Reviews tagging 'Death'

Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

59 reviews

trollmila's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, and Blood

Moderate: Sexual violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Police brutality, Medical content, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Sexual harassment, Murder, Misogyny, Death of parent, and Drug abuse

Minor: Animal death, Confinement, Slavery, Trafficking, Animal cruelty, Classism, and Colonisation

carlyoc's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? Yes

5.0

In a world much like our own, vampires are real. There are revenants out of old European folk tales, necrosis also from Europe but more recently evolved who can enslave humans with their blood, and Tlāhuihpochtli out of Aztec legend who were once warrior priestesses of the Nahuatl god of war. In Mexico, tribes of vampires compete with human gangs to rule the local underworld. Mexico City is one of the few havens free of vampires thanks to the government's anti-vampire "sanitation" crews and the strong human gangs. Until a young vampire named Atl sneaks in, on the run from a necros named Nick. She befriends a young trash collector named Domingo but will he slow her down or be the key to her survival?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, and Gore

Minor: Sexual violence

The villain fantasizes about secually assaulting and torturing Atl but we don't get many pages or graphic description from his perspective

sophiamoonlight's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.0

An einigen Stellen hatte ich das Gefühl, dass die Autorin entweder nicht das ausdrücken konnte, was sie wollte, oder Dinge vergessen hatte anzupassen.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Sexual violence, Murder, Gun violence, Violence, Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Gore, and Death

jodierose14's review

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Police brutality, Death, Misogyny, and Blood

ramreadsagain's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Certain Dark Things is an original and diverse take on vampires where various 'subspecies' exist around the globe, integrated to a greater or lesser extent into human society. Mexico City is a 'vampire-free zone' but our main character Domingo is about to discover just how incorrect that is.

What I liked:

• The cover!! Considering trying to find it as a print.
• The vibes, they do a great job of matching the cover. I love vampires and really liked the lore that is introduced in this book. Plus, the gritty, 'noir' atmosphere that makes Mexico City feel both futuristic and modern. 
• The world-building; a lot of thought has been put into vampire traits and history, as well as the state of Mexico City. It did feel a bit surface-level at times, but it isn't a big book and I am perfectly happy with what is there. 
• The Aztec inspirations, mythology and history were great to read.
• The plot, to an extent: it was fun and readable! 
• The commentary of colonialism under a vampire lense.
• The dog!!

What I didn't like:

• The tone: this is an adult book, but to me reads quite YA with a lot of gore. The dialogue felt immature most of the time, the sex was fade to black, and overall nothing had the kind of nuance I would expect from a book directed at adult audiences.  However, this is one of Moreno-Garcia's first books! I'm very excited to read more from her. 
• Furthermore, this is classed under the 'horror' genre and I think I disagree with that. Vampires don't always equal horror, and this is gorey but I don't really get any other horror traits from it. 
• I feel like Domingo should have been aged up at least a year to 18. He's 17 and I believe Atl is 22 or 23, which paired with the power imbalance of her being a vampire that could kill him in a heartbeat, made the romance just a bit icky. 
• The development of the above romance. It felt like Atl switched from 'absolutely not' to 'i love him' within a couple of paragraphs and I would have liked either more buildup or a smoother transition. 
• I didn't really connect with any of the characters. We had five POVs, and three of those were always very brief which didn't allow for any connection to them while also taking time away from Domingo and Atl. Ana was great until she just wasn't, for plot reasons, and I think Rodrigo's internal POV/motivations were unnecessary. 

I also just really don't know how I feel about the ending!! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Violence, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death of parent, Death, and Vomit

Minor: Animal death and Colonisation

maresuju's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Grief, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Death of parent, and Death

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Kidnapping, Rape, and Trafficking

achay91's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Stalking, Gore, Death, Cursing, Violence, Gun violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcohol and Sexual content

Minor: Drug use and Confinement

bee87's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I initially dnf the paperback version but gave the audiobook a try and I’m so happy I did. The narrator was able to bring life into characters I had a hard time connecting with. The story is a captivating experience and it’s hard to describe without spoiling. I will say that I’m hoping for a sequel. My heart needs it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Drug abuse, Drug use, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Death, Bullying, and Grief

bluejay21's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Gore, and Medical content

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Colonisation, Gun violence, and Death

sophmcgraw's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, Gun violence, Death of parent, and Death

Moderate: Sexual content, Blood, Cursing, and Medical content

Minor: Animal cruelty