Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

25 reviews

atlantisfrost's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

I enjoyed this unique spin on vampires. The historical/folklore details of Aztec, Mexican, and European vampires weaved through the story made it really immersive. Fight scenes were well written. However, the ending felt a bit rushed and unsatisfying. I also wish there was a bit more "neon" in the "neon-noir" - there were some elements that seemed almost cyberpunk (like Cualli), but it wasn't really explored. Overall, I find Moreno-Garcia's writing style accessible and elegant.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Drug use, Misogyny, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Animal death and Torture

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

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

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

sonygaystation's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gun violence and Stalking

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexual content, Torture, and Pregnancy

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

ramreadsagain's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

Certain Dark Things is an original and diverse take on vampires where various 'subspecies' exist around the globe, integrated to a greater or lesser extent into human society. Mexico City is a 'vampire-free zone' but our main character Domingo is about to discover just how incorrect that is.

What I liked:

• The cover!! Considering trying to find it as a print.
• The vibes, they do a great job of matching the cover. I love vampires and really liked the lore that is introduced in this book. Plus, the gritty, 'noir' atmosphere that makes Mexico City feel both futuristic and modern. 
• The world-building; a lot of thought has been put into vampire traits and history, as well as the state of Mexico City. It did feel a bit surface-level at times, but it isn't a big book and I am perfectly happy with what is there. 
• The Aztec inspirations, mythology and history were great to read.
• The plot, to an extent: it was fun and readable! 
• The commentary of colonialism under a vampire lense.
• The dog!!

What I didn't like:

• The tone: this is an adult book, but to me reads quite YA with a lot of gore. The dialogue felt immature most of the time, the sex was fade to black, and overall nothing had the kind of nuance I would expect from a book directed at adult audiences.  However, this is one of Moreno-Garcia's first books! I'm very excited to read more from her. 
• Furthermore, this is classed under the 'horror' genre and I think I disagree with that. Vampires don't always equal horror, and this is gorey but I don't really get any other horror traits from it. 
• I feel like Domingo should have been aged up at least a year to 18. He's 17 and I believe Atl is 22 or 23, which paired with the power imbalance of her being a vampire that could kill him in a heartbeat, made the romance just a bit icky. 
• The development of the above romance. It felt like Atl switched from 'absolutely not' to 'i love him' within a couple of paragraphs and I would have liked either more buildup or a smoother transition. 
• I didn't really connect with any of the characters. We had five POVs, and three of those were always very brief which didn't allow for any connection to them while also taking time away from Domingo and Atl. Ana was great until she just wasn't, for plot reasons, and I think Rodrigo's internal POV/motivations were unnecessary. 

I also just really don't know how I feel about the ending!! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Vomit, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal death and Colonisation

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

lira_the_recluse's review

dark mysterious 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Cualli, the dog on the cover, is shot in the final fight, but seemingly doesn't die as Domingo finds him and carts him away.