Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

11 reviews

ashdawn's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I'm not a huge fan of most vampire stories, but this was SOOOOOO GOOD. It combines so many different folk lore vampires (it also fascinates me how wide spread vampires are throughout cultures), with high action, and comentary on women's equality and colonialism. 

Kinda mad about the ending, even if it was a very good ending that makes so much sense for the characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Drug use and Blood

trollmila's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Slavery, Trafficking, Colonisation, and Classism

carlyoc's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

5.0

In a world much like our own, vampires are real. There are revenants out of old European folk tales, necrosis also from Europe but more recently evolved who can enslave humans with their blood, and Tlāhuihpochtli out of Aztec legend who were once warrior priestesses of the Nahuatl god of war. In Mexico, tribes of vampires compete with human gangs to rule the local underworld. Mexico City is one of the few havens free of vampires thanks to the government's anti-vampire "sanitation" crews and the strong human gangs. Until a young vampire named Atl sneaks in, on the run from a necros named Nick. She befriends a young trash collector named Domingo but will he slow her down or be the key to her survival?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, and Blood

Minor: Sexual violence

The villain fantasizes about secually assaulting and torturing Atl but we don't get many pages or graphic description from his perspective

sophiamoonlight's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.0

An einigen Stellen hatte ich das Gefühl, dass die Autorin entweder nicht das ausdrücken konnte, was sie wollte, oder Dinge vergessen hatte anzupassen.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Alcohol

maresuju's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Trafficking, and Kidnapping

30something_reads's review

adventurous 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

4.25 ⭐

I had such a great time reading this, especially considering I don't typically read Noir. I also listened along on audio while reading, and I think that really helped set the tone.

Dark, gritty, and very violent. This is the story of, Atl, a young Tlahuihpochin vampire who is on the run from a Necros vampire clan. She reluctantly teams up with a street kid from Mexico City, Domingo, in order to evade vampires, cops, and all matter of criminals that are looking to take her down. 

The vampire lore in this was just freaking fantastic. I loved the descriptions of the species and different subspecies and how the author wove it all together in this world. 

I can imagine this being a fantastic movie or graphic novel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Child death, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Grief, and Death of parent

perditorian's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Sexual violence

graycewith1y's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, and Sexual harassment

mswarning's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Sexual violence, and Torture

Minor: Addiction, Sexual content, and Pregnancy

arce's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

Oh good Lord, where do I start?
It definitely was not, what I was expecting from the blurb. There it sounded like Domingo was 12 years old and Atl more like 30+, and they were forming some sort of makeshift family. Very disappointing to read about two stupid teenagers (yeah, I know, Atl's 23, but her behaviours tells something different).

I hated nearly everything and everyone in this book, but least of all Bernardino, which makes him my favorite humanoid character. My favorite character was by far Cualli, the dog. At least the dog didn't get killed, else I'd have thrown the book out the window.
Chapter 32 was very bad, but chapter 34 was way worse, but the worst by far was chapter 40. Atl's now suddenly trying to behave like an adult? I'm not buying it.
I definitely wasn't sad about anyone's death, every single one was deserved.

The idea behind the different vampire species is however very interesting, and I liked the appendix.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail