Gods of Jade and Shadow

 Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, 338 pages.

Gods of Jade and Shadow opens almost like a Cinderella story, with Cassiopeia Tun living as a servant in her wealthy grandfather's house. The inciting incident occurs when Cassiopeia opens the mysterious locked chest in her grandfather's room and releases a Mayan death god into the world. If she helps him recover the pieces of himself that his treacherous brother stole she will be rewarded with whatever she desires. But they are on a time clock, the god drains her life force to remain alive, gradually turning himself more human and her more dead. Cue a magical road trip through Jazz Age Mexico and the Southern United States, all centered on the concepts of love, justice, and family. 

This was a very fun book, and I really liked Cassiopeia in particular. The tone of it very much reminded me of a more mature Percy Jackson series, which is definitely something I can get behind. I was a little disappointed that this book didn't seem particularly interested in exploring it's Jazz Age setting beyond being a way to explore Cassiopeia's newfound freedom, but I found all of the locations very interesting, and it was definitely neat to read a book set in historical Mexico. I was also pleasantly surprised that many of my predictions about where the book was going did not come true, it made reading the novel more exciting as I kept having to adjust my expectations about its trajectory. I'm looking forward to hearing other people's takes during the Orcs & Aliens book club tomorrow!