Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

104 reviews

teeticker's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Blood, and Gore

bessadams's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Death of parent, Animal cruelty, and Gun violence

queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

3.5 ⭐ CW: Violence, blood, gore, violent/gruesome deaths, death of a parent, substance use, sex work mention, sexual content, colonization mention, dog fighting mention

Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia is neon-noir horror that gave me Bladerunner vibes, but instead of androids, vampires. I have found that this author is very hit or miss for me. I did enjoy parts of the novel, but it was just so slow for such a short book. It was also very gruesome, which is not my favorite thing. 

We follow Atl, a birdlike vampire on the run from a rival vampire gang. We get several povs from people either going after Atl or assisting her. Domingo is the sweet, naive one that should be protected at all costs. Atl appears to be a badass, but is really a spoiled vampire who made a grave mistake. I really didn't like Nick, the vampire from the rival gang. He was violent and misogynistic. 

As I said, this was incredibly slow and not much character development. I did like learning about the different types of vampires from different cultures. It was cool seeing Aztec culture represented through Atl. This was just fine. I'm wondering if I should continue to read this author. I really enjoyed Gods of Jade and Shadow, but that's about it so far. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexual content, Death, Blood, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent and Colonisation

Minor: Animal cruelty

frankieclc's review against another edition

thought I could successfully read another book with vampires in it, I was wrong

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

megsbookishadventures's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent, Child death, Colonisation, Body horror, Drug abuse, and Grief

Minor: Cursing, Animal cruelty, Grief, Police brutality, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Animal death

sonygaystation's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, Body horror, Violence, Murder, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, and Death

Moderate: Stalking and Gun violence

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Torture, Sexual content, and Pregnancy

raavi's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, and Torture

Moderate: Xenophobia

Minor: Grief and Adult/minor relationship

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

bellabells113's review against another edition

4.5

I'm so glad the dog lives and as much as I did cry when Atl left Domingo behind, I think it is the best for him AND the dog. They both deserve to live good and comfortable lives. Also, Domingo being 17 and having a relationship with 23 year old Atl *siri play All Too Well by Taylor Swift*. Ultimately, I really enjoyed this (the narrator was utterly amazing, like by far the best narrator I've ever listened to) and I think I'll actually end up giving it a higher rating after I give the ending some time to marinate.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, and Blood

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