Name: Melanie 's review of Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Item: Gods of Jade and Shadow
Rating: 5
Author: Melanie

Silvia Moreno-Garcia

'This is historical fantasy at its best' S.A. Chakraborty, author of The City of Brass Inspired by Mexican folklore, Gods of Jade and Shadow is a magical, wildly imaginative coming-of-age tale for fans of Katherine Arden, Naomi Novik and Helene Wecker. The Jazz Age is in full swing, but Casiopea Tun is too busy scrubbing floors in her wealthy grandfather's house to do more than dream of a life far from her small town in southern Mexico. Until the day she accidentally frees an ancient Mayan god of death, who offers her a deal: in return for Casiopea's help in recovering his throne, he will grant her whatever she desires. From the jungles of Yucatán to the bright lights of Mexico City and deep into the darkness of Xibalba, the Mayan underworld, Casiopea's adventure will take her on a perilous cross-country odyssey beyond anything she's ever known. Success will make her every dream come true, but failure will see her lost, for ever . . . 'Wondrous and magical' Kevin Hearne, author of The Iron Druid Chronicles 'Evocative and moving' Rebecca Roanhorse, author of Trial of Lightning 'An adventure for the mind and the heart' Christina Henry, author of Alice 'A joy to read' Genevieve Cogman, author of The Invisible Library series A BEST BOOKS OF SUMMER 2019 PICK BY PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ONE OF THE HOTTEST BOOKS OF SUMMER BY GOODREADS A SUMMER 2019 B&N DISCOVER GREAT NEW WRITERS SELECTION

a perfect blend of fantasy, mythology and historical fiction set in Jazz Age Mexico

Gods of Jade and Shadow

Paige Leitner

Fate is a force more powerful than gods, a fact they resent, since mortals are often given more leeway and may be able to navigate its current. 

Lauren

Why would I need to dream? It means nothing. Those are but the tapestries of mortals, woven and unwoven each night on a rickety loom.” 

Alessia (Taylor's version) 

She could not betray him. She could not betray herself. She could not betray the story. Mythmaking. It’s greater than you or I, this tale. Maybe she was not a hero with a shield and a divine provenance, but it’s the symbolism that matters.

And she had to admit to herself that part of what kept her next to him was not just the promise of freeing herself of the bone splinter or a sense of obligation, but the lure of change, of becoming someone else, someone other than a girl who starched shirts and shone shoes and had to make do with a quick glimpse of the stars at night. 

Melanie 

Would absolutely recommend this book! The narrative is fascinating and Silvia Moreno-Garcia's voice is unique. I would say that perhaps her writing style does create a separation between you (the reader) and the characters. It feels very much like you are reading about characters living this story, rather than experiencing it yourself. Which is perhaps the point? Either way, the plot is wonderful and takes you down some unexpected paths. 

This book reaffirmed my love of reading, stole my entire attention, built a beautiful journey, created raw emotions in me, broke my heart sweetly (which I didn’t think could be done, and then reminded me of the values of humanity, or mortality. To live and to HOPE. I love this book with every piece of my soul. 

Ami Is Dreaming Again

My favorite Silvia Moreno-Garcia to date! We have warring gods, an impossible romance, a quest and Cinderella-like beginnings against a backdrop of rich lore and myth. 

Mel 

Heather Margaret

“The things you name do grow in power, but others that are not ever whispered claw at one's heart anyway, rip it to shreds even if a syllable does not escape the lips.”
An easy read about a charming, magical story. A mix of a fairy-tale and present-day kind of journey. I love the idea of a God, even a God of darkness, needing a strong-willed girl to get back his throne.

Bria

Casiopea is great but the god of death is kinda boring huh

Sarah Sammis

Casiopea Tun lives in the small Yucatan village a tram's ride away from the city of Merida. She's trapped being the servant to her cousin, aunt, uncle, and grandfather. One day, left alone with the house to herself, she decides to investigate her grandfather's forbidden trunk. Expecting gold, she's surprised to find bones. When she pricks herself on a bone shard, she's further shocked to find the bones rebuilding themselves into a very handsome and dangerous god — Hun-Kamé. He's been ousted by his brother and her grandfather from Xibalba and needs Casiopea's help to undo this injustice.

33FF00 - couple utopia railroad/interstate

http://pussreboots.com/blog/2019/comm...

Sandrin

Beautiful descriptions, rich world with amazing mythology BUT a very simple story. Our heroine was a mixture of Cinderella and Belle with a dash of "im not like other girls" . I did not care about the characters at all. There was also a lot of telling and not enough showing.

akynn 

This was so fascinating and entertaining. A true hero’s journey. The last 20% and the ending just about ripped my heart out. The myths and folklore of it all in a well researched jazz age historical setting was so well written. 

Abigail

The last quarter of this book made up for my slow start with it. I thought it was wonderful, like a fairytale.

Whitley

Gods of Jade and shadow has an intriguing mythological premise and balances the aspects of characters and plot well. 

Based on Mexican mythology, new to me, I found this story original. Slow burn, travelling from Yucatan to Baja California, with this idea that we humans created gods with our wishes and prayers, not the other way around. M’y favoris this month so far!

Barbara

Lara Engle

Speed read the last third of this, skipping to the parts I was interested in. The idea of this book is amazing and the characters are interesting. Parts of the writing are beautiful. But overall, the narrative style is too much telling and not enough showing. It explains too much, which makes it feel kind of YA-ish. The concept of duality is symbolically and culturally engaging, but it was all too obvious. I wanted to love it, but it was kind of meh. The ending was just right, though.

The Jazz Age is in full swing, but it's passing Casiopea Tun by. She's too busy scrubbing floors in her wealthy grandfather's house to do anything more than dream of a life far from her dusty, small town in southern Mexico. A life she could call her own.

This dream is impossible, distant as the stars - until the day Casiopea opens a curious chest in her grandfather's room and accidentally frees an ancient Mayan god of death. He offers her a deal: if Casiopea helps him recover his throne from his treacherous brother, he will grant her whatever she desires. Success will make her every dream come true, but failure will see her lost, for ever.

In the company of the strangely alluring god and armed only 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 Xibalba, the Mayan underworld.

A Wildly Imaginative Historical Fantasy

the prose is  formal it can be hard to get lost in the story completely. the world built is truly magical and vivid, only to end unremarkably … which after going through so much with casiopea almost feels unfair for her to receive  a “life is an open road” cliche of an ending. all that to stay, it’s still an impactful read but brace for an ending that may not be satisfying. 

Noemi Gonzalez

lost in the best way possible, transportive, yearning & so pretty :)

Teeeeeesha

A beautiful tale set in the jazz era in Mexico where a girl accidentally sets free the God of Death. They set on a quest to return The God to his rightful throne in Xibalba, a tribute to Aztec culture

Claire Cantlon

this is one of those books that captures your attention and then you get to the last bit and the ending doesn’t give you even remotely what you hope for.

Colleen

4 Stars
 
*An adventurous retelling of Mayan mythology blended with historical fiction*
 

  

 

I love mythology so much and am always on the lookout for books about different mythos. So as soon as I saw the words “Mayan god of death” in the description, I knew I had to read Gods of Jade and Shadow. And then I saw that it was set in the Jazz Age and got really, really excited about this book. It’s a strange combination, but I loved that this story was so distinctive.
 
The story is set in 1927 Mexico. Eighteen-year-old Casiopea Tun dreams of life beyond her small, rural town where is kept isolated and treated like a servant by her family. When Casiopea accidentally frees the Mayan god of death, she sets of a chain of events that will forever change her life as she embarks on a quest to free herself.
 
The exploration of Mayan mythology was fascinating. You don’t need to be familiar with that mythology in order to enjoy this story. It is a retelling, so some things draw directly from the myths and other things bare the author’s creative license. I also loved the clashes between different cultures and religions. The story explores the traditional Mayan beliefs versus the heavy Catholicism of the area versus that time period’s shift towards embracing more “modern” ideology pushed during the post-revolution era. 
 
The story is billed as Adult, and the author has stated that it is not YA. I’m going to label it as New Adult. I think the only reason it was published as Adult was due to the story having some violence. Given that the Mayans were known for human sacrifice, this story is quite tame. There is some violence, animal sacrifice, self-harm, and swearing. I didn’t find it too graphic. Most of the violence is merely mentioned; it doesn’t go into gory details. I recently read The Wolf and the Watchman which was extremely graphic, so maybe Gods of Jade and Shadow just seemed subdued in comparison. But I don’t think the level of violence in this story will faze most people – unless you are very sensitive to that.
 
But I have to admit that the story did feel very young. It has many hallmarks of a young adult story. The heroine is only eighteen and is extremely naïve (sometimes frustratingly so). This is a coming-of-age story. And the writing style had that simplistic, immature feel to it. While the writing style was still engaging and easy to read, it also became the biggest reason I wasn’t blown away by Gods of Jade and Shadow. I was expecting an adult story with more maturity and depth. You can still have a coming-of-age story handled with more maturity and complexity than this. The author also had a tendency to tell rather than show. She was good at describing the scenes. But when it came to the characters’ emotions, she couldn’t seem to ever display them organically. Emotions were always told outright. If a character was angry, Moreno-Garcia would flatly tell the reader that character was angry. This “telling” added to the inference that the audience was young and not capable of discerning characters’ emotions unless they were spelled out. It also reduced the emotional impact of the overall story and took any subtly away from the life lessons.
 
Side Note: I started out with the audio book and quickly had to abandon it. The narrator made Casiopea sound even more immature and obnoxious! It was so grating that I had to switch to the text version. I enjoyed the story more after that but was still struck by how YA this story felt.
 
The other drawback was the romance. It was so angsty. I could have completely done without it! The overall story would have felt more empowering that way. While the ending does somewhat overcome that sentimentality, the message of self-discovery is always more powerful when it doesn’t involve someone being defined by their love for someone else.
 
In the end, I didn’t love the story as much as I was hoping, but this was still a solid four stars for me. While the immature feel of the writing annoyed me at times, I did find Gods of Jade and Shadow to be entertaining and creative. I would still recommend this to those who like quest-style coming-of-age stories and mythology retellings. Hopefully this will encourage more authors to explore other less-known mythologies! We can always use more stories about different beliefs, histories, and cultures.

 
RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 4 Stars
Writing Style: 3 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 4 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 4 Stars
Level of Captivation: 4 Stars
Originality: 4 Stars

 🩰

My favourite Silvia work. The writing is stunning and the plot is enchanting.

Stefanie Viens

I loved the Mayan mythology that was the backdrop for this book, but the main character felt really flat for most of the story and her romance with another character was just so incredibly predictable.

I don’t often read novels, but this one grew on me! A few highlights:

- The setting is pretty cool. Mexico in the ‘20s. Although it could’ve been used more

Lavinia

I don’t often read novels, but this one grew on me! A few highlights:

- The setting is pretty cool. Mexico in the ‘20s. Although it could’ve been used more

- Mayan mythology. Super interesting to glimpse into other “types” of mythology

- Casiopea’s character is quite relatable. Especially for young women who might grow up where the patriarchy is still very prevalent and desire to escape and live life more

The writing is also captivating and easy.  

Ilse

I absolutely loved Gods of Jade and Shadow, even though it took me a while to reach the end. The bits of Mexican folklore and mythology sprinkled in were a delight to read, and the way Silvia Moreno-Garcia brought the setting to life was amazing. I liked how Cassiopeia was a girl with principles and staunch on fighting for what she believed in, and rooted for her the entire way.

"He was afraid, like when he'd been a small child and thought monsters lurked under his bed; only now they did, and he assisted them" I found Martín a rather tragic character, who although being an absolute dirt bag, struggled in measuring up to his cousin Cassiopeia in his grandfather's eyes. I somehow felt for him (though don't condone his lousy behaviour) and once the ending approached was curious to see how it would end between the two. Said ending was the perfect ending for this book, making it well deserving of these four stars! Definitely a big recommendation if the summary intrigued you!

tina

“remember me like this, if you choose to remember me at all.”

Melanie &
Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

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