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A review by penguin_emperor_of_the_north
Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
4.0
Gods of Jade and Shadow felt like a fairy tale travelogue. The story goes from scene to scene and place to place, punctuated by traveling scenes. From the Yucatan to Mexico City to El Paso to Tijuana. At each location, the two main characters hunt down one of Hun-Kame's missing body parts and encountering critters from (I presume) Mayan mythology.
The encounters themselves were a lot of what made this flee like a fairy tale. Like they aren't detailed battles like in some fantasy series but rather abrupt affairs that get resolved with a sort of fairy tale or poetic kind of logic. Except that time, that was kind of hardcore.
Unexpectedly, I think that Cas and Hun's relationship was my favorite part. They start out aloof and detached but grow closer on their travels and the final resolution was very good and felt very true to the story. I was all geared up to groan at the resolution but it was quite good.
Finally, the Mayan mythology aspect was cool. Bar one, I think everything in this book came from Mayan (maybe Yucatan or south Mexican?) folklore which lent a different feel. I'm a little delighted that fantasy drawing on non-Tolkienn roots is getting more popular.
One 'fun' part of the mythological aspect was in the description of the underworld. How the rich Mayans buried properly get to live in the City but the others are stuck floundering in the wilderness. It reminded me of Egyptian mummies and how that always made me wonder what would happen to the dead who weren't embalmed, without grave goods and without the proper rituals. Definitely lent a darker ambiance to the underworld.
The encounters themselves were a lot of what made this flee like a fairy tale. Like they aren't detailed battles like in some fantasy series but rather abrupt affairs that get resolved with a sort of fairy tale or poetic kind of logic. Except that time
Spoiler
when Cas stabbed a goat in the faceUnexpectedly, I think that Cas and Hun's relationship was my favorite part. They start out aloof and detached but grow closer on their travels and the final resolution was very good and felt very true to the story. I was all geared up to groan at the resolution but it was quite good.
Finally, the Mayan mythology aspect was cool. Bar one, I think everything in this book came from Mayan (maybe Yucatan or south Mexican?) folklore which lent a different feel. I'm a little delighted that fantasy drawing on non-Tolkienn roots is getting more popular.
One 'fun' part of the mythological aspect was in the description of the underworld. How the rich Mayans buried properly get to live in the City but the others are stuck floundering in the wilderness. It reminded me of Egyptian mummies and how that always made me wonder what would happen to the dead who weren't embalmed, without grave goods and without the proper rituals. Definitely lent a darker ambiance to the underworld.