historically accurate picture, but there was something
missing. The book covers the events of
over a decade, yet all the death, disease and fighting seems to be a blur. Since Waman is with the conquerors most of
the time we only know what is going on in the immediate area and hear reports
of the happenings elsewhere. I think
having the story of an ordinary citizen of the capital or one of the larger
cities as well as Waman’s would have been helpful in making the story read a
little more like fiction than history.
While I enjoyed it, and am glad I read it, I would only recommend it for
big fans of historical fiction.
