Gods of Jade and Shadow, written by Silvia Moreno-Garcia.
I didn't know what to expect when I pulled this book off the shelf. The cover was so very intriguing. When I read the back cover, I was even more intrigued "A young woman and a Mayan death god embark on a life-changing journey in this one of a kind fairy tale inspired by Mexican Folklore." I'm a die-hard fantasy lover, and this book checked all of my personal "This is going to be a great read" boxes, I checked it out.
I was not disappointed. I enjoyed every minute of this book, and heaved a deep sigh at the ending. While one adventure ended, the end left us with another adventure beginning.
My thoughts on the book:
The beginning of the book felt a little bit like a Cinderella story - beautiful main character - Casiopea - who has been taken in by her grandfather and is forced to do menial labor for the grandfather and her cousin, Martin.
But the story took an unexpected turn when Casiopia opened the locked wooden box kept at the foot of her grandfather's bed. She found the bones of what turned out to be a Mayan death god who reassembled himself. Cassiopea was then held in service to the death god, as he had to find the missing parts of himself that were scattered when he was dissassembled by his brother and placed into the wooden box.
I know, it's a wild twist, isn't it?
Set in Mexico in the 1920's, this story follows Casiopea on her adventure across Mexico to help reassemble the death god, Hun Kame. Along the way, she meets ghosts, spirits, necromancers, and various other members of the underworld.
But what role does her cousin Martin have to play in this saga? What is the allure of mortality? Given the choice between true love and despair, what will Casiopea choose?
Author Website: https://silviamoreno-garcia.com/
