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blacksphinx's review
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Death, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Cancer, Drug abuse, Blood, Antisemitism, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Suicide attempt, and Cultural appropriation
shaun_dh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
My biggest qualm with Moreno-Garcia’s writing is
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Chronic illness
Minor: Bullying, Cursing, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, and Colonisation
vixenreader'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
4.75
Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Biphobia, Bullying, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual content, Cultural appropriation, War, and Classism
Minor: Animal death, Cancer, Child abuse, Terminal illness, Torture, Vomit, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Colonisation
Be aware that this novel features ageism, toxic workplace environments, Nazism, cults, occult rituals, violence with knives, harming one’s self for rituals, and people being crashed by large instruments.azrah786's review against another edition
4.0
**I was provided with an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**
CW: blood, violence, injury, murder, death, car accident, misogyny/sexism, racism, colonialism, ableism, drug use/addiction, alcoholism, cancer, toxic relationship, antisemitism, depression, kidnapping, grief, suicidal ideation, bullying
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Not my favourite Silvia Moreno-Garcia book but an entertaining one all the same!
I don’t read a lot of horror but I’d pick up anything she writes and the main ideas behind this book really intrigued me. Silver Nitrate follows two childhood friends who are now both part of the film industry – one being a sound editor and the other an ex-Soap actor – whose lives get upturned when they cross paths with an infamous cult horror director and his unfinished, cursed film Beyond the Yellow Door.
I’d say this is more of a supernatural thriller/mystery story than an all-out horror and while it definitely had a dose of murder and spookiness it didn’t get to the same amount of eeriness that Mexican Gothic did for me. One thing that is guaranteed though is that Moreno-Garcia’s storytelling will truly fold you into the tale and keep you reading until the end.
I really loved Montserrat and Tristán, Moreno-Garcia always aces her character studies! Our FMC is a badass, always determined to stand her ground whether that’s standing up to bullies as a child, striving for her place in a male-dominated industry or facing off against Nazi occultists. Whereas our MMC is as charming as he is cowardly, he is haunted by his past and prefers to run away from his true feelings. The addition of the messy yet endearing relationship between the two of them and the fact this was dual PoV so we get to see both sides of it develop was the icing on the cake.
Additionally, I loved the 90s atmosphere and all the pop culture references. Whilst I didn’t know them all they really informed the personalities of the protagonists and them being film buffs especially for horror films which enriched the overall story. I absolutely loved the inclusion of film history in this too and the whole sorcery/occult side of the story made it all the more interesting.
Mexican culture is beautifully woven into the story as with all of her books as well as discussions on the themes of colonialism, racism, white supremacy and gender based discrimination which were addressed really well.
I have to admit the mystery/thriller side of things whilst having some suspense fell short of being scary/creepy. The narrative felt more like a follow the bread crumbs to get to the bottom of what is happening and why to solve the case kind of thing. However, I still thoroughly enjoyed it. The plot overall was really cleverly wrapped up and Montserrat and Tristán’s arcs were great.
Final Rating – 4/5 Stars
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Cancer, Suicidal thoughts, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Car accident, and Colonisation
orla_h'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? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Car accident and Murder
Moderate: Blood
Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Bullying, Drug abuse, Racism, Sexism, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
reddeddy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, Vomit, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation
ninahuynh'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
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Classism
mari1532's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I read this audiobook through my local library.
Brief Summary: Montserrat, a brilliant sound engineer, is facing sexism where she is the only female sound editor. In addition to her struggles at work, she is trying to help her sister through her cancer treatments and be emotionally supportive of her childhood best friend, Tristán a charming but out-of-work soap opera star. However, Montserrat attempts to keep her life on track and her feelings for Tristán in check things are taken off the rails when she meets Tristán's mysterious neighbour Abel Urueta.
At first, Montserrat is intrigued by Abel as he is the director of a lost film that was never finished. As she and Tristán get to know Abel they learn that the film is shrouded in mystery because it's cursed. When Abel asks for assistance in removing the curse Tristán and Montserrat think no harm will come from helping him. That is until they start to see ghosts and shadows. Racing against the clock Montserrat and Tristán have to work together to untangle the intricate web of occultism that they've awakened.
Thoughts: First, I want to make it very clear that this book deals with Nazi ideology and cancer treatment. Both of these things permeate the book and at times could be very difficult to hear, so if these are topics you do not enjoy reading, I would not recommend this book.
Third, the book was a bit slow to build to the climax, but I found the story interesting throughout. Moreno-Garcia's writing is so engrossing that I didn't notice how long it was taking to get to the end of the book. I also found the mystery, occultist angle kept the story riveting.
Finally, I think that Moreno-Garcia dealt with several very difficult topics throughout this book and managed to do so in a way that made Montserrat and Tristán interesting and flawed human beings. Morally grey characters are so hard to get right in a book and I felt that Moreno-Garcia did just that throughout the book. I also learned a great deal about the film industry in general and loved how Montserrat was such a nerd (I mean this with great love) about movies and the film industry.
This is a good book that had me captivated until the end. I would recommend it.
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Bullying, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Nazi ideology, Nazi occultismjavafenn'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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Blood, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, and Chronic illness
Minor: Ableism, Terminal illness, Medical content, and Classism
garrettcz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I struggled with this book. I really liked the occult and mysticism elements. I really liked the history tie-ins and details. I liked some of the details about the film industry.
I really disliked the characters. It felt like the author was going out of her way to make them unlikable and really awful to each other.
I felt the story spent way too much time on really boring, mundane things and far too little time on the cool things like mysticism, occultism, and the horror elements. The story would sometimes dip into horror but the scenes felt way too fast so the atmosphere didn’t build up enough to where I really felt anything from them. I couldn’t get immersed in the spooky/horror scenes to really care and I didn’t care about the characters enough to really be engaged by the action scenes, so there never really felt like there was enough tension.
Spoilers:
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I REALLY hated the romance ending thing. I saw it coming and was really hoping this wouldn’t happen. These characters felt like they really disliked each other and if romantic chemistry could be approximated with temperature theirs would be somewhere in the ballpark of absolute zero. Yuck.
3.5
Graphic: Bullying, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Drug abuse, Drug use, Violence, and Alcohol
Minor: Suicide, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail