Week 13 Review: Gods of Jade and Shadow

From Goodreads:

The Mayan god of death sends a young woman on a harrowing, life-changing journey in this dark, 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. 

My Review:
I had such a great time reading this book! I loved this world of Mayan gods that get their power from the Yucatán area. I know nothing about the Mayan pantheon, and this story was very much focused on Hun-Kame and his brother Vucub-Kame.

The way that Casiopea's family treats her-just because her mom chose a commoner, someone of a lower class then their family? It's pretty awful. I really didn't like her grandfather, Martin, or Martin's mother. They were all pretty awful.

Watching this pair journey across Mexico, travelling into the US, collecting the bits and pieces of him that'd been taken, was such a fantastic journey! As he uses more of her life, as he becomes more human, and they grow to understand one another. 

Out of the 3 books that I've read from Silvia Moreno-Garcia, 2 of them have had sad but satisfying endings. Like, you know the world won't let you have the happy ending you want, to have these characters actually having a working romantic relationship, and it leaves them in the best places that they can be, separate from each other. And it's sad. So if it happens in a 3rd book, I'm going to think it's part of her style as an author.

Really enjoyed this book, and I need to read the rest of Silvia Moreno-Garcia's books!

Author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Read: March 29th, 2022
Source: Ebook.bike 
Reason Why: Sounded really good, and it's a Historical Fiction 202 Book and a SAC 2022 Book!
Publisher: Del Rey
Published: July 23rd 2019

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars