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_fallinglight_'s review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, Animal death, Torture, Addiction, Blood, Death, Drug use, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Moderate: Fatphobia
Minor: Rape, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence
and_it_spoke's review
3.0
A great, fast read that provides a great spin on both the revenge tale and supernatural thriller, but ultimately leans too heavy on cliche. Not enough fleshing out of the supporting cast and a deus ex machina at the end keep this from being truly great... but you should definitely give it a read.
testpattern's review
5.0
This was one I had trouble setting aside for anything. It's a vivid, violent, and unforgettable ride.
Fernando is a small-time drug dealer, selling pills and weed from the door of a club on 6th Street in downtown Austin. He's undocumented, but has found a place for himself in the Austin underworld.
The novel opens just as some scary dudes have gotten the jump on Nando, and his night is not going to get any better. The story that follows is tightly plotted, with rich characterization and a perfect narrative voice. We get a sense of the extent of criminal enterprise in a changing Austin through economically sketched backstory, but the focus is on a handful of characters across three violent days. It's a short work, but it feels very complete.
There is a very well-handled occult subplot that avoids feeling gimmicky or self-consciously exotic, but still manages to make the stakes feel higher and the dangers more than simply physical. More Twin Peaks than Jim Butcher.
I highly recommend this one. Gabino Iglesias is one to watch.
Fernando is a small-time drug dealer, selling pills and weed from the door of a club on 6th Street in downtown Austin. He's undocumented, but has found a place for himself in the Austin underworld.
The novel opens just as some scary dudes have gotten the jump on Nando, and his night is not going to get any better. The story that follows is tightly plotted, with rich characterization and a perfect narrative voice. We get a sense of the extent of criminal enterprise in a changing Austin through economically sketched backstory, but the focus is on a handful of characters across three violent days. It's a short work, but it feels very complete.
There is a very well-handled occult subplot that avoids feeling gimmicky or self-consciously exotic, but still manages to make the stakes feel higher and the dangers more than simply physical. More Twin Peaks than Jim Butcher.
I highly recommend this one. Gabino Iglesias is one to watch.
returnofsaturn's review
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
stranger_sights's review
5.0
4.5 rounded up to 5 stars for Goodreads.
If you’ve ever read a book and thought to yourself, “I can’t imagine a more perfect story for me to have read in this moment,” then you will probably be able to relate to how I felt upon finishing this book.
You can read my full review at: https://mediadrome.wordpress.com/2020/10/28/zero-saints-by-gabino-iglesias/
If you’ve ever read a book and thought to yourself, “I can’t imagine a more perfect story for me to have read in this moment,” then you will probably be able to relate to how I felt upon finishing this book.
You can read my full review at: https://mediadrome.wordpress.com/2020/10/28/zero-saints-by-gabino-iglesias/
probably_reading_right_now's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
What an insane blood soaked ride with an ending to match! Even though the MC Fernando flees Mexico after pissing of the wrong people, he can’t help himself falling back into a line of work, dealing drugs, that has been lucrative for him, but he could be doing this at his own peril. There are no saints, but the demons he prays for protection from are very real in human form. Zero Saints is both brutal and bleak, with a tentative relief at the end. I couldn’t put down the end couple dozen pages of this book because how everything turned out was so crazy!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia
richardwells's review
3.0
Good, but not as good as Coyote Songs which is wilder, and more phantasmagorical. This one is a revenge novel, filled with all sorts of strangeness, and a lot more Spanish is the form of a novena to Santa Muerte. Good, quick read.
evavroslin's review
5.0
Interestingly, I read "Zero Saints" after "Coyote Songs," even though "Zero Saints" came first. It's a more conventional and linear narrative that involves a drug dealer, Fernando, who finds himself on the wrong side of a war with some pretty unsavoury folks. The intermingling of Spanish throughout this book is as wonderfully present and intertwined throughout the narrative as it is in "Coyote Songs."
Get to section 6 where he starts talking about what la Frontera does to people, and it's one of the most moving, crushing, difficult, memorable, and amazing pieces you will ever read.
As Gabino has himself described in interviews, and when talking about other crime and horror noir books, he is a master of showing why characters do bad things that are necessary. I probably mangled that description, but just know that Gabino's writing is some of the most unique and dynamic material out there. If you haven't already picked up his work, "Zero Saints" is a good place to start, but so is "Coyote Songs." The bottom line is: read his work. It's unforgettable.
Get to section 6 where he starts talking about what la Frontera does to people, and it's one of the most moving, crushing, difficult, memorable, and amazing pieces you will ever read.
As Gabino has himself described in interviews, and when talking about other crime and horror noir books, he is a master of showing why characters do bad things that are necessary. I probably mangled that description, but just know that Gabino's writing is some of the most unique and dynamic material out there. If you haven't already picked up his work, "Zero Saints" is a good place to start, but so is "Coyote Songs." The bottom line is: read his work. It's unforgettable.