New Found Land

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New Found Land is the second in the Fireball Trilogy series by John Christopher.

In the first novel, Simon and Brad are cousins who were mysteriously transported to an alternate history Earth, where the Roman Empire did not break up and Europe remained in pre-Dark Ages technology. In an attempt to improve their status in the new realm, Simon and Brad aided the Church, which was oppressed, to launch a coup by introducing the stirrup and the longbow. The coup succeeded, but the boys did not anticipate the Church as a state power would force everyone in the Empire to convert or die. At the end of the first book, they sailed away to the New World, which in the realm, was not discovered yet by the Old World.

At the beginning of this novel, they managed to reach the American continent safely. They were received warmly enough by the native tribes in North America, but soon found themselves yearning for more advanced civilisations.

Trekking across the continent, they headed for the only civilization in America which had significant urban living - the Aztecs. As the Roman Empire persisted in Europe of this realm until the 20th century due to unchanging externalities, the Aztec too continued without encounters from the Europeans' discovery of the New World.

In order to quickly gain wealth and status to enjoy a comfortable living, they took part in the sacred games, which was a cross between squash, tennis and handball. Their aim though was to finish second, as the victors would be sacrificed to the gods. Unfortunately, they won.

To escape the fate of the winners, they escaped again, and this time, was captured by sailors from the Far East.

Their story continued in the last book of the trilogy, Dragon Dance.