Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

39 reviews

writingcaia's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.5

As always, Silvia takes me on slow, but increasingly addictive ride. I couldn’t stop. 
Nazis, sorcerers, a lot of old-school horror movies, a cursed film reel, and a friendship that drives the story forward as it intertwines with powers old and new.
It’s really all, the characters, their dialogues, the relationships, the historical and immersive context, the pointed descriptions. It connects, it sizzles, it feels real, and because of that, it wraps you in its darkness and fears.
The whole tale evolves beautifully and has a perfect ending. 
Also, loved the bisexual main rep, in the midst of such prejudiced setting - misogyny, racism, eugenics.
Another great one, and I just want to say next, please! 💜🤌🏼 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Murder, Blood, and Racism

Moderate: Car accident, Death, Ableism, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, and Addiction

spines's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

fun! the protagonists are both very flawed and snarky (and bisexual) and it's so refreshing that i get to be annoyed with them both at times. the mystery/occult portion was good but not great, definitely didn't scare/grip me the way mexican gothic did but it was still cool and spooky at times.

the romance wasn't super fleshed out but i still think they're sweet together, and i love the july talk shoutout in the acknowledgements

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Murder

Moderate: Cancer, Car accident, Misogyny, and Sexism

Minor: Addiction, Homophobia, Suicide, Abortion, and Biphobia

ninajean's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

3.5

The beginning of this book was a bit slow for me since it involved providing a lot of back story that would set up the rest of the plot. I was interested reading about the film aspects. I wasn’t a fan of the romantic aspect at the end of the book between the two main characters. It was a bit unexpected and the ending felt a bit anticlimactic. They both were messy characters (we love messy bisexuals) that had a very dependent friendship, and I didn’t see the romantic chemistry between the two. The book is so well written and properly researched (there were instances where it felt a bit more info-dumpy than adding to the plot).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Xenophobia, Murder, Death, and Racism

Moderate: Ableism and Car accident

Minor: Alcoholism, Addiction, and Drug abuse

iamamyyyyy's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Murder, Racism, Misogyny, and Suicide

Moderate: Car accident

Minor: Cancer and Addiction

ecn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.25

This book is SMG at her core and I really liked the concept of the book! The only drawbacks were that it REALLY seemed like the story dragged on for too long at different moments and (like classic SMG) sped up super quickly at the end. I also felt like I didn’t get enough out of the main characters other than sho they are at their surface level. I think this book would greatly benefit from a sequel and building out this world more. 
The writing was spectacular and the fantasy elements kept me entertained. I just wish it was edited a bit better and a whole lot spookier (then maybe I could feel fine with not dive too deep into the characters?). 
However I will say the biggest win is having two messy/annoying bisexuals obsessed with horror (kinda) as the MCs. Huge representation win lol

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Drug abuse, Xenophobia, Violence, Sexism, Racism, Murder, Misogyny, Grief, Gore, Death, Body horror, Drug use, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Cancer, Colonisation, Animal death, Addiction, Ableism, Toxic friendship, and Blood

bookiecharm's review against another edition

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Animal death, Cancer, Death, Ableism, Suicide, Sexual harassment, Car accident, Addiction, Blood, and Racism

kylieqrada's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

I'm stuck between a 3.5 and a 4 ⭐️ for this one. SMG's writing style is so unique, and I love that every single one of her books is so different. The discussions about Nazi occultism in this were fascinating and so socially critical, but it did get a little weird. That ending tho!!!!!! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Racism, and Murder

Moderate: Blood, Addiction, and Death

Minor: Animal death, Ableism, and Alcoholism

sofipitch's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.5

I'm comparing this relative to SMG's previous book and her two releases before this one, VWTN and TDODM were really just mid after Mexican Gothic, so this one waa refreshing in that it I actually did like it. Monserrat and Tristan were interesting and well developed characters (also fell into character archetypes I like so I am biased lol). Same with their relationship, old friends who have a tendency to take the other for granted. The plot itself was good just painfully slow at times. SMG said this was her suspense novel but there was a degree of maybe over-explaining in places that made it drag. Some of the beats or themes I got pages before so when it was laid out I felt again like it was slow. 

I really did love this as a love letter to stories, and more specifically movies. The choice to make Monserrat a sound editor was also 👌 my mother is a video editor so her descriptions of the work environment were spot on, and editing is such an undervalued part of television/cinema but really can be what makes or breaks a film. It was really cool to have that highlighted and acknowledged in a book about movies.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Gore, Grief, Blood, Violence, and Death

Minor: Addiction and Alcoholism

amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Death, Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Murder, Sexism, Alcoholism, and Colonisation

Moderate: Alcohol and Cancer

sarah984's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-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? No

3.0

I really liked the premise of this novel (literal movie magic!) but I found the execution so dull. Most of the characters' motivations are just straight up fed to you in exposition and neither of the point of view characters is especially compelling. None of the attempted emotional beats with them land at all because they don't feel like people with real lives and goals. The '90s Mexico setting was cool and there were a few good scares but overall not that great.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Murder, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Blood, Car accident, Death, and Grief

Minor: Infidelity, Ableism, Animal death, Cancer, Suicide, and Vomit