01 February 2021

Gods of Jade and Shadow

The Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia is the tale of a human young woman getting in the middle of a battle between the Mayan gods of death. 

Casiopea Tun and her mother live with her grandfather in the Yucatán. Though other relatives also live there, including her horrible cousin Martin, she and her mom do all of the cooking and cleaning. It has something to do with the fact that her mother married someone of whom her grandfather did not approve. 

Martin is always getting Casiopea in trouble. He resents her relationship with their grandfather. When she is left home from a trip to the beach, she sees her chance to find out what is in the trunk in her grandfather's room.

What she finds is a skeleton! And when she touches it, a shard stabs her finger and her blood brings it back to life. Soon she is looking at the god of Hun-Kamé, one of the twin Gods of Death. 

After years, he can get revenge on his brother Vucub-Kamé who stole his throne. But when gods fight, it is often the humans who are at risk.

Moreno-Garcia has brought the mythology of the Mayan Popol Vuh to life in this fantastic novel set in the roaring twenties. 

Moreno-Garcia, Silvia. (2019). Gods of Jade and Shadow. New York: Del Rey.

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