Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. What was your experience of reading a story that blends historical detail with such a dreamlike, and at times disorienting, style? Did it make the events feel more or less real to you?

2. How does You Dreamed of Empires compare to Álvaro Enrigue’s other works, like Sudden Death (2016), if you’ve read them? If this was your first book by Enrigue, has his playful and intellectually rigorous approach to history made you want to read more of his writing?

3. The story builds toward a dramatic conclusion that completely diverges from the historical record. How did you react to the final scene where Cortés is killed? Did this alternate ending feel earned and satisfying?

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. The novel’s translators, Malinalli and Aguilar, often deliberately mistranslate conversations to de-escalate tension or manipulate outcomes. Can you think of a time when you’ve used language or translation to reshape a situation, either to clarify or to obscure the truth?

2. Faced with a multifaceted crisis, Moctezuma retreats into isolation and apparent passivity in order to emerge with the wisdom needed to make the right choice. Have you ever found that periods of inactivity and solitude allow you to face challenges more effectively?

3. What do you think motivated Jazmín Caldera’s final decision to abandon his own world and disappear into Mexica society? Have you ever felt drawn to a world radically different from your own?

4. Malinalli is a survivor, a collaborator, and a strategist as she navigates her complex position between two powerful empires. Have you ever acted as a go-between in negotiations between more powerful actors? How did you handle this situation?

5. The Spaniards repeatedly show their ignorance of Mexica customs, from trying to hug the emperor to attempting to sit on the sacred throne. Have you ever been in a situation where you were completely unfamiliar with the social rules or protocols? How did that experience shape your perspective on the importance of cultural understanding?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. The story offers a perspective that prioritizes the Mexica point of view and actively subverts the traditional Eurocentric narrative. In what ways did the novel change, challenge, or deepen your understanding of the Spanish conquest?

2. By blending fact with fiction and even acknowledging its own status as a work of fiction, the novel questions the very idea of an objective historical account. How do you think works of “historiographic metafiction” like this one can influence our relationship with the past? Does it make history feel more accessible or less reliable?

3. The novel presents Tenochtitlan not as a primitive city but as a highly organized, geometrically planned metropolis that impresses even the Europeans. How does this depiction of a sophisticated, non-European society challenge colonial-era narratives about “civilization” and “progress”?

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. What is the effect of the novel’s deliberate use of anachronisms, like modern slang and profanity? Did you find that this choice grounded the historical figures in a raw, immediate humanity, or did it pull you out of the 16th-century setting?

2. How does the novel’s compressed timeline affect your reading experience and your understanding of the characters’ psychological states?

3. How do the mushrooms and the “cactus-of-tongues” function beyond their chemical effects, serving as a literary device to explore themes of contingency, communication, and the nature of reality itself?

4. Moctezuma is portrayed as a complex figure, driven by melancholy, strategic cunning, and esoteric visions. What do you believe is his primary motivation throughout the story? Is he a brilliant leader orchestrating a master plan, or a man crumbling under the weight of his empire?

5. The guide mentions the novel’s “Borgesian” architecture, referring to the work of author Jorge Luis Borges. How does the story’s use of dreams, metafiction, and layered realities engage with this literary tradition of questioning the nature of truth and fiction?

6. How does the novel use the horses to explore the clash of civilizations and the anxieties surrounding technological disruption and the future?

Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.

1. Imagine you are a citizen of Tenochtitlan on the morning after Cortés is killed. What do you think the atmosphere in the city would be like following the events at the palace? What rumors might be spreading?

2. What kind of future do you envision for Jazmín Caldera? Does he successfully integrate into Mexica society under Atotoxtli’s protection, and what role might he play in the empire’s future, especially regarding the horses?

3. Álvaro Enrigue reimagines a pivotal historical encounter with a counterfactual outcome. If you were to write a similar novel, what historical event would you choose to reinvent, and what key detail would you change to alter its course?