I’ll also credit Moreno-Garcia with not having her characters make predictably stupid choices to prolong the plot. Another twist from the Cinderella story of the heroine being pulled out of a disastrous home life by a charming god, is that the god’s success or failure depends entirely on her choices, so she is anything but a passive player in the unfolding events. The use of Aztec mythology is refreshing when so many other mythologies have been thoroughly explored in pop culture, and provides a framework wherein direct conflict between the gods isn’t possible, limiting them to acting through proxies. Gods of Jade and Shadow combines elements of European fairy tales with a New World twist. It is merely a play of light and shadow, an illusion.” “I’ve seen you turn stones into coins,” she reminded him. “You could spin a few jewels out of rocks,” she said. “My ally, dear lady,” he replied, sipping his coffee slowly, as if he was still reluctant to taste earthly dishes. Besides, I won’t be carrying it, you will,” he said airily.Ĭasiopea pointed at him with the butter knife. “It’s not an offering, it’s a gesture of goodwill. “I thought gods did not make any offerings.” If we are to see Xtabay tonight we cannot head there empty-handed.” “What would you need from there?” she asked, dipping the bolillo in her coffee. Hun-Kamé wanted to go to a jewelry store, which Casiopea thought odd. Hun-Kamé and Casiopea discussed their schedule for the day, eating by the open window. Where the inspiration comes from: Central AmericaĪ servant girl has to help a god reclaim his throne in 1920’s Mexico. Gods of Jade and Shadow, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia Plot-wise, the pacing is a bit uneven and you may see some twists coming (though in fairness even knowing they were coming it was difficult to see how they were going to resolve), and there are a lot of subplots that take a while to resolve into the narrative, but if you have the patience for a slow chapter or two, there’s a lot that is worth unpacking here, and if you like what you see, there are other stories set in this universe as well. The mix of steampunk, Middle Eastern culture, and magic provides for an interesting setting. If you’re tired of conventional story settings, I’d recommend this novel set in Clark’s ‘Dead Djinn’ (named for events in a few novellas set prior) universe. How are you with that?” She jerked her chin at Hadia’s pistol. “When there’s a strange, unknown disturbance centered around the one place meant to investigate strange, unknown disturbances-yeah, I think it might be that bad. The service revolver was standard Ministry issue, nothing fancy: silver plated, a thin long barrel, and a six-shot cylinder. “You think it’s that bad?”įatma checked her own pistol. Hadia’s dark brown eyes showed alarm, but she nodded, pressing at a place beneath her coat. They merged with the churning cloud as if eager to join a dance, growing thicker by the moment. Looking to the sky, Fatma made out veins of blowing sand, all streaking toward the Ministry building. “No wonder we couldn’t tell the storm’s direction,” Hadia said. It was the Ministry! Only shrouded in a thick yellow haze that swirled about the building. She squinted harder, tracing the shape’s rectangular outline. When a secret society ends up slaughtered by a master magician, Ministry agent Fatima has to find the culprit while discovering that a bunch of dead cultists will be the least of her problems.įatma squinted to where the woman indicated-a dark shape in the distance. In 1910’s Cairo the Egyptian Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments, and Supernatural Entities was established to deal with issues arising from the return of magic and djinn 40 years ago. Where the inspiration comes from: the Middle East So with that in mind, here are a few novels that don’t feature dwarves, knights, or castles. Over the last decade or so the market has begun to noticeably diversify with new authors proving that there is a market for fantasy that draws on other locations for inspiration. Tolkien’s Lord of The Rings trilogy demonstrated that there was a commercially viable market for fantasy novels, the vast majority of them have followed the template that Tolkien set, using settings and creatures inspired by European mythology. This column’s theme: World fantasy – novels featuring creatures that definitely do not have EU passports. These aren’t necessarily the latest releases, but are hopefully books you can’t believe you missed. Welcome to Shelf Care, where I review three books related by a theme.
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