Book Review: Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Title: Gods of Jade and Shadow

Author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Description:

The Mayan god of death sends a young woman on a harrowing, life-changing journey in this one-of-a-kind fairy tale inspired by Mexican folklore.

The Jazz Age is in full swing, but Casiopea Tun is too busy cleaning the floors of her wealthy grandfather’s house to listen to any fast tunes. Nevertheless, she dreams of a life far from her dusty small town in southern Mexico. A life she can call her own.

Yet this new life seems as distant as the stars, until the day she finds a curious wooden box in her grandfather’s room. She opens it—and accidentally frees the spirit of the Mayan god of death, who requests her help in recovering his throne from his treacherous brother. Failure will mean Casiopea’s demise, but success could make her dreams come true.

In the company of the strangely alluring god and armed with her wits, Casiopea begins an adventure that will take her on a cross-country odyssey from the jungles of Yucatán to the bright lights of Mexico City—and deep into the darkness of the Mayan underworld.

RATING

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Hello everyone, a few days ago I was watching Peruse Project’s reading vlog and this was one of the books she was reading. So, as I usually do, I also picked it up.

This is a book influenced by Mayan mythology, about a girl who opens a chest and suddenly releases an ancient God of Death who was closed in the chest for 50 years. Upon releasing him, the two of them are linked and to save herself, she must help him defeat his brother and regain his throne back.

The book starts in Casiopea’s home, where she lives with her very strict family and Grandfather who thinks of her as a bastard. All she does is clean and do chores but she’s always been rebellious and wanted more than that. As she meets Hun Kame, through their travel she discovers the beauties of world and everything she wished for.

I really liked this aspect of the book and how a girl who was sheltered all her life suddenly is free from her ‘prison’. Hun Kame and Casiopea visit many beautiful places and Casiopea doesn’t want to return to her old life after seeing everything. She wants to travel even more and be free.

At first we have two complete opposites, Casiopea and her mean cousin Martin and Hun Kame and his older brother who trapped him inside the chest. But as the story progresses all of these characters show different aspects of their character and you realize that they’re not as black and white as they seemed at first.

This got me very interested in the topic of Mayan mythology as well as the magical system. I haven’t read many books about this topic but I was very intrigued and I enjoyed it. This did have that myth/fairy-tale feel to it with a bit of modernity in it. I really enjoyed it!

And of course there was romance, which made everything so much more exciting. Keep in mind that this is a slow burn (maybe one of the slowest I’ve ever read) but I like how it was simple and sweet. No, they didn’t bang unfortunately but oh well, you can’t have everything…

I belive this is a standalone but I really enjoyed the writing so I’ll be sure to check out the author’s other work. Have you read this book and what were your thoughts, please let me know!

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