History Literature / GodsOfJadeAndShadow

A 2019 historical fantasy by Creator/SilviaMorenoGarcia set in Mexico emerging from the Revolutionary Era to the Jazz era as a young woman and her mother move back to their hometown after her father's death and she dreams of escaping her life after becoming a servant.

!Tropes for the novel:
* AcheyScars: The PhysicalGod Vucub-Kame has raw, painful scars on his palms from wielding a [[{{Curse}} cursed]] ColdIron ax to [[CainAndAbel maim and usurp his older brother]] fifty years earlier.
* AmbitionIsEvil: Vucub-Kame mutilated and usurped his brother Hun-Kame as supreme rule of The Underworld in order to usher in a new era of mortal worship and widespread HumanSacrifice in his name.
--> '''Hum-Kame''': He desires power, more power than he's ever tasted, more than we were ever meant to have. Incense is not enough for him. He'll burn the land, the forests. swallow the smoke that rises from it.
* BlemishedBeauty: Hun-Kam is missing an eye, ear, and finder from his brother's betrayal, but is so divinely beautiful that Casiopea doesn't even notice his mutilations until he points them out, and repeatedly forgets about them later.
* GodOfTheDead: Hun-Kame was the supreme ruler of Xibalba, the Underworld of Myth/MayanMythology, before he was usurped and trapped on Earth by his younger brother Vucub-Kame, who now holds court in luxury among the shades of the dead. His most urgent goal is to restore his full power and reclaim his throne.
* HeroicSuicide: Casiopea cuts her own throat and dedicates her death to the dying PhysicalGod of TheUnderworld, whom she was representing in a contest that she was about to lose. The primal forces of the Underworld itself declare her the winner in respect for her sacrifice; the god is restored; and he brings her BackFromTheDead in gratitude.
* HotGod: Hun-Kame, the supreme god of TheUnderworld, is tall, black-haired, and beautiful in an ageless, utterly inhuman way. It's a sign that his powers are waning when he starts to look like an exceptionally beautiful young man instead.
* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: Martin likes being a scion of the wealthiest and most powerful family in his home village; avoids situations, like school, where he'd have to apply his mediocre abilities; and abused Casiopea for years out of fear and resentment that their grandfather respects her more than him. He has a crushing JerkassRealization when he's forced to confront the fact that she's in now way his inferior.

* AmbitionIsEvil: Vucub-Kame mutilated and usurped his brother Hun-Kame as supreme rule of The Underworld in order to usher in a new era of mortal worship and widespread HumanScarifice in his name.