Gods of Jade and Shadow is quite different from Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s noir–ish Velvet Was the Night. Gods of Jade and Shadow is set in the Yucatan peninsula during the 1920s. The old myths and religious beliefs of the indigenous folk have withered away, supplanted by Christianity. Casiopea Tun, a young woman about to turn eighteen, is a poor relative taken in by her maternal grandfather and his family. Casiopea works as the family maid, cleaning floors and polishing her grandfather’s boots to pay for her upkeep. Her cousin Martín, arrogant and privileged despite being rather dull-witted, physically and emotionally abuses her. While her family is out, in a moment of defiance, she unlocks a chest in her grandfather’s bedroom, thus releasing Hun-Kame, a Mayan god of death, whose bones had been imprisoned in the chest by his minutes-younger twin, Vucub-Kame. To further weaken his brother, Vucub-Kame scatters bits of his older brother across Mexico and the American Southwest. Casiopea’s grandfather had been tasked with guarding the box of bones. Over the years, as nothing had ever happened, the grandfather becomes lax in his duties. Hun-Kame rises from the chest, determined to reclaim his throne and imprison his brother in turn. Hun-Kame enlists Casiopea, who wants to live her hometown anyway, and the two set off across Mexico to recover his missing bits.
Casiopea and Hun-Kame encounter flappers with short skirts and shorter hair, demons, evil spirits, sorcerers—and her cousin who has been enlisted by Vucub-Kame to woo Casiopea to the “dark side.” Casiopea and Hun-Kamé develop a deep, wounded love as they travel into the unknown searching for themselves. Casiopea develops into a strong heroine rather than remaining as the overworked, abused poor relative. Hun-Kame, god though he might be, develops a bit of humanity as he travels with her.
Moreno-Garcia does a divine job blending the Jazz Age with Mexican mythology. The tone of the story is resplendent with details of the Underworld, Xibalba. She successfully blends Art Nouveau, Mayan temple architecture, bizarre animals, blood-thirsty gods, and exotic stonework.
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Gods of Jade and Shadowis available through:
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You can read my reviews of other books by Silvia Moreno-Garcia here:
Velvet Was the Night | The Beautiful Ones
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