Gods of Jade and Shadow: A Mayan Historical Fantasy For Hispanic Heritage Month

I've been wanting to get to Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia because I'd seen good reviews of this Mayan historical fantasy from advance readers. I decided to read it now because it seemed perfect for Hispanic Heritage Month. While I was reading this book, I also saw the amazing movie Coco a second time at a public library event for Hispanic Heritage Month. Both Gods of Jade and Shadow and Coco deal with the Land of the Dead in a Mexican context though their perspectives are very different.  One major area of dis-similarity is that while Coco is a Disney children's movie that adults can also enjoy, Gods of Jade and Shadow definitely isn't for children.  It's been mis-shelved  by some readers as a YA or children's novel on Goodreads.  I saw that the author also commented about this issue on the book's Goodreads page.

                         

I think the beautiful cover rich in Mayan symbols was what first attracted me to this book.  I had no previous experience of  Silvia Moreno-Garcia's work, but this cover made her latest novel stand out for me.

I may be the only reviewer who wants to discuss the theological premise of  Gods of Jade and Shadow.  It's essentially the opposite of American Gods by Neil Gaiman in which  "everywhere around the world they're coming to America" to quote the lyrics of another Neil.   Gods from other continents are looking to take up residence in the United States in Gaiman's highly regarded urban fantasy.   In the world of Moreno-Garcia's book, Gods would never want to do that because their power comes from the land where they were born. The further they go from it, the more their power diminishes. Since we have very successful world religions, this premise doesn't seem at all likely to me.

Nevertheless, there are indigenous religions that appear to be really centered on the land of that particular people with rituals that must be performed at specific sacred sites.  The religion of my ancestors was once very much focused on the temple in Jerusalem. There is still tremendous reverence for that site in Judaism.  Yet  after the national traumas of the Babylonian Exile and the destruction of the temple by the Romans, Jews needed to find a way to practice their religion wherever they went.  Judaism can now be found world wide, but it does have roots in what is known as the Holy Land for three religions.  So I can see where Moreno-Garcia's theological premise comes from.  

I get the impression that Moreno-Garcia's books tend to be rather dark which is not my preference.  I am also aware that Meso-American mythology isn't exactly replete with sunny optimism.  So I expected Gods of Jade and Shadow to have a certain fascination for me, but didn't expect to love it as much as I did.

I wouldn't call this a sweet novel.  There's a romance without HEA which is a crime from the perspective of romance fans. Yet Casiopea Tun is such a great protagonist.   She has the true nobility of integrity.  She refuses to accept a dark future for humanity though fighting this evil comes at a high price. This is the sort of heroic fantasy that I find inspiring.  So many books are competing to be as noir as possible that it's more difficult than it once was to find protagonists that make you want to stand up and cheer. My feeling is that in our terrifying contemporary world, we need  heroes like Casiopea Tun more than ever.