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jhbandcats's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Each one of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s books is unique from the others so they’re always a surprise. This one centers around vampires in a futuristic Mexico City.
Vampires are fairly well-known and definitely undesirable. Sanitation departments around the world keep track of what vampires are doing, and vampires are hunted by both police and each other as various species fight amongst themselves. Particularly deadly and violent vampires escaping from Europe, having been banned, are taking over the gangs and cartels, ignoring the traditions that have kept vampires safe from humans in the past. Internecine battles are destroying the Mexican vampires descended from pre-Columbian times.
As a take on colonialism and its destruction of natives and their culture, it offers easily recognizable parallels without being didactic. I found the first half of the novel slow and I wasn’t invested in the characters, but both plot and characterization picked up. By the satisfying ending, I’d come to love the two main characters. Worth a read for Moreno-Garcia fans.
Vampires are fairly well-known and definitely undesirable. Sanitation departments around the world keep track of what vampires are doing, and vampires are hunted by both police and each other as various species fight amongst themselves. Particularly deadly and violent vampires escaping from Europe, having been banned, are taking over the gangs and cartels, ignoring the traditions that have kept vampires safe from humans in the past. Internecine battles are destroying the Mexican vampires descended from pre-Columbian times.
As a take on colonialism and its destruction of natives and their culture, it offers easily recognizable parallels without being didactic. I found the first half of the novel slow and I wasn’t invested in the characters, but both plot and characterization picked up. By the satisfying ending, I’d come to love the two main characters. Worth a read for Moreno-Garcia fans.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Drug use, Genocide, Misogyny, Police brutality, Vomit, Alcohol, Blood, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Murder, Torture, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Colonisation, Death, and Addiction
bookbunnie's review
adventurous
dark
sad
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? Yes
3.5
Read this if you’re interested in the histories and abilities of multiple vampire subspecies, love a sweet and simple lovestruck character, and enjoy the classic dynamic of detectives, cops and criminals all being equivalently crooked.
Don’t read this if you want the elegant prose of ethereal vampire angst, need a lot of character development to be satisfied, or want a villain with substance.
This book explores the characters’ different relationships to solitude in part by examining their living conditions and in part by their actions taken to preserve, avoid, or accept their loneliness.
It was a simple and easy read, gritty but not unpalatable.
Don’t read this if you want the elegant prose of ethereal vampire angst, need a lot of character development to be satisfied, or want a villain with substance.
This book explores the characters’ different relationships to solitude in part by examining their living conditions and in part by their actions taken to preserve, avoid, or accept their loneliness.
It was a simple and easy read, gritty but not unpalatable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Vomit, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Alcohol, Gore, Death, Death of parent, and Misogyny
Moderate: Gun violence, Police brutality, and Genocide
Minor: Confinement
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