Death Gods in the Jazz Age - Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

I finished this book last night and It's ending left me so happy! This book is set in such a unique and different setting and it had me hocked the whole way. In some sense it is like a Mayan Percy Jackson, except better. Heads upper there is going to be some minor spoilers below. 

Here is the backcover: 

The Mayan god of death sends a young woman on a harrowing, life-changing journey in this one-of-a-kind fairy tale inspired by Mexican folklore.

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.

So this book has a lot of fun elements to it...

First, the setting of Jazz age Mexico is exciting and very unique. In all the books I have not had one that takes place in that time period and area.

Second, Casiopea is a main character that you are cheering for the entire time of the story. When she struggles you feel it in your heart and when she's angry your angry alongside her.

Third, I mentioned this above it has a similar feel to Percy Jackson, however targeted towards an older audience. Throughout the book you get to meet different spirits, sources, and demons all based in the Mayan mythology. This is a great way to begin to learn about the Mayan mythology. 

Fourth, the ending. About halfway into the book you begin to start to understand what direction the book will likely take in the couple possible endings. However, just when it seems your going to get the ending the is sad you are surprised with an ending that came out of nowhere and left me smiling for several hours afterwards.

Here is the Goodreads profile of the book: Gods of Jade and Shadow


Thanks so much for reading, I really appreciate that you took a little bit of time out of your day to visit!


Yours in reading,

Logan