The 2012 Codex
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3.1 • 19 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
In the arid canyonlands of Mexico the race is on for the ultimate end-of-the-world codex—the final 1000-year-old prophesy of the god-king, Quetzalcoatl, who ruled Mexico 1000 years ago. Rita Critchlow and Cooper Jones hunt for that sacred codex in those scorching desert canyons, while 500 years ago, Pacal, a young slave-scholar, sets out on the same deadly quest. He too must find those apocalyptic writings, knowing that his era—the Age of the Aztecs—may well come to an end if he does not find them.
For Pacal, the End-Time is at hand. Montezuma has built a vast empire based in what will one day be Mexico City. Now however he faces war, disastrous drought, death-cult priests, who rip the hearts out of thousands of people atop their pyramids . . . and the arrival of red-bearded horse-borne conquistador, bearing preternaturally powerful weapons and catastrophic plagues, sowing pandemic death wherever he goes.
America's leaders are also staring into an apocalyptic abyss. Their own time mirrors that of Quetzacoatl's and the Aztec's in shocking detail. Convinced that Quetzalcoatl's codex holds the key to humanity's survival—that he is warning them of a global, planet-killing threat—the two women battle broiling desert canyons and drug-cartel warlords to track it down and decipher it.
Moreover, earlier glimpses of his prophesy foreshadow uncanny similarities to those of John's Book of Revelation. Are Quetzalcoatl's and Revelation's prophesies one and the same? Can they crack the 2012 code and save their world from their deadly fate? The countdown is on.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Gleason and Podrug's undistinguished fourth entry in the Jennings franchise (after Apocalypse 2012), set mostly in 16th-century Mexico, Pakal the Storyteller saves the life of the king's architect by killing a rare white jaguar. This heroic act leads to Pakal's getting an assignment to track down the Dark Rift Codex, a document crucial to the survival of Mayan society. In the present, covert U.S. operatives search for the codex, believed to contain details about how the world will end in 2012. At tedious length, the American president receives lectures on the growing signs of ecological catastrophe. Overwrought prose doesn't help (e.g., "Reets... took out a fleeing bandit herself, Coop still doing the heavy work, the hard precision shooting, firing that weapon like she and the PDW were born together, conceived together in the same uterus, her eyes unblinking over its iron sights, empty and expressionless as the Martian moons, cold and compassionless as her violent moonshiner youth").
Customer Reviews
The 2012 Codex
I love reading Gary Jennings historical novels which focus on the Spanish conquest of Mexico from the indigenous people's perspective . When he stays in period with his characters he can fly around the world pulling together threads that make the whole brief era more understandable. His humor is twisted, gnarly, and gives additional insight into his characters and the times. The stories are as masterfully told as if told by the ancient storytellers themselves who often serve as the major narrators in his works. Unfortunately, Codex 2012 follows a worn trail you'd expect from a Clive Cussler novel describing a Dirk Pitt adventure, with even less unity since it is a disjointed communion by committee of three authors jumping back and fourth between ages, seeming with different themes (historical,Eco-environmental, fantasy). In short, while I tried to enjoy this tale, the transitions were jarring, the arguments underlying the themes were improbable and hammered with stereotypical characters (the dumb generals, the brilliant female academics, the blood thirsty apache drug lord),50 to one odds in the chase scenes, and mythical animal assistants helping the good guys ( or maybe since they are stealing the Codex they are in fact the bad guys).
After the shaggy dog ending to this crippled work, I wanted to take Mr. Jennings, shake him by the shoulders, look him in the eyes, and say, "come on Gary, you are so better than this" but then he is probably laughing himself all the way to the bank.