Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

8 reviews

boba_nbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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? Yes

4.0

Spice Rating: 🫑 / 5 🌶️

Silvia Moreno-Garcia does not disappoint. Silver Nitrate had me on the edge of my seat and is terrifying in all the right ways.

Monserrat and Tristán have been friends since they were kids, and though Monserrat has been in love with Tristán all these years, he is oblivious to her feelings. The boys' club running the film industry in Mexico City in the 90s leaves no place for Monserrat, even though she's an extremely talented sound editor. As an aging actor, Tristán is also starting to feel left out of the industry, too. So when he finds out that his new neighbor is a cult horror director who wants to work with himself and Monserrat, Tristán wants to jump in without any hesitation. However, Monserrat is a little more cautious. The director, Abel,  wants the two of them to help him finish a film that he never got the chance to complete, but that film has left everyone who has touched it with bad fortune. The person Abel originally worked with on the film was a Nazi who believed creating this film would bring them magical powers. Abel believes finishing the film will lift the curse and bring fortune and fame, as well as magic, to the trio, but once they start working on it, strange things start to happen that leave Monserrat and Tristán wondering just what they got themselves into.

This novel focuses on how obsession with the occult can drive people to go to the extreme. It also explored the art of film, especially horror movies, and how all of the pieces come together to create a sort of magic--and in this story, the magic happened to be real. After being powerless her whole life, both in her career and in her own body, Monserrat has to decide what to do with the very real power she gets ahold of. She has to choose whether power is the most important thing to her. 

Similarly to one of Silvia Moreno-Garcia's other novels, Mexican Gothic, this was a very atmospheric read. Silver Nitrate explores ritual and how the past can still permeate the present. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Ableism, Chronic illness, Racism, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Car accident, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Cancer, Cursing, and Vomit

shaun_dh's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

Silvia Moreno-Garcia can write a vibe, that’s for sure! This is a slow burn horror that took a little too long for me to get into. I found the plot to be a bit murky, but the vibes are immaculate. This is a great starting place if folks are wanting to do their toe into the horror genre

My biggest qualm with Moreno-Garcia’s writing is

her hurried romances. In both the books I’ve read of hers, she rushes a romance into the last four pages. Either flesh it out a bit more or leave it out entirely…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Chronic illness

Minor: Bullying, Cursing, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, and Colonisation

ninahuynh's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• 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

I found the writing in this book to sometimes be confusing. I like the direction Silvia Moreno-Garcia is exploring. It gives me sci-fi vibes, like those of the genres using

video games and film as a launchpad to another dimension.

I did not anticipate magic to be part of this plot, but I guess that works on par with her theme as Mexican Gothic, my first book from her, also has elements of magic, but with

mushroom

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Content Warnings

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

javafenn's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny hopeful 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

4.0

I would actually give this book a 3.5 but rated it a 4 here because the 3.5 is my fault. I ad a lot of health issues this past year that caused me to take a very long time to read this. That said, I really enjoyed this book! I loved the magic and horror of it all. The description of Tristán’s dead girlfriend in his apartment was terrifying! The occultism and Ewer’s obsession with pure lineage was believable too! It felt like Moreno-Garcia did a lot of research for it. I also absolutely loved how the book ended! Momo was fighting the ghost of Ewer’s the whole book but it really felt like that ghost was herself. She was fighting what she thought was the worst of herself. Very relatable!

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Content Warnings

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

erandle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Blood, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Violence, Alcohol, and Colonisation

heather667's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Biphobia, Bullying, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Genocide, Suicide, Vomit, Suicide attempt, and War

cadence99's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• 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

Overall I really liked this book- I
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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Bullying, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Antisemitism, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Biphobia, and Cancer

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Homophobia, Suicide, Vomit, Stalking, Abandonment, and War

jamieleepilk's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol