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marareading's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
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
3.5
This was definitely outside my comfort zone as far as genre is concerned, and I genuinely liked it. This is a vampire crime noir. Imagine a gritty urban crime story based in Mexico City, with battling vampire drug cartels. Atl is a vampire and is on the run for her life. She is the daughter of one of the largest cartel families in South America, and another cartel vampire family is after her. Meanwhile, the cops/government are not fond of vampires and trying to extinguish them, considering them a threat. Atl takes up with a street kid, Domingo, who is overly curious, sometimes annoying and now they are in it together on the run.
This is a brutal and bloody story. It is so well written. I really enjoyed it. Noir is not usually something I reach for, but I can never resist a vampire story. Definitely recommend if you like crime stories or vampires.
This is a brutal and bloody story. It is so well written. I really enjoyed it. Noir is not usually something I reach for, but I can never resist a vampire story. Definitely recommend if you like crime stories or vampires.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Torture, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Mass/school shootings, Police brutality, Sexual content, Violence, Vomit, War, Drug abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, and Murder
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
mandkips's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Violence, and Gore
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Drug use, and Gun violence
Minor: Sexual content
aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.5
Multiple POVs and a great modern take on a classic spooky creature- vampires. So many different kinds of vampires from different places are mentioned throughout which was nice to see instead of the typical/well known european vampire images we see all the time. How some characters stories ended was a little unsatisfying though, but I need to stop thinking so many characters always need happy or fully fleshed out endings. This story also touches on colonialism when talking about the europeans and their continental vampires arriving in central and south america. very glad the dog doesn't die tragically in this book! I was nervous and a bit sad when Cualli was mentioned to probably be dead Also quick note, I felt a bit weird about how Atl and Domingo's relationship went considering it was mentioned she was about 20 (yeah I get she's a diff species but still) and he was 17. I know at first she was like "no way" and had set that boundary, but then they did the do and I was not okay with an adult/minor situation .
It seemed to drag a little bit in some parts, but overall, a great and surprisingly quick read. I've enjoyed so much from this author and it's a goal that I read everything she has done.
Def check out content warnings for this as it is a vampire tale so there is a lot of blood.
It seemed to drag a little bit in some parts, but overall, a great and surprisingly quick read. I've enjoyed so much from this author and it's a goal that I read everything she has done.
Def check out content warnings for this as it is a vampire tale so there is a lot of blood.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Vomit, Body horror, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Violence, Blood, and Misogyny
Moderate: Alcohol, Drug use, Kidnapping, Police brutality, Sexual content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Colonisation, Gun violence, and War
Minor: Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Torture, Trafficking, Classism, Cursing, and Kidnapping
theomancy's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-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
3.25
I was just so not sold on the central romance of this book and the conclusion of it left me really dissatisfied. There were a lot of world building concepts at the beginning I found really interesting that I didn't feel like really went anywhere either, unfortunately.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Classism, and Colonisation
Moderate: Xenophobia, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Stalking, and Police brutality
books_n_pickles's review against another edition
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Started listening to this one in the car with Areg but ended up finishing it by reading on my own. It's more my genre than his, but our bigger issue was that the audiobook--while well-narrated and infinitely helpful with pronunciations (seriously, if we're translating languages into the Latin alphabet, why do we have to import English's nonsensical pronunciations into them?), it was just a bit too quiet to hear in a car that isn't very soundproofed. It also has what feels like a bit of a slow start before breaking into a turbo-charged obstacle course, and I think the slower beginning wasn't the best for long drives.
Anywho, the plot.
The near-future "neon-noir" (as Moreno-Garcia calls it) Mexico City has banned vampires from its environs, though the rest of the country has been something of a safe haven for vampires who faced persecution once they "came out" to the world in the 1970s. Atl is a descendant of Latin American vampires who have been around since before the Aztecs; the European Necros, a younger lineage more prone to violence, have been encroaching into her family's territory, including their narcotics empire. After staggering acts of violence, Atl is on the run, hiding in the safest place she can think of, the last place a reasonable vampire would be: Mexico City.
There, she meets Domingo, a charming trash-picker who is absolutely fascinated by vampires in general and Atl in particular. He eagerly assists her by giving blood and making connections with both her mother's old allies and his own underworld contacts, all in an effort to get her safely out of Mexico City and over the border on her way to vampire-friendly Brazil.
The world- and character-building that I so admired in Moreno-Garcia's <i>Mexican Gothic</i> are in more than full force her, since she's not as constrained by history and remote location as she was in that book. Mexico City is vibrant and alive, with its established neighborhoods, historic districts, seedy lower-income housing, hipster gentrification zones, and massive landfills; its dive bars, diners, metro, and retro automats. The biggest near-future-y element is the "Sanitation" department, a slightly sinister public health body that monitors Mexico City for signs of a deadly disease and, of course, the illegal presence of vampires.
Character-wise, along with Atl and Domingo, we have a woman cop who transferred from northern vampire territory to Mexico City to keep her teenage daughter safe, only wind up tangled in the Atl-Necros mess; a live-wire young Necros hopped up on violence and drugs, determined to capture and torture Atl for daring to reject his romantic advances and laterretaliating against his clan's broadside shot of beheading her mother by killing three of their own--the Necros may have responded by slaughtering Atl's entire family, but it's the personal slight that drives this guy on. There's a young gang member eager to kill a vampire, to send a message to other vampires that they and their drug trade are not welcome in the spoken-for territory of Mexico City. There are Diego's connections, both friends and foes: gun traffickers, dog fighters, street kids, rivals in love. And there's a weary "Renfield" (a <i>Dracula</i> reference) who's served as a dogsbody to the Necros clan leader for a very long time and just wants to retire, not chase down Atl while trying to control the hot-headed heir. Oh, and there's Atl's awesome doberman with a florescent tattoo.
That's a lot of pieces to put on the board, which accounts for the slow start. It's the kind of sprawling world building and character establishment that I absolutely love, but which is probably divisive among readers. The complex global vampire lore--which is helpfully broken down at the end of the book, though I didn't realize that since I was reading the ebook--is nuanced and fascinating.
I'm kind of torn about this book. For everything I loved in it (and there was a lot, so I'm going with four stars instead of three), I didn't feel a real connection. I did feel quite a lot of discomfort withthe inevitable Atl-Domingo romance. As Atl contemplates, Domingo is like a puppy in his outwardly innocent enthusiasm (though of course, as a kid who lives on the streets he's much more experienced in life than he lets on). When they get together, even though the narrative has stressed that they're kind of the same age, even if vampire Atl is a bit older chronologically, it still feels a bit icky. Part of why Atl feels so much older and so mature is the bloody violence that she's seen and crippling guilt that she feels--all deep, dark feelings that are so at odds with Domingo's sunny, almost childlike disposition. It just kind of felt...a little too close to statutory, and that colored my whole experience of the rest of the book. Probably unfairly. Oh well, that's just my brain.
Sprawling and complex, this book won't be for everyone--but for vampire and urban fantasy enthusiasts, it's a heady and delicious brew.
Anywho, the plot.
The near-future "neon-noir" (as Moreno-Garcia calls it) Mexico City has banned vampires from its environs, though the rest of the country has been something of a safe haven for vampires who faced persecution once they "came out" to the world in the 1970s. Atl is a descendant of Latin American vampires who have been around since before the Aztecs; the European Necros, a younger lineage more prone to violence, have been encroaching into her family's territory, including their narcotics empire. After staggering acts of violence, Atl is on the run, hiding in the safest place she can think of, the last place a reasonable vampire would be: Mexico City.
There, she meets Domingo, a charming trash-picker who is absolutely fascinated by vampires in general and Atl in particular. He eagerly assists her by giving blood and making connections with both her mother's old allies and his own underworld contacts, all in an effort to get her safely out of Mexico City and over the border on her way to vampire-friendly Brazil.
The world- and character-building that I so admired in Moreno-Garcia's <i>Mexican Gothic</i> are in more than full force her, since she's not as constrained by history and remote location as she was in that book. Mexico City is vibrant and alive, with its established neighborhoods, historic districts, seedy lower-income housing, hipster gentrification zones, and massive landfills; its dive bars, diners, metro, and retro automats. The biggest near-future-y element is the "Sanitation" department, a slightly sinister public health body that monitors Mexico City for signs of a deadly disease and, of course, the illegal presence of vampires.
Character-wise, along with Atl and Domingo, we have a woman cop who transferred from northern vampire territory to Mexico City to keep her teenage daughter safe, only wind up tangled in the Atl-Necros mess; a live-wire young Necros hopped up on violence and drugs, determined to capture and torture Atl for daring to reject his romantic advances and later
That's a lot of pieces to put on the board, which accounts for the slow start. It's the kind of sprawling world building and character establishment that I absolutely love, but which is probably divisive among readers. The complex global vampire lore--which is helpfully broken down at the end of the book, though I didn't realize that since I was reading the ebook--is nuanced and fascinating.
I'm kind of torn about this book. For everything I loved in it (and there was a lot, so I'm going with four stars instead of three), I didn't feel a real connection. I did feel quite a lot of discomfort with
Sprawling and complex, this book won't be for everyone--but for vampire and urban fantasy enthusiasts, it's a heady and delicious brew.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Blood
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug use, and Blood
queergoth_reads's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-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
3.75
I wanted to like this book much more than I did. There were a lot of things I loved about it but I just found it didn't grab my attention the way I wanted it to.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Medical content, Murder, Violence, Blood, Death, and Gun violence
Moderate: Confinement, Drug use, and Animal cruelty
Minor: Misogyny
macknificent's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, and Suicide
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Vomit, Animal cruelty, and Drug use
meggs1005's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Gore, and Violence
Moderate: Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Drug use, Grief, Medical content, Murder, and Sexual content
arce's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Oh good Lord, where do I start?
It definitely was not, what I was expecting from the blurb. There it sounded like Domingo was 12 years old and Atl more like 30+, and they were forming some sort of makeshift family. Very disappointing to read about two stupid teenagers (yeah, I know, Atl's 23, but her behaviours tells something different).
I hated nearly everything and everyone in this book, but least of all Bernardino, which makes him my favorite humanoid character. My favorite character was by far Cualli, the dog. At least the dog didn't get killed, else I'd have thrown the book out the window.
Chapter 32 was very bad, but chapter 34 was way worse, but the worst by far was chapter 40. Atl's now suddenly trying to behave like an adult? I'm not buying it.
I definitely wasn't sad about anyone's death, every single one was deserved.
The idea behind the different vampire species is however very interesting, and I liked the appendix.
It definitely was not, what I was expecting from the blurb. There it sounded like Domingo was 12 years old and Atl more like 30+, and they were forming some sort of makeshift family. Very disappointing to read about two stupid teenagers (yeah, I know, Atl's 23, but her behaviours tells something different).
I hated nearly everything and everyone in this book, but least of all Bernardino, which makes him my favorite humanoid character. My favorite character was by far Cualli, the dog. At least the dog didn't get killed, else I'd have thrown the book out the window.
Chapter 32 was very bad, but chapter 34 was way worse, but the worst by far was chapter 40. Atl's now suddenly trying to behave like an adult? I'm not buying it.
I definitely wasn't sad about anyone's death, every single one was deserved.
The idea behind the different vampire species is however very interesting, and I liked the appendix.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, and Violence