Gods of Jade and Shadow

 Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (2019) 340 pages

I really enjoyed this fairy tale adventure. It begins with some Cinderella vibes, but quickly veers onto its own path. The setting of 1920's Mexico was fun. Our heroine Casiopea Tun, who restores Mayan god of death Hun-Kamé to life, has the perfect blend of personality traits to take us along on a quest. Casiopea and Hun-Kamé are magically linked for the duration of the quest. She is gradually dying and he is gradually becoming more mortal. It feels natural that they slowly fall in love too. Hun-Kamé's brother dismembered him and stole his throne decades ago. The quest is to restore Hun-Kamé's missing body parts and a necklace, then recover his throne, so his brother doesn't return the world to the old ways of blood sacrifice as tribute to the gods. On the cross-country trek, Casiopea meets many magical beings known to Hun-Kamé. It reminded me of Gaiman's American Gods, the book or the TV show.

Inventing Hell: Dante, the Bible, and Eternal Torment / Jon M. Sweeney 192 pp.

I sure know how to pick 'em!  My reads are so popular the only image I can find is the attractive Amazon one.  Believe it or not, Hell is fast, interesting, and funny.  Sweeney tracks ideas of the afterlife throughout written history; in fact, the text almost functions as a survey of Western Civ Lite, beginning with the Greeks, Judaism at the time of Jesus, through the Church Fathers, Aquinas and the Enlightenment.  I like Sweeney's smart and skeptical voice.  He's clearly glad to see Hell's power over the modern imagination diminish; still, the Inferno was an exciting ride while it lasted.
P.S.  This is Kathleen's post, published while logged in as Natalie.  I am consigned to Hell's circle for Bad Bloggers.
P.S.S.  I found a better picture but decided the Amazon arrow looked appropriately 'tempting.'