Gods of Jade and Shadow
By Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Publication Year: 2019
Type: Fiction
Genre: fantasy, myth, historical fiction, adventure
Read on 2020-06-01
View additional specs on this book in Muhan’s 2020 Reading Survey ➞
★★★★★
This might be the best book I’ve read all year, and certainly the best and smoothest reading experience I’ve had in MONTHS.
Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia is an adventure fantasy/myth retelling set in Mexico in the 1920s Jazz Age. 18-year-old Caseiopia is an unhappy lowly servant to her family in a small Catholic village when she accidentally frees the Mayan god of death who has been unjustly trapped. They go on a classic quest across Mexico to recover his powers and throne. It’s like a Cinderella story meets the myth of Persephone meets a Percy Jackson adventure. The protagonist is so likeable and the god of death is a stoic bb (Sesshoumaru vibes 👀) and there is real character development 😭😭😭 This book is giving me everything I wanted from all the YA fantasy books I’ve read and hated the last year and a half.
If you like myth/folklore retellings, adventure/quest fantasy, Percy Jackson, etc. READ THIS!!! Moreno-Grace also does a PHENOMENAL job weaving in Mexican history, imperialist legacies, Indigenous cultures, and very realistic sociological contexts. It’s truly stunning.
See me talk about this book in this TBR video!
