As you get into the second half of the book regarding the Incan society you begin to notice a lot of similarities between the two empires. In particular how big each empire had become and amazement that the Spanish would have as they first viewed each empire, but also in how quickly each empire would fall and at the hands of such a small Spanish force during each conquest. They adaptation to conquest was an effective tool for both empires during their rise. In both cases their success and building of an empire was not out of nowhere, or from scratch necessarily but on the foundation and conquest of others. And in that fight to the top, these particular tribes were just the most successful at that in their particular regions.
I think their religious beliefs in death were very close in nature as well, except the Incas seemed very adamant about the importance of a life after death as opposed to the Aztecs who I believed were more interested in only the sacrificing of people to the gods. The Incas almost had a very Egyptian outlook on life after death and would even bury their dead with significant items that were important to them during their life that they might need in the afterlife. And they had an intriguing way of viewing death and even thought that there was power given off by the dead (or at least my best interpretation), so much so that they would assign older men to watch over the dead and burial grounds as other tribes would often grave rob.
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