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Loading... Gods of Jade and Shadow (original 2019; edition 2019)by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Work InformationGods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (2019)
  
Books Read in 2020 (41) » 11 more Books Read in 2022 (439) infjsarah's wishlist (330) VBL YA (12) ALA The Reading List (478) Female Protagonist (992) No current Talk conversations about this book.  questbird | May 21, 2024 |    ) caaleros | May 17, 2024 | Set in 1920s Mexico, and based on Mayan folklore, this story features Casiopea Tun who begins the story sweeping the floors of her grandfather’s house, but with a rebelliousness within her that her petty cousin Martin can neither crush nor understand. The day she opens a wooden chest and is pierced by a bone shard she meets the conveniently handsome Mayan god of death, Hun-Kamé, and becomes connected to him in a mysterious way. She winds up travelling to the underworld of Xiabalba and fighting against his usurping brother Vucub-Kamé. I wanted to love this book as it has elements I love, such as the exploration of Mayan mythology and a strong female protagonist. The story certainly began well, but unfortunately this one was just not for me. I felt that despite the setting, it was an excuse for a fairly limp romance, with a fairly robotic and boring male hero. I couldn’t wait for it to end. (  ) mimbza | Apr 7, 2024 | The names and concepts rattle around in our heads, becoming personal reference points and ever so subtly shift our sense of the world. They make us consider what strange things might lie in old chests, or what longings may hide in young hearts. GOD OF JADE AND SHADOW has been one of those books for me. Beyond its solid work as a tightly-woven narrative, the book provides beautiful passages and allusions that frankly I wish I could pull off. I’ll be honest, I stared at the hard bound copy in my local bookshop for months, ultimately buying it for my Kindle, but now I’ve read it, this one belongs on my bookshelf as well. ( ) Lefthandrob | Mar 9, 2024 |  ) bschweiger | Feb 4, 2024 | no reviews | add a review
AwardsDistinctionsNotable Lists
Fantasy.
Fiction.
Mythology.
Historical Fiction.
HTML: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. ??A spellbinding fairy tale rooted in Mexican mythology . . . Gods of Jade and Shadow is a magical fairy tale about identity, freedom, and love, and it's like nothing you've read before.???Bustle NEBULA AWARD FINALIST ? NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR ? Tordotcom ? The New York Public Library ? BookRiot 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. Praise for Gods of Jade and Shadow ??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 ??Snappy dialog, stellar worldbuilding, lyrical prose, and a slow-burn romance make this a standout. . . . Purchase where Naomi Novik, Nnedi Okorafor, and N. K. Jemisin are popular.???Library Journal (starred review) ??A magical novel of duality, tradition, and change . . . Moreno-Garcia??s seamless blend of mythology and history provides a ripe setting for Casiopea??s stellar journey of self-discovery, which culminates in a dramatic denouement. Readers will gladly immerse themselves in Moreno-Garcia??s rich and complex tale of desperate hopes and complicated relati No library descriptions found. |
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC ClassificationRatingAverage: (3.81)
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Wikipedia in English
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Quite an easy read, but a bit lightweight. I didn't get much of an impression of 1920s Mexico. Apart from a mention of Prohibition it could have been any time. Casiopea and the god never had to struggle for money, so they stayed in rich accommodation and travelled first class everywhere, so their surroundings were generally bland, though the author set the scene with various towns and cities they went through. (