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A review by amy_reading_23
Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas
adventurous
challenging
tense
medium-paced
3.5
There was a lot of potential with this book. It's well written, and I found the history elements interesting. I learned a lot about Mexico in the 1800s. I also enjoyed the aspects of herbalism and life on the rancho. I think a lot of people would enjoy reading this.
But personally I just found the characters really annoying.
I really didn't find Nena likeable. She was angry pretty much all the time, and oftentimes hypocritical too. The constant hot and cold and myriad of misunderstandings between her and Nestor really dragged on and got really annoying over time.
I liked Nestor a bit more, but didn't like him enough to make me enjoy their relationship.
Some of the only redeeming qualities I found in Nena was her view on the vampires at the end and her love of healing and herbalism. And I am glad she finally defies their parents so they can get married at the end and lice the life they want. But thats it really.
Honestly, I also expected more spice. The author made us go through all of that and there's like zero spice. Disappointing.
I also think it's a little misleading to call this a vampire book. The "vampires" are more like humanoid bat creatures. They also feel secondary to everything else going on. I'm not sure what genre to call this tbh. Its not a typical fantasy- vampire book. But it also doesn't really have a whole lot of horror either. I'd say its more romance than anything. Historical romance with a dashes of horror added in.
The war bit also felt incredibly rushed to me. It suddenly happens in the middle of the book and then almost as soon as the scene starts, it ends. It just felt a bit shoe-horned in honestly.
Some of the characters that I did like we hardly got to see - like Abuela and Nestor's friend.
So yeah overall this book just wasn't really for me. I still enjoyed the writing style and found all the historical Latinx aspects interesting. But other than that it was a little bit of a slog to get through. Others might enjoy it a lot more though! I would just try and avoid going into it thinking it'll be a vampire book.
But personally I just found the characters really annoying.
I really didn't find Nena likeable. She was angry pretty much all the time, and oftentimes hypocritical too. The constant hot and cold and myriad of misunderstandings between her and Nestor really dragged on and got really annoying over time.
I liked Nestor a bit more, but didn't like him enough to make me enjoy their relationship.
I also think it's a little misleading to call this a vampire book. The "vampires" are more like humanoid bat creatures. They also feel secondary to everything else going on. I'm not sure what genre to call this tbh. Its not a typical fantasy- vampire book. But it also doesn't really have a whole lot of horror either. I'd say its more romance than anything. Historical romance with a dashes of horror added in.
The war bit also felt incredibly rushed to me. It suddenly happens in the middle of the book and then almost as soon as the scene starts, it ends. It just felt a bit shoe-horned in honestly.
Some of the characters that I did like we hardly got to see - like Abuela and Nestor's friend.
So yeah overall this book just wasn't really for me. I still enjoyed the writing style and found all the historical Latinx aspects interesting. But other than that it was a little bit of a slog to get through. Others might enjoy it a lot more though! I would just try and avoid going into it thinking it'll be a vampire book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail