Athena, Holding Your Hair, Whispering In Your Ear

For me a few are enough, one is enough, none is enough. This is not for the many, but for you. We are audience enough for each other.

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This book follows a young woman trapped in her grandfather's house in the Yucatan in the early 20th century, who inadvertently liberates an imprisoned Mayan death god and then embarks on a series of adventures.

I was initially concerned because in the early chapters the book seemed a little derivative. Specifically, I was getting a very Gaiman-esque vibe--mythological creatures wandering around mixing with mortals in the modern era--with the main distinguishing feature being that this book focused on the Yucatan and Mayan mythology (i.e. I was worried I'd picked up Latin American Gods).

Thankfully, the book went in a very different direction and impressed me with its genuineness and originality. By the end, the closest touchstone I could think of was Zelazny, because he perfected the modern "temporarily embarrassed god trying to regain his powers" story, which is a big part of this book's plot.¹ But even in that respect, Moreno-Garcia put a pleasant twist on the formula by organically shifting the focus and (some of) the agency away from the divine and towards the human.

The writing is generally strong, with occasional but strategic use of traditional rhetorical techniques (e.g. imparting different shades of meaning to a phrase through repetition in different contexts). Her characters are well-developed with organic motivations, and feel convincingly human (even her gods, when she means them to). She also has a fine feel for the frightful, and the book dips over (refreshingly) into nicely-turned light horror at intervals. There are also subtler notes that are harder to describe. For example, there's a gently growing dissonance between the reader's view of the novel's world (which expands over the course of the book), and the feelings that world inspires (which are increasingly claustrophobic). It's a literary effect that's hard to accomplish, and is nicely done here.

The book isn't perfect, but it's a high-quality urban fantasy novel with strong mythological themes and well-drawn characters that rewards close attention. Recommended.