LA FLORIDA

When greedy Spanish explorers reach Florida, they clash with the Natives in this historical novel set in the 16th century.

Pedro Menéndez de Avilés is a man of bottomless ambition, his “daring and seamanship” noticed by King Philip, the head of the vast Spanish Empire. Menéndez longs to sail to Florida, not in search of silver or gold but to plunder its vast natural resources: fish, sugar, bananas, pineapple, and the like. He’s happy to spin his expedition as a way to counter the threat France poses to Spain, ready to “erase” whatever French outposts have been erected there. But when he lands in South Florida, he encounters the “strong tribal network” called the Calusa, serving under King Calus, a man who, at 20 years old, resembles an “ageless, powerful god of war.” Snyder depicts the inevitable clash of civilizations with painstaking historical rigor—his command of the period and all its cultural distinctions is nothing less than magisterial. Menéndez confronts fierce opposition from the Calusa but also benefits from their internecine conflicts. This internal dissent is depicted from the perspective of Lujo, the eldest son of the king, who becomes ostracized from his own people and is eventually torn between his identity as a Native and his increasing familiarity with the Spanish and Christianity. The author’s account of the Calusa is as meticulous as it is nuanced, a nearly unknown culture rendered vividly. Snyder should also be commended for a portrayal unburdened by calcified moral binaries—he resists the facile temptation to quickly brand some characters victims and others predators. But his inclination is to bury readers under mounds of minutiae, and the excessively granular details slow the plot to a crawl. Moreover, the author’s writing can be melodramatic. Consider Lujo’s expression of angst over his split identity: “Who am I? Am I Calusa? Am I now a Spaniard? Where do I go? Why can’t I live somewhere where I can just be me?”

A historically impressive but dramatically uneven tale about a Spanish expedition.