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I read this book about ten years ago.

It was set in a world inspired by Mesoamerica at the time when Europeans arrived, with some magic added on top. I can remember the main bad guy disembarking from his black ship with a pack of dogs that terrified the local population. This pack of dogs was ultimately defeated by one of the local wizards that filled himself with all the poisons in his possession before getting eaten, thus poisoning the dogs as well. At the end it was implied that more ships would be coming from the sea.

I don't think the magic system was very detailed, not any clear rules. There was multiple wizards, each with his speciality. The one who killed the dog pack was specialised in poison and associated with the toad. He wasn't the protagonist. I think the protagonist was another wizard, very old and associated with the goat maybe ? That detail is very unclear in my memory.

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  • This is a nice description, can you take a look at this guide and see if there is anything else you can edit in? Remember the more you add the easier it will be for users to identify this for you.
    – TheLethalCarrot ♦
    Commented Nov 5, 2019 at 10:10
  • Was it a completely fictional world with fictional geography? Was it exactly our world with a "magic is real" premise? Was an alternate Earth with real continents and fictional countries?
    – Jetpack
    Commented Nov 5, 2019 at 13:26
  • I don't remember the exact geography and countries being specified. I'm saying mesoamerican mainly because of the deadly foreigner coming from the east across the ocean. But there must have been other elements like maize, jungle, obsidian, maybe some gods, because I remember clearly perceiving the setting as mesoamerican.
    – user123065
    Commented Nov 5, 2019 at 13:37
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    Could it be Liliana Bodoc's The Days of the Deer? I don't remember dog poisoning and toad and goat associations, but I didn't finish it.
    – Kreiri
    Commented Nov 5, 2019 at 13:51
  • After reading the wiki page for "La Saga de los Confines", I think that is it, thanks Kreiri. I read it in french under the title "La saga des confins", that does ring a bell.
    – user123065
    Commented Nov 5, 2019 at 14:05

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Per the OP's comment above, this is (as suggested by user Kreiri) Liliana Bodoc's La Saga de los Confines ("The Saga of the Borderlands"), which includes three novels:

  • Los Dias del Venado (2000) [English translation: The Days of the Deer (2013)]
  • Los Dias de la Sombra (2009) ["The Days of Shadow," no English edition]
  • Los Dias de la Fuego (2000) ["The Days of Fire," no English edition]

The Wikipedia page for this series currently has a brief and high-level summary of the plot:

In the Ends of the Earth, the southern end of the Fertile Lands, lives the husihuilkes people, one of them is Dulkancellin, a warrior and father of a large family. He is called to represent his people at a Council meeting in the distant city of Beleram. Magical and ancient manuscripts speak of the arrival of men from across the sea, and speak of wicked Misáianes, son of the Death and the "Eternal Hatred". When the meeting finally occurs, the war comes to the Fertile Lands and its inhabitants should defend not only their land, but their entire way of living.

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