In the Courts of the Sun

By: Brian D'Amato

Narrated by: Robertson Dean

Length: 27 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's Summary

December 21, 2012. The day time stops. Jed DeLanda, a descendant of the Maya living in the year 2012, is a math prodigy who spends his time playing Go against his computer and raking in profits from online trading. His secret weapon? A Mayan divination game---once used for predicting corn-harvest cycles, now proving very useful in predicting corn futures---that his mother taught him. But Jed's life is thrown into chaos when his former mentor, the game theorist Taro, and a mysterious woman named Marena Park invite him to give his opinion on a newly discovered Mayan codex. Marena and Taro are looking for a volunteer to travel back to 664 AD to learn more about a "sacrifice game" described in the codex. Jed leaps at the chance, and soon scientists are replicating his brain waves and sending them through a wormhole, straight into the mind of a Mayan king. Only something goes wrong. Instead of becoming a king, Jed arrives inside a ballplayer named Chacal who is seconds away from throwing himself down the temple steps as a human sacrifice. If Jed can live through the next few minutes, he might just save the world.

©2009 Brain D'Amato (P)2009 Tantor

Critic Reviews

"A remarkable, unique, stand-out book.... In a word: awesome. Or brilliant. Make that two words: awesome and brilliant." (Raymond Khoury, author of The Last Templar and The Sanctuary)

Top of the list for this book!

Where does In the Courts of the Sun rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is an amazing book and read by Robertson Dean, it is perfection.

Any additional comments?

I don't know why this book hasn't made a bigger splash. I stumbled across it and it is one of my all time favorite books. The writing is perfection, the style and story are both fun and fascinating and I think Brian D'amato is a great writer! He combines everything I love; history, facts, great storytelling, amazing character development, powerful storyline, criminal activity all wrapped up in a mystery sandwich...It's great from start to finish!

4 people found this helpful

Interesting but bleak

The narrator did a great job.
The story held my interest and provided a fascinating view of Maya culture. I got a real kick out of who the perpetrators of the Orland event turned out to be.
The cynicism was off-putting and the ending was cut-off and disappointing. Very bleak view of the world at the end.
In all I'm glad I listened to it and I'll just forget the last 15 minutes.

4 people found this helpful

Fascinating

Like Orson Scott Card's "Pastwatch" on steroids. Longer, more complex, darker. In all the right ways.

3 people found this helpful

Unique and well constructed

There are some parts that are long and seem to have a bit more detail than necessary but its constant with the main character nature and, as he's the also narrator it fits very well and I found it enjoyable. The time travel scenario was unique and I enjoyed the authors take on the Maya game, the game in general. It's probably not for everyone but it kept interested and entertained. The book is better than the sample, so if you like the sample, you'll probably like the book. If you don't like the sample, I wouldn't recommend it.

3 people found this helpful

Truth be told in blurred lines

Great exploration of modern horrors and ancient terrors. Glad for the factual insight imbedded is this romp to 2012. So much has been done in the name of freedom America to support the crushing of freedom outside our borders thats its sick. I worked for the ranking republican of the armed services back in 1972 (oh yea watergate time) and it is not un-American to shed the light of day on the mischief preformed by our government to support big monied special interest in the Americas. Dictators have been installed with our help in many locals who then crush their opponents and the indigenous peoples. It is not anti american to believe that uncovering past errors can protect us from repeating these errors again and again. The rise of socialist demagogues can be easily traced to USA interference Bolivia and Venezuela to name just two.
But back to this book its a broad brush of entanglements that look into the hidden world of ancient peoples and ideas.

2 people found this helpful

in the courts of the sun

a little slow at the start but i think that was to lay a solid base for the rest of the book to build up to ,very well read by robertson dean.can't wait for the next one by this author

2 people found this helpful

Fantastic stream of consciousness

Where does In the Courts of the Sun rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I listen to many audiobooks a year (20-40 average), and this is definitely in my top 20 ever listened to.

What was one of the most memorable moments of In the Courts of the Sun?

The author paints a fantastic picture and brings you into the world of Jed. The narrator does a fantastic job portraying the main character as one with aspergers.

Which character – as performed by Robertson Dean – was your favorite?

Definitely Jed. Mr. Dean really brought him to life for me. Definitely NOT one-dimensional!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

absolutely! Unfortunately, due to the length of the book this wasn't viable.

1 person found this helpful

Would make a great movie.

The best thing about this audio book is Robertson Dean's narration. Without a doubt, Dean is the only reason I actually finished the book. The excessive description and details are informative, but they really get in the way of moving the story along. With a quicker pace and a better ending, this would probably make a pretty good scifi movie. The science is a stretch but there are some really fantastic parts in this book. I never like to read or listen to abridged versions of books, so I would strongly suggest better editing for D'Amato's next project. I'm glad that I listened to the book, but it was rough getting to the end. If you liked the main science premise of this book, you'd probably like the audio book "Think Like a Dinosaur" by James Patrick Kelly, which by the way is only about an hour long.

1 person found this helpful

Hated the Ending

The story seemed to be on a good track, but the ending ruined it all. I would have also liked to here the end of the JD2 saga. But i guess he just ran out of ideas. I would only like to say the ending was so bad I should not have bought the audio.

1 person found this helpful

Think twice before play

This story doesn't deserve more than a hundred pages. Editorial business and author made it unbearable and unnecessary long. The main character and his descriptions are really annoying. Always complaining and whining like a teenager of 40 something years old, the main character is the only one developed enough but in the most predictable and stereotypical way; with the "big difference" that he is a Latino genius with Asperger syndrome (just for the sake to add the politically correct and subaltern voice to this "multicultural" story). The richly detailed descriptions provided by the narrator try to show a "know-it-all" main character which can give the reader a "complete" insight of the adventure. Although this last feature may sound compelling, attractive even intellectually stimulating or challenging, it clearly masks the lack of a strong plot line. Being the result of a couple of years in the making, this book it's way too lame. It was clearly a major disappointment and definitely an awful drag until the last page.