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. So, while women in other parts of the world cut their hair daringly short and danced the Charleston, Uukumil was the kind of place where Casiopea might be chided if she walked around town without her shawl wrapping her head.

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 Yucat n to the bright lights of Mexico City--and deep into the darkness of the Mayan underworld. Cirilo was a bitter man, with more poison in his shriveled body than was in the stinger of a white scorpion. Casiopea tended to him. She served his meals, ironed his clothes, and combed his sparse hair. When the old brute, who still had enough strength to beat her over the head with his cane when it pleased him, was not yelling for his grandchild to fetch him a glass of water or his slippers, her aunts and cousins were telling Casiopea to do the laundry, scrub the floors, and dust the living room.She says you are to go to the butcher. The silly codger demands a good cut of beef for supper. While you’re out, get me my cigarettes.” NEBULA AWARD FINALIST •NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR • Tordotcom• The New York Public Library • BookRiot A dark, dazzling fairy tale . . . a whirlwind tour of a 1920s Mexico vivid with jazz, the memories of revolution, and gods, demons, and magic.” —NPR The most enjoyable aspect of Gods of Jade and Shadow is the romance between Casiopea and Hun-Kamé. All the excitement and starry-eyed ardour of a first love affair is magnified ten-fold by the fact that the object of Casiopea’s affection is a literal god. Moreno-Garcia writes some rapturous scenes for the two of them, and although the ending of their courtship is somewhat preordained, it’s still a lot of fun to get swept up in the swoony, over-blown romanticism of it all.

An evocative and moving modern Indigenous fairy tale filled with quiet moments of vulnerability and honesty. Oh, my heart!” —Rebecca Roanhorse, Hugo and Nebula award winning author of the Sixth World series 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. In 1922 Governor Felipe Carrillo Puerto had said women could now vote, but by 1924 he’d faced a firing squad—­which is exactly what you’d expect to happen to governors who go around delivering speeches in Mayan and then don’t align themselves with the correct people in power—­and they’d revoked that privilege. Not that this ever mattered in Uukumil. It was 1927, but it might as well have been 1807. The revolution passed through it, yet it remained what it had been. A town with nothing of note, except for a modest sascab quarry; the white powder shoveled out was used for dirt roads. Oh, there had been a henequen plantation nearby once upon a time, but she knew little about it; her grandfather was no hacendado. His money, as far as Casiopea could tell, came from the buildings he owned in Mérida. He also muttered about gold, although that was likely more talk than anything else. Nevertheless, she dreams of a life far from her dusty small town in southern Mexico. A life she can call her own.A magical novel of duality, tradition, and change . . . Moreno-Garcia's seamless blend of mythology and history provides a ripe setting for Casiopea's stellar journey of self-discovery, which culminates in a dramatic denouement. Readers will gladly immerse themselves in Moreno-Garcia's rich and complex tale of desperate hopes and complicated relationships." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) The country was supposed to be secularist after the revolution, something that sounded fine when it was printed as a decree, but was harder to enforce once push came to shove. Cristero rebellions bubbled down the center of Mexico whenever the government tried to restrict religious activity. That February in Jalisco and Guanjuato all priests had been detained for inciting people to rise against the anti-­Catholic measures promoted by the president. Yet Yucatán was tolerant of the Cristeros, and it had not flamed up like other states. Yucatán had always been a world apart, an island, even if the atlas assured Casiopea she lived on a verdant peninsula. No wonder in lazy Uukumil everyone held to the old ways. No wonder, either, that their priest grew more overzealous, intent on preserving morality and the Catholic faith. He eyed every woman in town with suspicion. Each diminutive infraction to decency and virtue was catalogued. Women were meant to bear the brunt of inquiries because they descended from Eve, who had been weak and sinned, eating from the juicy, forbidden apple. In the meantime, Casiopea lived in Cirilo’s house. She rose early and committed to her chores, tight-­lipped, like a soldier on a campaign.

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. 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. Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a Canadian author, who was born and raised in Mexico. Her debut novel, Signal to Noise, won the 2016 Copper Cylinder Award, which recognizes works of speculative fiction. 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.

Amidst all this mystical mayhem, there is a very human story grounding Gods of Jade and Shadow; one of first love, fraternal discord, and a young woman’s desire to escape the confines of home. Moreno-Garcia does well to always keep the realistic side of her novel as – or more – interesting than the otherworldly. The evolving relationship between Casiopea and Martín is well-drawn and believable, mirrored to great effect in the relationship between Hun-Kamé and Vacub-Kamé. It is to the author’s credit that she refuses to villainise the ostensible villains, focusing instead on the emotional reasons why they have ended up in their malevolent state. The Mayan god of death sends a young woman on a harrowing, life-changing journey in this dark,one-of-a-kindfairy tale inspired by Mexican folklore. She longs to escape, and gets her chance one day upon finding a heap of bones inside an old discarded chest. Before her very eyes, those bones become Hun-Kamé, the Mayan god of death. With one of his bones embedded in her skin, Casiopea and Hun-Kaméare magically bound together, so he takes her along on a dangerous quest to enact revenge on his treacherous brother, Vacub-Kamé. The journey will change them both, forever.