Reviews

Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

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sweatpeameesh's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Certain Dark Things follows several characters in a neo-noir Mexico City, where vampires are well-known and forbidden. A teenage boy, Domingo, meets Atl, a vampire girl who needs help out of vampire-free city.

The city felt both bright and dark, the perfect setting for the story Moreno-Garcia was telling. Each character brought into the mix felt well-developed; everyone was their own person with motivations and worldviews you could understand. Even if you didn't agree and hated them. And, god, does Moreno-Garcia know how to write an arrogant, entitled white man!

That's not even going into the cool as hell vampire lore that I drank up. I loved how real it felt, with different subspecies of vampires with aspects of vampire legend embedded into them. I love how some of the history was explained, but not so much that it felt like it was dragging out and away from the story being told. The Tlāhuipochtin vampires, which Atl was part of, was so damn interesting with the hummingbird qualities and connection to Aztec history!

I also loved how not everything was clear-cut and easy. Morality was blurred and what a character wants may or may not pass for them. The ending made me both cry and feel content.

Looking at other peoples reviews, it seems that Certain Dark Things is either a love it or hate it sort of book for people and I'm definitely in the LOVE IT category. The worldbuilding, Domingo and Atl, the drama--I was so there for it all. I need this part of my collection immediately!

ourmelodyy's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This is the type of book the vampire literary world has been missing!

sadfishfella's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

lischell's review

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adventurous dark sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

ghost_reader20's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

janagaton's review

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3.0

Brilliantly written novel and narrated audiobook. The world building is so well done. There is so much information about the history, legends, and stereotypes of vampires sprinkled throughout this novel, and it was honestly fascinating. I also loved the characters' personalities. I just didn't really care for the overall plot itself and found myself getting bored at times, but the audiobook was nice to listen to, so I stuck it out to the end. This is the third Silvia Moreno-Garcia book I've read, and so far Mexican Gothic is still my favorite.