Reviews with content warning for Body horror - Vampires of El Norte

Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas

18 reviews

jillaay_h's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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crystalisreading's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful informative

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

This was great. As good as that GORGEOUS cover. I'm a baby about horror, but I didn't find it really scary, just very atmospheric. Excellent audio narration. Creative vampires. Great treatment of violent colonizers and examination of unfair labor practices, done so smoothly it was a part of the the story, not a distraction. Has me thinking about the Mexican-American war now. A book to enjoy but also digest later. Recommended.

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yvo_about_books's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

5.0

Finished reading: June 28th 2024

“Don't you always. He did. Porque así fue la suerte. Nothing worth wanting came easy; nothing worth wanting was ever given to men of dust and sweat.”

I'm honestly still speechless. It's no secret that I'm usually allergic to vampire stories, but after being blown away by The Hacienda I decided to take a gamble and add Vampires Of El Norte to my TBR anyway. I absolutely loved Isabel Cañas' writing style in her debut, and I had high hopes that this alone would be enough to help me forget about my aversion towards fanged creatures. Not only did this happen, but this might actually be the first time I end up giving a vampire story the full five stars. What an absolutely stunning and simply glorious read! Vampires Of El Norte is part historical fiction, part romance and part supernatural horror, with a war and family drama thrown in to add even more dept. The historical Mexican setting is sublimely done, and it truly transports you to the 1840s and a turbulent time in Mexico. The writing itself is vivid and stunning, and I basically knew this book was going to get the highest rating after just a couple chapters. This also has a lot to do with both main characters Nena and Néstor, who were able to win over my heart almost immediately. Vampires Of El Norte uses a dual POV structure, switching between Nena and Néstor to give us a better idea what happens both when they are apart and together. The supernatural horror element is also extremely well done, and I loved how the curandera healing was incorporated into the plot. I'm honestly a bit lost for words as it is SO hard to write a review that does this story justice... If you enjoy well written historical fiction with a supernatural twist as well as a dose of romance and don't mind things getting dark and twisted, I cannot recommend Vampires Of El Norte enough.

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shubka's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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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monicaa_d's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

I enjoyed this, but it fell in the middle of the road for me. The story moved quickly enough, and had a little bit of mystery and a fairly good allegory for colonialism throughout. I enjoyed the story, but didn't really vibe with the characters. They meet and become best friends between the ages of 9 and 13, ultimately being each other's first love (to the degree that a 13 year old can be in love). Then they're separated for nine years, and the story resumes there. We find out that they haven't forgotten each other, that they still can't think of the other without pain, that every action they've taken in those nine years was shaped by the absence of the other, etc. It's all very sweet and pining and true love, but eventually just felt annoying. Throughout the story they repeat the same pattern of finding and losing one another, and every time they do we get to hear how they can't live without the other, again and again... Maybe I just expected more horror and less pining from a vampire book, but it just didn't do it for me. The story was enjoyable, but I felt like I was just going through the sappy parts to find out what would happen with the rest of the plot, because it's obvious from the start that they're going to get their happy ending. This isn't at the top of my recommendations, but I wouldn't discourage anyone from reading it, especially if they're more interested in romance and not so much in horror.

Enjoyability ⭐⭐⭐
Impact ⭐

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salemander's review

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4.0

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h4ppycupcake's review

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

An adventurous romance with lots of tension and thrills. I didn’t find the characters’ journey in overcoming their personal conflict very believable; I wasn’t convinced that their childhood feelings would translate to adulthood after such a long time. In a lot of ways this felt like fan fiction of characters that exist already and unfortunately I as the reader don’t have access to their extensive character history.

About the ending:

She saves the vampires??????? What the hell is that about??????????? Come on, no way, that’s the dumbest way to end this

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kaiyakaiyo's review

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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

first read of the year! I marked this as started in Dec just to immediately put it down in favor of some Palestine readings so this truly does count!

The romance was sweet, if a bit fade to black, but the true shine in this book was Nena (super badass), and the folklore. I am a slut for tales and creatures tied to a specific land or people. This delivered that many times over!

I am also a slut for supernatural creatures as metaphors for how white settlers destroyed and warped the land they stole. this book delivered that quite well. colonialism and environmental devastation are not unrelated; we’re seeing that right now with the species disappearing in hawaii, so I like when authors don’t shy away from it in historical fiction.

all in all a fun and surprisingly quick read! I didn’t mind the POV switches for once, as it made the Feelings more juicy. will def read more by this author if I can!

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saltycaramel's review

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adventurous dark tense medium-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? No

4.5

This book sucked me in and I honestly forgot about the world while I was in it. This gave me the BEST dark-romantic-gothic vibes, and I just loved the overall story. I liked the pacing and the way the story was flushed out overall more than The Hacienda, so if you weren’t the biggest fan of that I’d definitely say give this one a go.

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strugglecity's review against another edition

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adventurous 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? It's complicated

4.75

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