Review: Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Now I'm very ignorant about indigenous Mexican culture, to the point of being hazy on the difference the Aztecs and the Mayans, but I do love a story about human encounters with the Old Gods so I thought I'd give this a go. So glad I did!

Casiopea is eighteen years old - named for a starry constellation, but a poor relation in her widowed mother's strait-laced, snobbish family in 1920s Uukumil on the Yutacan Peninsula where she's despised for her father's Mayan blood. Her tyrannical grandfather Cirilo treats her like a servant, and her cousin Martin likes to goad and torment her. Then one day, left alone in the house while the family enjoy a holiday outing, she opens an old chest in her grandfather's room and discovers the bones of an imprisoned God. And not just any God - Hun-Kame, Supreme Lord of Xibalba, the Mayan Realm of the Dead. With Cirilo's help he has been imprisoned and supplanted by his younger brother, Vucub-Kame, who now rules Xibalba and has plans to restore the practises of ritual sacrifice and blood offerings on the Yutacan peninsula and beyond, so that Gods can feast once more on the fear of mortals.

However, with Casiopea's help (a splinter of his bone having lodged in her hand and drawn mortal blood), Hun-Kame is alive again in the form of an ageless but handsome man, and ready to take vengeance upon those who've betrayed him. And like it or not, he and Casiopea are bound together - his bone working its way into her hand, her mortal essence leaking into his Godhead - as they set out on a quest for justice.

As a votary myself, I do love stories of reciprocity between Gods and mortals. The Ancient Romans summed up the relationship as 'Do Ut Des' - 'I give so that you will give.' As the bond between the mortal girl and the immortal God begins to affect and change them both, and as Hun-Kame's quest for justice becomes more and more desperate, the question is faced - just how real is your love for your God, and theirs for you? And when the chips are down, just how much would you - or they - be prepared to give?

If you love tales of Gods and magic, then this is for you, and there's a glossary of Mayan terms at the back to help you on your journey. A rare five stars from me!



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