Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

47 reviews

ahopper7's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

This was the most unique vampire story I’ve read to date. I loved the world building and the lore with the use of multiple different cultures to build different types of vampires. I’ve also discovered I LOVE neon noir in books, the gritty and dark setting within Mexico City was so captivating, I think atmosphere is SMG biggest strength. I was also here for the different POVs and the way the plot progressed, and I think the bitter sweet ending was the best suited for the type of story.

This book was about to be a 3 star if she had killed off the dog though, I was going to be pissed buuuut she didn’t.

The only reason this wasn’t a 5 star for me is the romance. Just like with Mexican Gothic, it felt completely unnecessary. With Domingo and Atl, their dynamic made way more sense as friends/like family vibes,

and I’ll always get the ick when there’s a sex scene with an under 18 character and someone older.

So I would have enjoyed this story a lot more without that subplot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Sexual content, and Vomit

abby_can_read's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

3.0

📱
This book was fine. It wasn't for me. I really wanted to like it. The worldbuilding is what interested me the most. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Drug use, and Gun violence

Minor: Animal death

ford_defect's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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: Body horror, Child death, Violence, Blood, and Abandonment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Vomit

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

dreaming_cosmos'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? It's complicated

4.0

The romance plot is very annoying, imo, but the rest of the story is compelling enough to get me through it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Misogyny, and Kidnapping

slimshaedy92's review

adventurous dark 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

5.0

I love me some built out vampire lore inspired by real world history and folklore! This book gives neon-nighttime (cyberpunk 2077?) vibes and variations on the vampire (as well as silly tidbits we love to see included) that I haven’t seen before but fit wonderfully in their respective cultures.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gun violence

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

bookswithpao's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Violence, Trafficking, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Hate crime, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Child death, Drug use, Excrement, and Alcohol

mengzhenreads's review against another edition

dark 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

Gritty and gory neo-noir thriller about vampires. The world building in this story was totally insane and I was absolutely here for it. Gruesome in the best way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Gun violence

Minor: Animal cruelty and Drug use

bessadams's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Gun violence, and Death of parent

queer_bookwyrm's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

3.5 ⭐ CW: Violence, blood, gore, violent/gruesome deaths, death of a parent, substance use, sex work mention, sexual content, colonization mention, dog fighting mention

Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia is neon-noir horror that gave me Bladerunner vibes, but instead of androids, vampires. I have found that this author is very hit or miss for me. I did enjoy parts of the novel, but it was just so slow for such a short book. It was also very gruesome, which is not my favorite thing. 

We follow Atl, a birdlike vampire on the run from a rival vampire gang. We get several povs from people either going after Atl or assisting her. Domingo is the sweet, naive one that should be protected at all costs. Atl appears to be a badass, but is really a spoiled vampire who made a grave mistake. I really didn't like Nick, the vampire from the rival gang. He was violent and misogynistic. 

As I said, this was incredibly slow and not much character development. I did like learning about the different types of vampires from different cultures. It was cool seeing Aztec culture represented through Atl. This was just fine. I'm wondering if I should continue to read this author. I really enjoyed Gods of Jade and Shadow, but that's about it so far. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Death of parent and Colonisation

Minor: Animal cruelty

megsbookishadventures's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Drug abuse, Grief, Death of parent, and Colonisation

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Police brutality, and Grief