Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

22 reviews

jdieperink's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Body horror, Blood, and Classism

Moderate: Abandonment, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Vomit, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Drug use, Gun violence, and Medical content

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

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

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

daniellekat's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.25

Silvia Moreno-Garcia is one of my favourite author's but this one fell a bit short for me. I typically love the vividness of her writing and her characters but everyone felt flat and one dimensional here.  There were too many characters for me to feel connected to any of them, but I do think the changing POVs was well utilized for this narrative. The book was well paced and had me engaged throughout. I loved all the vampire lore but it was weirdly woven into the storytelling (It often felt like Domingo's only purpose was to ask questions for the reader). Overall, SMG is still one of my favourites and I love the diversity of her writing, you never know what you'll get.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Toxic friendship

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Bullying

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

bluejay21's review against another edition

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

meganlafo's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death of parent, Death, Blood, Gore, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Murder, and Torture

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Colonisation

bobo4books's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore

Moderate: Colonisation, Drug use, Alcohol, Murder, and Violence

nicoleonbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

5.0

Vivid neon, smokey rooms, and rainy streets. 

This one is for the vampire lore enthusiasts! Certain Dark Things follows five characters through alternate universe Mexico City as vampires hunt each other down and humans try to elimate the threat that they pose. This has sci-fi elements in a noir style, interwoven with Mexican culture and history. A little understanding of the noir genre greatly enhances the experience of this novel, and can be achieved with a little Google searching. Each component pairs together to make a delicious novel.  

"We are our hunger."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Gore and Colonisation

Minor: Animal death