A review by sarahweyand
Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

dark mysterious 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? Yes

3.25

Thanks to Ballantine and NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and feedback are my own.

I feel right in the middle of the road on this book. I thought the premise was super interesting and I really enjoyed the inclusion of real historical figures in addition to our characters, but this book took me FOREVER to get through. Normally I love a good slow burn, but I think there were too many information dumps that grinded the plot to a halt. I also didn't buy in to a lot of the plot: I wasn't overly attached to any characters, and the magic system was a little too soft and vague for me to latch on to.

Some positives! The best part of this book was certainly the relationship dynamic between Montserrat and Tristán; even though I didn't feel connected to either of them individually, I loved their relationship.  I thought the setting was unique and well-described, and I greatly enjoyed the history woven into the plot even if I thought the execution was a little heavy-handed.

I don't know how many people I would recommend this one to, but I would definitely pick up something else by this author in the future (Mexican Gothic is still on my shelf)!
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