WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.580 So I want you to picture the jazz age. Right. 00:00:04.679 --> 00:00:07.700 Flappers, speakeasies. Yeah, exactly. The 1920s. 00:00:07.799 --> 00:00:11.339 But I want you to forget the whole great Gatsby 00:00:11.339 --> 00:00:13.820 Long Island mansion thing for a second. We are 00:00:13.820 --> 00:00:17.910 heading south. To Mexico. Post -revolution Mexico. 00:00:18.129 --> 00:00:20.670 Right. It's a country that is, you know, really 00:00:20.670 --> 00:00:22.969 trying to figure out what it wants to be. So 00:00:22.969 --> 00:00:25.010 there's this incredible tension between the new 00:00:25.010 --> 00:00:27.829 world, like Ford automobiles, bobbed haircuts, 00:00:28.010 --> 00:00:30.649 American jazz, and the old world. And when you 00:00:30.649 --> 00:00:33.270 say old, we aren't talking about, like, conservative 00:00:33.270 --> 00:00:35.750 politicians. No, no, I don't mean grandfathers 00:00:35.750 --> 00:00:38.310 in rocking chairs. I mean ancient. Deeply ancient. 00:00:38.509 --> 00:00:41.130 We are talking about the deep mythological roots 00:00:41.130 --> 00:00:43.869 of the Maya. It's this setting where the shadows 00:00:43.869 --> 00:00:46.109 in the corner of a modern, brightly lit dance 00:00:46.109 --> 00:00:48.770 hall might actually be demons. Demons just literally 00:00:48.770 --> 00:00:51.469 waiting for a blood sacrifice. And that is the 00:00:51.469 --> 00:00:53.270 friction at the very heart of the book we are 00:00:53.270 --> 00:00:56.189 covering in today's deep dive. Silvia Moreno 00:00:56.189 --> 00:00:59.310 -Garcia's historical fantasy novel, Gods of Jade 00:00:59.310 --> 00:01:01.979 and Shadow. It's such a brilliant concept. It 00:01:01.979 --> 00:01:05.400 really is. We have gone through a massive stack 00:01:05.400 --> 00:01:07.640 of materials for this one. We've got reviews 00:01:07.640 --> 00:01:10.379 from Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Strange 00:01:10.379 --> 00:01:13.760 Horizons, plus a ton of background on the book's 00:01:13.760 --> 00:01:16.680 critical reception and themes. Because we want 00:01:16.680 --> 00:01:19.959 to really unpack why this specific story struck 00:01:19.959 --> 00:01:22.439 such a chord. Right. What is our mission here? 00:01:22.640 --> 00:01:25.109 Well... Looking at all these sources, it becomes 00:01:25.109 --> 00:01:27.310 clear pretty quickly that this isn't just a standard 00:01:27.310 --> 00:01:30.370 fantasy adventure. This is a very specific kind 00:01:30.370 --> 00:01:33.349 of hero tale. The hero tale about duality. Yeah. 00:01:33.549 --> 00:01:36.430 Tradition versus change. And crucially, it's 00:01:36.430 --> 00:01:39.129 about a young woman engaging with literal gods 00:01:39.129 --> 00:01:41.989 entirely on her own terms. Which I love. I mean, 00:01:42.010 --> 00:01:44.090 the whole pitch is essentially a parasitic road 00:01:44.090 --> 00:01:46.810 trip with a Mayan death god, which is just the 00:01:46.810 --> 00:01:49.849 coolest tone setter. It absolutely is. But the 00:01:49.849 --> 00:01:52.469 magic system in the setting, this post -revolution 00:01:52.469 --> 00:01:56.549 deck. So let's get into the setup, because before 00:01:56.549 --> 00:01:58.349 we get to Death Gods, we start with something 00:01:58.349 --> 00:02:00.989 that feels very familiar. A Cinderella story. 00:02:01.290 --> 00:02:03.870 Right, but firmly planted in the Jazz Age. Meet 00:02:03.870 --> 00:02:07.370 our protagonist, Cassiopeia Tun. She is 18, she 00:02:07.370 --> 00:02:10.030 lives in this dusty Yucatan town called Ukumil, 00:02:10.150 --> 00:02:14.090 and she is the classic poor relation. It is a 00:02:14.090 --> 00:02:16.610 Cinderella setup, but stripped of all the Disney 00:02:16.610 --> 00:02:19.479 gloss. I mean... She lives in her wealthy grandfather's 00:02:19.479 --> 00:02:21.900 house, but she's treated like the lowest servant. 00:02:22.039 --> 00:02:25.080 Scrubbing floors, running errands. Exactly. She 00:02:25.080 --> 00:02:26.780 doesn't have a wicked stepmother, but she does 00:02:26.780 --> 00:02:29.620 have this grandfather who basically represents 00:02:29.620 --> 00:02:32.259 the crushing weight of old -fashioned patriarchy. 00:02:33.599 --> 00:02:36.560 There is her cousin. Cousin Martin. Martin is 00:02:36.560 --> 00:02:39.460 just the worst. He really is. The sources talk 00:02:39.460 --> 00:02:41.759 about him not just as a bully, but as the enforcer 00:02:41.759 --> 00:02:44.219 of the status quo. He is the one actively making 00:02:44.219 --> 00:02:46.680 sure Cassiopeia knows her place. Which is beneath 00:02:46.680 --> 00:02:49.680 everyone else. He is spoiled. He's bitter. And 00:02:49.680 --> 00:02:52.599 he is entirely invested in maintaining the power 00:02:52.599 --> 00:02:54.800 structure of that house because that structure 00:02:54.800 --> 00:02:57.500 benefits him. Right. While Cassiopeia is just 00:02:57.500 --> 00:02:59.460 dreaming of escape. And what's fascinating is 00:02:59.460 --> 00:03:01.460 she doesn't dream of a prince coming to save 00:03:01.460 --> 00:03:04.620 her. She dreams of a car. Yes. She wants to learn 00:03:04.620 --> 00:03:06.500 how to drive so she can just drive away from 00:03:06.500 --> 00:03:09.840 all of this. That desire for mobility is so key 00:03:09.840 --> 00:03:12.960 to her character. In the 1920s, a woman driving 00:03:12.960 --> 00:03:15.159 a car was a massive statement of independence. 00:03:15.520 --> 00:03:18.219 Huge statement. And that desperation to escape 00:03:18.219 --> 00:03:20.580 is what actually leads her into her grandfather's 00:03:20.580 --> 00:03:23.349 room and to the forbidden chest. the classic 00:03:23.349 --> 00:03:26.409 pandora's box inciting incident she sneaks in 00:03:26.409 --> 00:03:28.830 she opens this heavy chest expecting to find 00:03:28.830 --> 00:03:31.490 gold or money something to fund her getaway and 00:03:31.490 --> 00:03:34.349 instead she finds bones just a pile of dusty 00:03:34.349 --> 00:03:37.469 old bones but this is where the mythology just 00:03:37.469 --> 00:03:40.110 violently crashes into her reality yeah because 00:03:40.110 --> 00:03:42.189 those aren't just any bones that belong to hunkamay 00:03:42.189 --> 00:03:45.509 the mayan god of death yes he was betrayed by 00:03:45.509 --> 00:03:48.669 his twin brother dismembered and locked in that 00:03:48.669 --> 00:03:51.800 chest in the mortal realm And when KCIP is digging 00:03:51.800 --> 00:03:54.699 through the chest, a tiny shard of bone pierces 00:03:54.699 --> 00:03:56.819 her thumb. And this is the mechanic that drives 00:03:56.819 --> 00:03:59.460 the entire plot. It isn't a rub the lamp, get 00:03:59.460 --> 00:04:01.860 a genie situation. Not at all. It is biological. 00:04:02.340 --> 00:04:05.439 Blood magic. The bone shard lodges in her flesh 00:04:05.439 --> 00:04:08.300 and acts as a conduit. It revives the god, but 00:04:08.300 --> 00:04:10.860 it binds them together. Reviewers really keyed 00:04:10.860 --> 00:04:13.180 in on this dynamic. They noted that the relationship 00:04:13.180 --> 00:04:16.129 is inherently parasitic. That's really the most 00:04:16.129 --> 00:04:18.949 accurate word for it. Because Han Kame is a god, 00:04:19.129 --> 00:04:21.790 but right now he is incredibly weak. Right. He 00:04:21.790 --> 00:04:24.029 needs to travel across Mexico to recover his 00:04:24.029 --> 00:04:27.209 missing body parts. An eye, a severed finger, 00:04:27.389 --> 00:04:30.750 his jade necklace. He needs these to regain his 00:04:30.750 --> 00:04:33.889 full power. But to fuel that journey, he is actively 00:04:33.889 --> 00:04:37.050 draining Cassiopeia's vitality. It is a forced 00:04:37.050 --> 00:04:40.050 transfusion. He is literally sucking the life 00:04:40.050 --> 00:04:42.889 force out of her to patch the holes in his own 00:04:42.889 --> 00:04:46.100 divinity. And the really wild flip side to this 00:04:46.100 --> 00:04:48.819 is that as he feeds on her human life force, 00:04:49.060 --> 00:04:51.720 he starts becoming human. Which introduces the 00:04:51.720 --> 00:04:53.819 ticking clock of the novel. As they journey, 00:04:54.000 --> 00:04:56.360 he gets more mortal. If he doesn't become a full 00:04:56.360 --> 00:04:58.139 god again soon, he will just become a regular 00:04:58.139 --> 00:05:00.519 man and die. But if he does become a god again, 00:05:00.579 --> 00:05:03.240 the bond between them violently breaks and Cassiopeia 00:05:03.240 --> 00:05:05.620 might die from the separation. Or if they just 00:05:05.620 --> 00:05:08.060 take too long on the road, she simply withers 00:05:08.060 --> 00:05:09.740 away to nothing because he's drained her completely. 00:05:10.019 --> 00:05:11.980 So the stakes could not be higher. They have 00:05:11.980 --> 00:05:14.699 to hit the road. And this is where the deep dive 00:05:14.699 --> 00:05:17.879 into the text gets really fun. Library Journal 00:05:17.879 --> 00:05:21.000 heavily praise the stellar world building here. 00:05:21.139 --> 00:05:23.120 You really feel it in the geography of the road 00:05:23.120 --> 00:05:25.540 trip. Yeah, they start down south in the Yucatan, 00:05:25.620 --> 00:05:28.800 which the book depicts as very hot, very static, 00:05:28.899 --> 00:05:31.879 and steeped in this old jungle magic. But then 00:05:31.879 --> 00:05:34.360 they start moving north. And the geography perfectly 00:05:34.360 --> 00:05:36.959 mirrors the theme of the book. Moving from the 00:05:36.959 --> 00:05:39.779 ancient south toward the modernized north, they 00:05:39.779 --> 00:05:42.779 hit Veracruz first. This bustling, humid port 00:05:42.779 --> 00:05:45.939 city. Exactly. And that is where the jazz enters 00:05:45.939 --> 00:05:49.160 the story. You have this ancient death god. who 00:05:49.160 --> 00:05:52.100 is entirely used to silence and absolute reverence, 00:05:52.139 --> 00:05:54.560 suddenly thrown into the noise and chaos of the 00:05:54.560 --> 00:05:56.959 Jazz Age. There is this great dynamic that forms. 00:05:57.000 --> 00:05:59.579 They're on trains, they're in cities, and Cassiopeia 00:05:59.579 --> 00:06:01.879 is trying to explain modern life to a god who 00:06:01.879 --> 00:06:03.899 has literally been in a box for half a century. 00:06:04.120 --> 00:06:06.500 It brilliantly highlights how much the world 00:06:06.500 --> 00:06:09.660 has moved on without him. He is immensely powerful, 00:06:09.899 --> 00:06:13.120 but he is completely anachronistic. And Cassiopeia 00:06:13.120 --> 00:06:15.800 becomes his guide. She isn't just a battery for 00:06:15.800 --> 00:06:18.279 him to train. She has to translate the modern 00:06:18.279 --> 00:06:20.420 world for him. She teaches him how to dress in 00:06:20.420 --> 00:06:23.220 a modern suit, how to act in public, how to navigate 00:06:23.220 --> 00:06:25.639 a society that no longer builds pyramids for 00:06:25.639 --> 00:06:28.300 him. Then they move to Mexico City and the scale 00:06:28.300 --> 00:06:30.879 just blows up again. It's huge. It's electric. 00:06:31.079 --> 00:06:33.639 It's totally indifferent to the old gods. And 00:06:33.639 --> 00:06:36.610 meanwhile, underneath all this travel. A romance 00:06:36.610 --> 00:06:39.629 is building between them. But it's a deeply weird 00:06:39.629 --> 00:06:42.170 romance. Very weird. Because it's born out of 00:06:42.170 --> 00:06:45.329 forced proximity and the shared blood wink, but 00:06:45.329 --> 00:06:48.189 also out of a very real growing understanding. 00:06:48.509 --> 00:06:52.529 She sees the vulnerable mortal man inside the 00:06:52.529 --> 00:06:55.430 death god. And he sees the absolute queen inside 00:06:55.430 --> 00:06:58.000 the abused servant girl. Right. But we can't 00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:00.319 forget the steaks. While they're having this 00:07:00.319 --> 00:07:03.180 magical romantic road trip, there is a major 00:07:03.180 --> 00:07:05.740 antagonist actively working against them, Vukup 00:07:05.740 --> 00:07:08.420 Kame. The twin brother. The one who chopped Han 00:07:08.420 --> 00:07:10.160 Kame up and locked him in the box to begin with. 00:07:10.300 --> 00:07:12.680 Now, typically in these kinds of fantasy stories, 00:07:12.740 --> 00:07:15.420 the evil twin is just, you know, power hungry. 00:07:15.639 --> 00:07:18.300 He just wants the throne. But Vukup Kame actually 00:07:18.300 --> 00:07:21.100 has a political philosophy, doesn't he? He absolutely 00:07:21.100 --> 00:07:23.699 does. He currently rules Shabalba, the underworld. 00:07:24.469 --> 00:07:26.889 And he looks at the modernization of the mortal 00:07:26.889 --> 00:07:29.910 world above as a direct threat to his existence. 00:07:30.170 --> 00:07:32.290 Because people are forgetting the old ways. Exactly. 00:07:32.490 --> 00:07:34.689 He believes that without the old ways, without 00:07:34.689 --> 00:07:37.230 the literal blood sacrifices and the terror of 00:07:37.230 --> 00:07:39.769 the dark, the entire cosmic order is going to 00:07:39.769 --> 00:07:43.089 collapse. He wants to bring back the era of awe 00:07:43.089 --> 00:07:46.269 and terror. So in a way, he is a fundamentalist. 00:07:46.310 --> 00:07:48.410 He basically wants to make Shabalba great again. 00:07:48.649 --> 00:07:51.730 That is a very apt way to put it. He views Hong 00:07:51.730 --> 00:07:54.639 Kamei as dangerous. Not just because of a sibling 00:07:54.639 --> 00:07:57.600 rivalry, but because Hunkame is ultimately willing 00:07:57.600 --> 00:08:00.019 to let the past fade. Which Vukubkame cannot 00:08:00.019 --> 00:08:02.720 accept. Right. Vukubkame wants to force the world 00:08:02.720 --> 00:08:05.579 back into its old bloody mold. And to execute 00:08:05.579 --> 00:08:08.319 this plan on the mortal plane, he recruits a 00:08:08.319 --> 00:08:10.420 champion of his own. Cousin Martin. Of course 00:08:10.420 --> 00:08:12.279 it had to be Martin. It makes perfect narrative 00:08:12.279 --> 00:08:15.639 sense. Just as Cassiopeia is bound to Han Kamei 00:08:15.639 --> 00:08:19.120 by blood and circumstance, Martin willingly binds 00:08:19.120 --> 00:08:22.779 himself to Vukub Kamei. Because Vukub Kamei offers 00:08:22.779 --> 00:08:26.199 Martin exactly what he wants. Power, validation, 00:08:26.459 --> 00:08:29.079 and the sanctioned ability to dominate everyone 00:08:29.079 --> 00:08:31.920 around him. Martin essentially becomes the walking 00:08:31.920 --> 00:08:35.019 avatar of that toxic, oppressive tradition that 00:08:35.019 --> 00:08:37.019 Cassiopeia has been running from her whole life. 00:08:37.220 --> 00:08:39.360 So as the road trip pushes them further toward 00:08:39.360 --> 00:08:41.679 the border... They go to El Paso. They go down 00:08:41.679 --> 00:08:44.639 to Baja California. The conflict is escalating. 00:08:44.720 --> 00:08:47.200 But the final confrontation can't happen in a 00:08:47.200 --> 00:08:49.500 dusty border town. It has to happen in the underworld. 00:08:49.679 --> 00:08:51.879 They have to cross into Zabalba. And the entry 00:08:51.879 --> 00:08:54.100 point for this final showdown is the Black Road. 00:08:54.259 --> 00:08:56.120 Which is pulled straight from real mythology. 00:08:56.179 --> 00:08:59.100 Yes, drawn directly from the Popol Vuh, the sacred 00:08:59.100 --> 00:09:01.700 text of the Maya. The Black Road is a legendary 00:09:01.700 --> 00:09:04.320 trial. To decide once and for all who gets to 00:09:04.320 --> 00:09:06.779 rule the underworld, the elder gods decree a 00:09:06.779 --> 00:09:10.750 race. A race between the mortals. Exactly. Cassiopeia 00:09:10.750 --> 00:09:13.330 and Martin have to walk the Black Road all the 00:09:13.330 --> 00:09:15.669 way to the Jade Palace. Whoever gets there first 00:09:15.669 --> 00:09:18.309 wins the throne for their respective god. And 00:09:18.309 --> 00:09:21.889 if you lose? If you lose, you suffer cup call. 00:09:22.429 --> 00:09:25.570 Ritual beheading. Which is terrifying. And this 00:09:25.570 --> 00:09:28.389 race isn't just a sprint on a nice paved track. 00:09:28.490 --> 00:09:31.210 This is a psychological and physical torture 00:09:31.210 --> 00:09:34.409 chamber. Complete darkness, overwhelming fear, 00:09:34.570 --> 00:09:38.000 and populated by actual monsters. You mentioned 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:39.820 the Strange Horizons review earlier, and they 00:09:39.820 --> 00:09:41.519 made a great point about this section. What did 00:09:41.519 --> 00:09:43.500 they say? They pointed out how Moreno -Garcia 00:09:43.500 --> 00:09:46.759 uses these mythological elements not just as 00:09:46.759 --> 00:09:49.559 cool set dressing, but as deep psychological 00:09:49.559 --> 00:09:53.379 hurdles. For example, Cassiopeia has to face 00:09:53.379 --> 00:09:56.600 Kamazats. The giant bat god. Right, and she doesn't 00:09:56.600 --> 00:09:59.120 fight him with a magic sword. She has to outwit 00:09:59.120 --> 00:10:01.460 and out -endure him. And she's terrified. She 00:10:01.460 --> 00:10:04.039 is entirely mortal, and she is drastically weakened 00:10:04.039 --> 00:10:06.240 because of the parasitic bomb draining her, but 00:10:06.240 --> 00:10:08.639 she just keeps walking. The real tension here, 00:10:08.720 --> 00:10:11.080 the twist that makes the climax work, is that 00:10:11.080 --> 00:10:12.980 Martin is actually doing better than her. He 00:10:12.980 --> 00:10:15.440 is winning. He is much stronger physically, he 00:10:15.440 --> 00:10:18.139 hasn't been drained, and he is fueled by his 00:10:18.139 --> 00:10:20.539 own massive sense of entitlement. He reaches 00:10:20.539 --> 00:10:22.899 the Jade Palace first. And this is the moment 00:10:22.899 --> 00:10:25.980 where the traditional hero tale usually has the 00:10:25.980 --> 00:10:28.820 protagonist find some hidden reserve of adrenaline 00:10:28.820 --> 00:10:32.120 or a secret spell to sprint past the villain 00:10:32.120 --> 00:10:33.899 at the last second. But that doesn't happen. 00:10:34.039 --> 00:10:38.220 No. Cassiopeia is genuinely beaten. By the literal 00:10:38.220 --> 00:10:41.179 rules of the game set by the gods, she has lost. 00:10:41.580 --> 00:10:44.320 Martin is standing at the finish line. And this 00:10:44.320 --> 00:10:46.659 specific moment is why the critical reception 00:10:46.659 --> 00:10:49.059 for the book's ending was so universally strong. 00:10:49.610 --> 00:10:52.610 Because Cassiopeia realizes she cannot win by 00:10:52.610 --> 00:10:54.830 the gods' rules. The game is rigged against a 00:10:54.830 --> 00:10:57.470 mortal woman like her. So she completely refuses 00:10:57.470 --> 00:10:59.549 to play their game. Instead of throwing herself 00:10:59.549 --> 00:11:02.350 at Martin or begging the gods for mercy, she 00:11:02.350 --> 00:11:04.870 takes a knife and she slits her own throat. It 00:11:04.870 --> 00:11:07.970 is the ultimate stunning act of agency. She sacrifices 00:11:07.970 --> 00:11:10.350 herself. Because in the mythology of this world, 00:11:10.549 --> 00:11:13.610 a willing sacrifice of royal blood, which she 00:11:13.610 --> 00:11:16.309 actually possesses through her family line, is 00:11:16.309 --> 00:11:18.789 the single most powerful magical act in the universe. 00:11:19.340 --> 00:11:22.299 So by dying, she isn't admitting defeat. Not 00:11:22.299 --> 00:11:24.940 at all. She is invoking a much higher, older 00:11:24.940 --> 00:11:27.480 law. She essentially short -circuits the entire 00:11:27.480 --> 00:11:30.740 contest. Her sacrifice provides Honkamei with 00:11:30.740 --> 00:11:33.860 this massive ultimate power boost, but it also 00:11:33.860 --> 00:11:37.159 deeply shames the Elder Gods watching. It forces 00:11:37.159 --> 00:11:40.120 a massive stalemate, which morphs into a victory 00:11:40.120 --> 00:11:42.899 that mere speed couldn't ever achieve. It's so 00:11:42.899 --> 00:11:46.139 shocking to read because it feels entirely final. 00:11:46.730 --> 00:11:49.250 She dies. Her blood flows on the floor of the 00:11:49.250 --> 00:11:51.809 underworld, and she goes into the dark. But this 00:11:51.809 --> 00:11:53.830 is where the long character arc of Honka Mae 00:11:53.830 --> 00:11:56.450 finally pays off. You have to remember, he has 00:11:56.450 --> 00:11:58.210 been becoming more and more human throughout 00:11:58.210 --> 00:12:00.889 this entire road trip. Experiencing jazz, riding 00:12:00.889 --> 00:12:03.960 trains, falling in love. Right. The old, ancient 00:12:03.960 --> 00:12:06.139 Hankame might have just accepted the sacrifice, 00:12:06.460 --> 00:12:08.960 stepped over her body, and taken his throne with 00:12:08.960 --> 00:12:11.139 cold efficiency. But the Hankame who listened 00:12:11.139 --> 00:12:13.820 to Cassiopeia cannot accept that outcome. He 00:12:13.820 --> 00:12:16.059 has been fundamentally changed by her humanity. 00:12:16.360 --> 00:12:19.179 So he uses his fully restored god -tier power 00:12:19.179 --> 00:12:22.659 not to conquer, but to heal. He brings her back 00:12:22.659 --> 00:12:24.379 from the dead. And then he does something even 00:12:24.379 --> 00:12:26.899 more shocking for a death god. He turns to his 00:12:26.899 --> 00:12:30.100 brother, Mukabkame, the guy who mutilated him 00:12:30.100 --> 00:12:32.419 and locked him in a box for decades. And he forgives 00:12:32.419 --> 00:12:35.940 him. Yes. He forgives him. That is the ultimate 00:12:35.940 --> 00:12:38.980 breaking the cycle moment. It really is. The 00:12:38.980 --> 00:12:40.779 reviewers of The Guardian touched on this incredible 00:12:40.779 --> 00:12:43.980 blend of the real and the magical. But I really 00:12:43.980 --> 00:12:46.480 think the emotional realism is what lands the 00:12:46.480 --> 00:12:49.080 hardest here. Because he chooses mercy over vengeance. 00:12:49.340 --> 00:12:52.100 He exiles his brother rather than killing him. 00:12:52.159 --> 00:12:55.419 He officially ends the ancient blood feud. Which 00:12:55.419 --> 00:12:58.860 is a very modern solution to a very ancient problem. 00:12:59.120 --> 00:13:02.159 So the good guy wins the throne. The bad guy 00:13:02.159 --> 00:13:04.899 is ousted. The girl is brought back to life. 00:13:05.100 --> 00:13:07.740 Now, as a reader, you're thinking, okay, here 00:13:07.740 --> 00:13:10.600 comes the grand romance resolution. Surely, after 00:13:10.600 --> 00:13:13.200 literally dying for him, she stays and becomes 00:13:13.200 --> 00:13:15.279 the queen of the underworld. Right, the classic 00:13:15.279 --> 00:13:17.539 Hades and Persephone trope. You would completely 00:13:17.539 --> 00:13:21.000 expect that. But Moreno Garcia rejects that trope 00:13:21.000 --> 00:13:23.799 entirely. Which is so refreshing. Because Cassiopeia 00:13:23.799 --> 00:13:26.740 inherently belongs to the mortal world. She cannot 00:13:26.740 --> 00:13:29.100 stay in the dark of Zabalbo without losing her 00:13:29.100 --> 00:13:31.820 humanity and herself. And Han Kamei cannot stay 00:13:31.820 --> 00:13:34.059 on Earth with her without losing his divinity 00:13:34.059 --> 00:13:36.360 and eventually dying. So they have to part ways. 00:13:36.879 --> 00:13:39.860 It's an incredibly bittersweet separation. He 00:13:39.860 --> 00:13:42.679 restores her to life. He ensures she is wealthy 00:13:42.679 --> 00:13:45.580 and safe. He actually leaves her the metaphorical 00:13:45.580 --> 00:13:47.980 keys to the grandfather's oppressive house. Right. 00:13:48.019 --> 00:13:50.860 He hands her the power she was denied. But she 00:13:50.860 --> 00:13:54.240 leaves. She walks away from the death god. And 00:13:54.240 --> 00:13:56.740 she doesn't go back to Ukumil to be the grandmistress 00:13:56.740 --> 00:13:58.980 of the house and rule over Martin either. No, 00:13:58.980 --> 00:14:02.340 she doesn't. And that is the critical final image 00:14:02.340 --> 00:14:05.500 of the entire book. She takes the money and she 00:14:05.500 --> 00:14:07.820 finally buys an automobile. She gets the car. 00:14:07.919 --> 00:14:09.919 She gets the car. She leaves the dusty town. 00:14:10.179 --> 00:14:13.080 She leaves her awful family. She leaves the god 00:14:13.080 --> 00:14:15.860 who loved her. She picks up a demon friend named 00:14:15.860 --> 00:14:18.320 Loray who helped them out earlier in the journey. 00:14:18.940 --> 00:14:21.679 And she just drives. That image of her behind 00:14:21.679 --> 00:14:23.639 the steering wheel just brings the whole thematic 00:14:23.639 --> 00:14:26.200 arc full circle. She started the book scrubbing 00:14:26.200 --> 00:14:28.860 floors, just wanting to learn to drive. It is 00:14:28.860 --> 00:14:31.700 the pure definition of freedom. Publishers Weekly 00:14:31.700 --> 00:14:34.279 called the prose lyrical. And I think that ending 00:14:34.279 --> 00:14:36.019 really feels like a lyrical song of independence. 00:14:36.539 --> 00:14:39.639 Because she isn't defined. by who she marries 00:14:39.639 --> 00:14:43.039 she isn't defined by which god she serves or 00:14:43.039 --> 00:14:45.759 which family she belongs to she is defined strictly 00:14:45.759 --> 00:14:48.299 by her ability to choose her own direction it's 00:14:48.299 --> 00:14:50.159 incredibly interesting to look at this book in 00:14:50.159 --> 00:14:52.480 the wider context of the fantasy genre right 00:14:52.480 --> 00:14:54.600 now you mentioned earlier that it was part of 00:14:54.600 --> 00:14:57.019 a wave of indigenous american themes yeah that 00:14:57.019 --> 00:14:58.940 was highlighted in the strange horizons piece 00:14:58.940 --> 00:15:01.779 for a very long time high fantasy was incredibly 00:15:01.779 --> 00:15:05.860 eurocentric Knights, stone castles, dragons roaming 00:15:05.860 --> 00:15:08.340 the damp English countryside. Tolkien model. 00:15:08.620 --> 00:15:11.480 Exactly. But books like Gods of Jade and Shadow, 00:15:11.740 --> 00:15:14.340 and works by other authors like Rebecca Roanhorse, 00:15:14.519 --> 00:15:17.320 are completely shifting that map. They are saying 00:15:17.320 --> 00:15:19.480 to the reader, the mythology of the Americas 00:15:19.480 --> 00:15:22.919 is just as rich, just as terrifying, and just 00:15:22.919 --> 00:15:25.559 as deeply epic as anything from Europe. And it 00:15:25.559 --> 00:15:27.639 completely changes the flavor of the magic you're 00:15:27.639 --> 00:15:30.279 reading about. It isn't wand waving in a boarding 00:15:30.279 --> 00:15:33.379 school. It is blood and bone and stars and ancient 00:15:33.379 --> 00:15:36.470 jungles. And it engages with real history so 00:15:36.470 --> 00:15:39.690 differently. The legacy of colonialism, the bloody 00:15:39.690 --> 00:15:42.169 aftermath of the Mexican Revolution, the harsh 00:15:42.169 --> 00:15:45.070 clash of cultures, it is all baked directly into 00:15:45.070 --> 00:15:47.409 the magic system. It makes the fantasy feel so 00:15:47.409 --> 00:15:50.210 much weightier because it's tethered to real 00:15:50.210 --> 00:15:52.330 historical trauma. But I think what's remarkable 00:15:52.330 --> 00:15:55.049 is that despite all that heavy weight, the trauma, 00:15:55.169 --> 00:15:57.710 the literal death gods, the ritual sacrifices. 00:15:58.799 --> 00:16:00.940 The story ultimately feels really optimistic. 00:16:01.240 --> 00:16:03.820 It absolutely is optimistic. Yeah. Because the 00:16:03.820 --> 00:16:06.519 core message asserts that you can survive history. 00:16:07.059 --> 00:16:09.639 Cassiopeia survives her abusive family. She survives 00:16:09.639 --> 00:16:12.580 the violent aftermath of the revolution. She 00:16:12.580 --> 00:16:14.960 survives the treacherous gods themselves. And 00:16:14.960 --> 00:16:17.440 she does it all without becoming bitter and twisted, 00:16:17.659 --> 00:16:19.700 like her cousin Martin. That's such an important 00:16:19.700 --> 00:16:22.200 point. Martin let the bitterness of his situation 00:16:22.200 --> 00:16:24.700 consume him, and it quite literally destroyed 00:16:24.700 --> 00:16:27.679 him on the Black Road. But Cassiopeia maintained 00:16:27.679 --> 00:16:30.220 her capacity for wonder. She kept her capacity 00:16:30.220 --> 00:16:32.440 for love, even when it literally broke her heart 00:16:32.440 --> 00:16:35.679 to leave Bunkeme. That emotional resilience is 00:16:35.679 --> 00:16:38.759 her actual superpower, not royal blood. Exactly. 00:16:38.820 --> 00:16:42.240 It really challenges the standard idea of what 00:16:42.240 --> 00:16:44.299 a power fantasy is supposed to be. Usually we 00:16:44.299 --> 00:16:46.759 think of a power fantasy as, you know, acquiring 00:16:46.759 --> 00:16:49.019 a magic sword and shooting lightning from your 00:16:49.019 --> 00:16:51.240 fingertips to destroy your enemies. But here, 00:16:51.379 --> 00:16:53.820 ultimate power is the ability to walk away from 00:16:53.820 --> 00:16:56.779 a god and say, I have my own mortal life to live. 00:16:57.149 --> 00:16:59.190 That is the ultimate victory. The gods will just 00:16:59.190 --> 00:17:01.470 continue their endless eternal cycles in the 00:17:01.470 --> 00:17:04.769 dark. But Cassiopeia gets to live a finite, linear 00:17:04.769 --> 00:17:07.390 life in the sun. She gets to grow. She gets to 00:17:07.390 --> 00:17:09.930 change. She gets to discover new things. She 00:17:09.930 --> 00:17:12.930 gets to experience the Jazz Age. So we have tracked 00:17:12.930 --> 00:17:15.660 this incredible journal today. From the dusty, 00:17:15.839 --> 00:17:17.880 oppressive floor of a mansion in the Yucatan, 00:17:18.140 --> 00:17:21.059 through the loud train stations of Veracruz, 00:17:21.140 --> 00:17:24.599 down the terrifying black road of Xibalba, and 00:17:24.599 --> 00:17:27.079 finally to a dusty highway stretching out toward 00:17:27.079 --> 00:17:29.279 the horizon. It's a journey that fundamentally 00:17:29.279 --> 00:17:32.000 redefines the fantasy map. It really does, and 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:33.619 it brings up a thought that I think is really 00:17:33.619 --> 00:17:36.259 worth chewing on for anyone listening. We so 00:17:36.259 --> 00:17:38.700 often frame our own lives as these epic battles 00:17:38.700 --> 00:17:41.309 between the past and the future. We do tend to 00:17:41.309 --> 00:17:43.789 think we have to either burn everything from 00:17:43.789 --> 00:17:46.829 the past down or preserve everything in amber 00:17:46.829 --> 00:17:49.849 and never change. Right. But Cassiopeia finds 00:17:49.849 --> 00:17:53.130 a third way. Which is? That maybe you don't actually 00:17:53.130 --> 00:17:55.549 have to resolve the battle between the ancient 00:17:55.549 --> 00:17:57.670 gods and the modern world. Oh, that's interesting. 00:17:57.829 --> 00:17:59.829 Maybe the bravest thing you can possibly do is 00:17:59.829 --> 00:18:02.710 acknowledge them both. politely tip your hat 00:18:02.710 --> 00:18:04.750 to the past and then just get in your car and 00:18:04.750 --> 00:18:07.190 drive somewhere they can't ever find you. I think 00:18:07.190 --> 00:18:09.670 that is the best definition of true freedom I've 00:18:09.670 --> 00:18:11.490 heard in a really long time. I think so too. 00:18:12.230 --> 00:18:14.650 And that is a wrap on our deep dive into Gods 00:18:14.650 --> 00:18:17.609 of Jade and Shadow. Thanks for listening. Until 00:18:17.609 --> 00:18:18.069 next time.