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writingcaia's review
- 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
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! 💜🤌🏼
Graphic: Misogyny, Murder, Blood, and Racism
Moderate: Car accident, Death, Ableism, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, and Addiction
ninajean's review against another edition
3.5
Graphic: Blood, Xenophobia, Murder, Death, and Racism
Moderate: Ableism and Car accident
Minor: Alcoholism, Addiction, and Drug abuse
kylieqrada'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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Car accident, Racism, and Murder
Moderate: Blood, Addiction, and Death
Minor: Animal death, Ableism, and Alcoholism
sofipitch's review against another edition
- 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 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.
Moderate: Body horror, Gore, Grief, Blood, Violence, and Death
Minor: Addiction and Alcoholism
amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Car accident, Death, Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Murder, Sexism, Alcoholism, and Colonisation
Moderate: Alcohol and Cancer
sol_journal's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Posted to: NetGalley, Goodreads, and The StoryGraph
Posted on: 28 July 2023
4.4 (rounded down to 4) out of 5 stars.
‘Silver Nitrate’ was a book that when I first saw the summary, I was a little iffy on if it was one I’d like. Now, I *loved* a few of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s previous books- ‘Gods of Jade and Shadow’, ‘The Beautiful Ones’, and ‘Velvet Was The Night’. I knew her writing style well to know that I’d most likely *enjoy* her books regardless. I just figured that this new read would be a mood-read kind of book where I’d pick it up when I found myself *craving* a cursed movie title centering Nazi occultism, rough main characters, and stuff of fiction bleeding into two normal people’s reality. When I got approved for this eARC after all, I decided to just jump right in and, man, was it a *phenomenal* read at the end.
‘Silver Nitrate’ shows the ugly of characters as well as it shows their ability to work together in the face of other’s ugly. Monserrat and Tristán were a duo that I found myself in love with from the start. They had a dynamic that grew and burned into what was the ending scene and I *loved* it SO much. There was just something about their flaws- one’s cowardice and the other’s unhealthy dive into what she finds interesting- being highlighted and then *actually* working through them at some point that grabbed me.
I also thoroughly enjoyed the magic system. I know the premise was in-story built by not so good people, but Silvia Moreno-Garcia creates this interesting system that almost had me like Monserrat in that I wanted to know more! I don’t know how much of real world occultism was used to help base the magic in ‘Silver Nitrate’ though, but the entwining of it *and* the idea of movies being more magic than what meets the eye was enthralling.
I think I’ve got a major book hangover with ‘Silver Nitrate’ though because I want more reads *just* like it. I want to know what happens after the ending and I honestly just need more Monserrat and Tristán! I can’t wait to get my hands on a physical copy so I can read it all over again (and annotate it this time!)
Moderate: Racism, Death, Antisemitism, Blood, and Murder
Minor: Cancer, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Addiction, and Alcoholism
Most of the minor content warnings are brief mentions that are a bit pertinent to the story, but aren’t too in depth. The antisemitism is in the form of nazi talk/mentions of nazi occultism and racism in that aspect- eugenics included.cadence99's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
felt like the character development was much improved from the books that I’ve read of hers in the past. I’d highly recommended it to anyone who can handle supernatural horror. A lot of if also felt very historical fiction heavy, with all the elements of old Mexican horror movies inserted throughout, and I really enjoyed that about it.
Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Ableism, Bullying, Car accident, Colonisation, Racism, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Violence, Chronic illness, and Death
Moderate: Biphobia, Addiction, and Cancer
Minor: Child death, Homophobia, Stalking, Suicide, Drug abuse, Abandonment, Animal death, Genocide, Vomit, and War
bkwrm1317'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? Yes
4.25
A bit different than other novels by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Silver Nitrate is an (of course) exquisitely researched and written novel, at its core, about folks who work in the film industry in Mexico, a film recorded on silver nitrate reel that was part of a magical spell, and a Nazi occultist. Our main characters, Montserrat and Tristán, childhood friends, both embedded in the film industry and starting to be looked over in their respective portions of the field (Montserrat, or Momo, in the sound editing world; Tristán in the acting world) as they start to get older and don't seem to cut it compared to younger, more attractive colleagues.
Perhaps most interesting in this particular Moreno-Garcia novel is the weaving together of the film industry of years past and Nazi occultists' obsession with film as conveyer of magic. Tristán and, especially, Montserrat, get themselves into lots of supernatural trouble as a result of messing with a film that contained the "unfinished" spell of one such dead Nazi occultist from Germany (this character, Ewers in the novel, is based on the real historical figure of Joseph Goebbels, former Chief Propagandist of the Nazi party (etc), and who was convinced that cinema was "one of the most effective propaganda instruments" (Author's Note).
As with all of Moreno-Garcia's works, the author also comments on historical and contemporary social issues like colorism and racism within México, love and the forms it takes, disability, homophobia and biphobia, and one could even read commentary of white folks co-opting spiritual practices of folks from the Global South into some of the novel, among others.
Spoiler ahead:
I hope folks enjoy this Moreno-Garcia novel just as much as her others. It felt a bit different to me (not at all in a bad way) from prior works of hers, so I'll be genuinely interested to see what more folks things once this book hits shelves in a little over a week!
CWs in more or less order of intensity/severity: some explicit detailed gore (of someone long-deceased, but would give this one as a more graphic warning; description is fairly brief), misogyny, death, ableism, cultural appropriation (done by the Nazi occultist because of course), biphobia, bullying (as flashbacks/references to childhood), addiction (specifically alcoholism and references to the alcohol intake of a character increasing, references to side effects of hangover, etc.).
Graphic: Gore
Moderate: Death, Ableism, Cultural appropriation, and Misogyny
Minor: Bullying, Alcoholism, Biphobia, and Addiction
dananana's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Murder, Xenophobia, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Racism
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Ableism, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexism
Minor: Biphobia
scrubsandbooks's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
There was so much to love about this and so much I learned. First off, both MCs are bisexual disasters. I absolutely love that. Second, there is so much info about cinema without it feeling like a massive info dump. SM-G is able to weave it all into dialogue without any of it sounding like one long PSA. Third, occultism?? Horror cinema?? Runes and spirits and magic?? Need I say more??
The start was pretty slow... I feel like it didn't pick up until 30% through when you get to the meat of the plot, when the retired director who had dabbled in occultism with some Nazis tells the truth of the magic of film to the two MCs and recruits them to finish a film which would subsequently release him from a curse put on him for NOT completing it from the start. Not much of a spoiler but... they finish it. And then they suffer some consequences. The story after that had me absolutely gripped. What I always appreciate about SM-G's novels is that she puts in so much research into the subject based on real life issues as well as weaving in fantasy and magical realism that just hooks you and pulls you through all the pages. Her characters are always pictures as flawed but real and relatable and this applies to Monserrat and Tristan in this book too. This is an absolute instant-recommend for anyone!
Thank you to Netgalley for the arc!
Graphic: Racism, Car accident, and Murder
Moderate: Drug abuse and Blood
Minor: Medical content, Ableism, Biphobia, and Alcoholism