Review: Gods of Jade and Shadow
Y'all ever get an urge to just binge read an author with multiple novels in a single month? Because the urge to binge Schwab or Tahereh Mafi is so real right now I can't even begin to describe. But there's like a wholeass tbr that I can't even ignore for the life of me. Sadge.
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.
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.
QUICK THOUGHTS AND REVIEW: 4.3/5, I REALLY HOPED HUN-KAME AND CASIOPEA WOULD END UP TOGETHER THOUGH.
Possible Trigger Tags:
1. Physical abuse
2. Emotional abuse
3. Sexism
4. Gaslighting
5. Bullying
6. Domestic abuse
WHAT DID I FEEL ABOUT THE BOOK'S:
1. Writing Quality: It's been a long while since I actually read a good book with third person narration. To be honest, third person narration often becomes boring and hard to follow and I often get distracted to be honest when it comes down to it. But I like the narration here, it's kind of like the story is being told and I can feel it, rather than just simply read it. It does have that magical sensation/ vibe that you can get while reading. I don't know if it's just me though, but I felt something from it. Not a lot of adult stories have the third person narration feature though so it's a bit better for me.
2. Worldbuilding: The story is based on Mayan civilization and mythology and is based in modern day Mexico if I'm not wrong. To be honest, the only book I'd read about Mayan civilization was "Caribbean", that too when I was in like 9th grade. So like almost four years ago. I really don't even have much memory of it to be able to relate to it or think like "ah, so that's what it's about". But I did read the glossary at the end and it did make sense in a lot of ways throughout the story, so now I'm a bit wiser when it comes to Mayan culture lmao.
3. Character Development: Characters were surprisingly well developed as they went from stereotypical to individualistic.
Hun Kame: He gave me immense Ushijima vibes. Like seriously. The beginning, he seemed so eerily similar to Wakatoshi I was like waiting for him to say "You should have come to Shiratorizawa". Like I love Wakatoshi and he's a really aweome player but good lord, the eerie similarity in their behaviour was something. It got much better when he was actually becoming more and more mortal and falling for Casiopea because at least he showed something of a personality there. I just quite literally got the impression that he kind of looked like Kocoum [from the movie Pocahontas]
Y'all can't convince me Pocahontas left this hottie for John Smith.
Casiopea: I really like her character personality wise? But it seems a bit stereotypical to me, her circumstances. Girl in the family, forced to do all the work because her mother ran away earlier and is not put on the same pedestal as the other cousins. Bullied by the eldest cousin or the cousin whom the family basically coddles. Yeah, heard that story before like loads of times. I'm not negating her though. I love her rebellious streak and the fact that she cried after cutting off her hair was also so relatable. Man I'd be hysterical if I had to cut off my hair like that and refuse to move from my place. Plus the kindness that she shows Martin though, man I would have just slit his throat if I had the chance.
Loray kind of strikes me as sus. He did have some potential as a possible love interest that could have played a major role but oh well. The last chapter kinda is sus, like will Loray and Casiopea fall for one another?
4. Couldn't put it down- Ness: 8/10, the story's pretty good.
5. Plot: I was quite intrigued by the plot because first of all, Mayan civilization which, even though mysterious, is not something that I have ever ended up seeing in Literature or in movies. [Hollywood, if you're reading this, you know what to do]. But yeah, the plot's pretty interesting and the symbolism is pretty great too. Though I do kind of feel like more backstory between Hun Kame and Vucub Kame would have looked so much better. Like really better. But eh.
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