One morning in 1519, Hernán Cortés strides into the grandeur of Tenochtitlan, the heart of the Aztec empire, foreshadowing a monumental clash of civilizations. Accompanying him are his captains, soldiers, and two notable translators—a subdued friar and Malinalli, the enslaved Nahua princess. They are ushered into the palace, brimming with political games and spiritual dilemmas, all under the watchful eye of the formidable Aztec princess Atotoxtli. Struck by the magnificence and convoluted intricacies of the city, Captain Jazmín Caldera starts to doubt the Spaniards' straightforward welcome and debates their odds of survival, let alone conquest. With Emperor Moctezuma at a crossroads, indulging hallucinogens for divine guidance, the impending encounter between him and Cortés heralds the collision of two empires, languages, and potential futures. Álvaro Enrigue's 'You Dreamed of Empires' reimagines the historical narrative with a fantastical twist, creating a restitutive counterattack to the conquest through the fibers of this electrifying and ethereal novel.