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jdieperink's review against another edition
- 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
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
dreaming_cosmos's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Death of parent, Classism, Physical abuse, Violence, Gun violence, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Kidnapping, Animal cruelty, and Misogyny
bookswithpao's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Trafficking, Death, War, Misogyny, Violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Gun violence, Death of parent, Gore, and Murder
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Sexism
Minor: Animal cruelty, Addiction, Alcohol, Drug use, Child death, and Excrement
iamsammie27's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Gun violence, Medical trauma, Violence, Blood, and Body horror
Moderate: Drug use and Alcohol
Minor: Death and Death of parent
bessadams's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, and Gore
Moderate: Death of parent, Animal cruelty, and Gun violence
queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition
- 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
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.
Graphic: Gore, Sexual content, Death, Blood, and Violence
Moderate: Death of parent and Colonisation
Minor: Animal cruelty
megsbookishadventures's review against another edition
- 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
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
rachelfayreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Child death, Murder, and Death of parent
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexism, and Rape
trollmila's review against another edition
- 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
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
ramreadsagain's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
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!!
Graphic: Blood, Gore, Violence, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death of parent, Death, and Vomit
Minor: Animal death and Colonisation