Gods of Jade and Shadow

February 8, 2020 10:43 PM - by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

The Mayan God of Death charges a young woman with helping him recover his throne in this dark tale inspired by the Popol Vuh.

After the death of her father, Casiopea Tun finds herself in her grandfather's house enduring abuse doled out by her haughty cousin Martin. She dreams of escape while mending shirts and scrubbing floors until her grandfather forgets a mysterious key on his dresser.

“A dark, dazzling fairy tale . . . a whirlwind tour of a 1920s Mexico vivid with jazz, the memories of revolution, and gods, demons, and magic.”—NPR

posted by miss-lapin (3 comments total)

I really enjoyed this book. I felt like it started with a really interesting view into some of the struggles of growing up as an independent girl in a society that wants to pound that out of people. I also liked being exposed to all of the Mayan mythology about which I knew very little.

I was a little put off by how it follows a romance novel set of conventions especially since it seemed to be set up at the start as a feminist novel, and I'm not sure what to make of that. Still, all in all, I enjoyed it and have been on a Silvia Moreno-Garcia reading jag of late.
posted by willnot at 11:51 AM on February 9, 2020 [1 favorite]

I really enjoyed this book a lot. I didn't mind the romance-novel conventions, even though I don't usually go for romances, maybe because Casiopea feels so different than your typical romance-novel heroine to me. I liked that she took no shit from Hun-Kamé, and that there was very little, if any, "oh, I can chaaaaange him with my loooooove" nonsense.
posted by sarcasticah at 6:33 PM on February 9, 2020 [1 favorite]

I wish there had been an epilogue about the family particularly her mother. I hope the mother was able to get out from under the grandfather and go to Merida to pursue her own dream (I imagine the sale of a black pearl would cover that).

But driving off to try gumbo with a french demon was a great ending.
posted by miss-lapin at 1:53 PM on February 10, 2020 [1 favorite]