A review by yourbookishbff
Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

adventurous dark mysterious medium-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

4.0

I enjoyed this, and plan to reread it at some point in print, as I think I would have enjoyed it even more in a different format (I read via audio). This is a dark fairytale blend of Mayan mythology and Jazz age flamboyance with a (kind of surprising?) romantic sub-plot and a lot of Cinderella-esque family drama. I appreciated the clear discussion of the racial caste system these characters are operating within and against, and the examination of anti-Indigenous racism. I most enjoyed this story in the third act, when it gets truly dark (not sure what that says about me, but I loved the drama and all of our new mythical creatures!). 

Honestly my only struggle in this was the narration - I couldn't always distinguish character voices (and there were a few times it felt like one character voice carried over into another's dialogue? I had to replay scenes several times) and Casiopea felt so young to me because of how she's narrated that I was genuinely caught off guard by the romantic throughline. Again, I think in another format this would have been an even more enjoyable read, and I'm excited to read more by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia (this was my first!). 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings