Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Gods of Jade and Shadow

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

33 reviews

bookishmillennial's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial

“In the world of the living, one must live.”

Premise:
We follow the hero's journey of Casiopea Tun (third person limited POV), a girl from a small town Uukumil in southern Mexico who lives at the beck and call of her begrudging grandfather Carilio and her envious cousin, Martín. While perusing her grandfather's things, accidentally releases the god of death Hun-Kamé from his imprisonment, becomes bound to him, and must travel with him to find the rest of his body parts so he can reclaim his throne in Xibalba. He will also have to confront his twin, Vucub-Kamé.

On this journey across 1920's Mexico, Casiopea meets many Mayan gods and tricksters, and all of this is inspired by mythology of the Mayan cosmos! There is a bit of a deadline with this quest though, as the reason Casiopea needs to go with Hun-Kamé is because he is feeding off of her lifeforce (there's an implanted bone shard in her hand), so they must complete this quest before he fully drains all of her life force! Sheesh!

Thoughts:
SMG is hit-or-miss for me usually, but this one has landed moreso in the middle for me! There is so much that I loved! I had so much fun with the general premise of the hero's journey and this quest-based adventure with unlikely travel partners. It was so goofy, the banter was delectable, and I really enjoyed the characterization of both Casiopea and Hun-Kamé! They challenged each other, and Casiopea especially embarked not only on this physical journey, but an internal coming-of-age. She has been mistreated and is exhausted of it, only to recognize that even the villains in her story are figuring their shit out too.

Look, I'm not out here batting for and defending her dusty crusty cousin lol. Martín is ultimately just some guy, but I appreciated Casiopea's dynamic with him, and how that evolved so much by the end. It felt authentic and relatable - don't we all struggle with family dynamics and feeling ostracized or like the outcast at different eras in our lives? I *know* everyone's biological and chosen families are different, but I do think universally, people can relate on how complex family can be.

The setting of the cities across Mexico (Veracruz, Mexico City, El Paso, Baja, etc), as well as the underworld, were immersive and littered with gorgeous prose. I don't think anyone can say SMG is a lazy or vague writer; I could totally imagine the places she was describing, and I think this would be such a good book to adapt for tv as a limited series or a film!

Quotations that stood out to me:

“She longed. Not for one specific thing but for everything; she had longed for a long time. He’d made this longing worse: it followed her quietly, this awkward feeling under her skin.”

“Young, as you are young. Look at you, like the dawn,” he said. “You can’t understand, of course, but one day you’ll want to be new again,” he continued. “You’ll wish to return to this moment of perfection when you were the embodiment of all promises.”

“Words are seeds, Casiopea. With words you embroider narratives, and the narratives breed myths, and there’s power in the myth. Yes, the things you name have power,” he said.

“He’d fallen in love slowly and quietly, and it was a quiet sort of love, full of phrases left unsaid, laced with dreams. He had imagined himself a man for her, and he allowed her to see the extent of this man, and he gave her this speck of heart, which was a man, to hold for a moment before taking it back the second before it faded.”

“Life had taught her to be untrusting. Dreamers and romantics like her father did not fare well, and though she had dreamed in Uukumil, she’d done so quietly, in secret.”

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md3's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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flaminggecko's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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becann's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Engaging and intriguing story. Characters growing with and in spite of their flaws.

This book is a beautiful look into this culture with many relatable moments.

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town_scar's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This was a beautifully written myth and tale. It's use of prose was outstanding and it painted beautiful (and delightfully horrifying) images in my mind.

My main struggle was that some of the time transitions were jarring enough that I fell out of the story and got confused as to what was going on. This was largely in the first third of the book.

Nonetheless, it was a riveting story and a fantastic tale. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and it has given me a far deeper appreciation of Mexico and it's many indigenous cultures.

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boop123's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I'm not gonna lie to you, i kind of got bored towards the latter half of the book but I soldiered on and finished it since I've already gotten so far. Don't get me wrong, the whole Mayan universe and mythology was very interesting and I applaud the author because it seems like she really did her research just basing from how well-detailed it was.

Also, the journey leading to the third act was very passive. Although they encountered many creatures against them, most of the time they were just negotiating and maybe a tiny bit of violence. Not that it needs violence to be good, I just expected more since because the male MC literally wants to gain his throne back. Nevertheless, the I commend the author for her vast knowledge and research on the Mayans, but I liked Silver Nitrate better.

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thereadinghammock's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Frustrated by her life as the "poor relation" that the family only took in out of guilt and obligation, Casiopea cannot wait to leave her grandfather's house when she comes of age. When she's left behind as a punishment and discovers the chest in her grandfather's bedroom contains the bones of the, now reformed, rightful King of Xibalba Hun-Kamé, Casiopea is thrust into a cross-country journey at his side to recover his lost body parts, regain his full godhood, and retake his obsidian throne in Xibalba.

I don't know if I've ever been go glad to have listened to an audiobook of a book than read it. I would never have been able to do justice to the Mexican and Mayan names within the book, and would have lost so much depth of the character that those played in the novel. Xibalba herself felt as important a character as Casiopea, Hun-Kamé, and Vucub-Kamé. I also appreciated the narrator infusing more humanity into Hun-Kamé as the story progressed. It was subtle, but by the end quite a noticeable change from where he started.

And I know it's not a romance, but NGL I'm a little disappointed that Casiopea doesn't get to do the deed with Hun-Kamé. I mean this God was DTF by the end because of the "humanity" in him by that point, but I spent most of my drive home today yelling at the steering wheel "FUCK THAT GOD!"

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