Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

52 reviews

anabookadventures'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

jdieperink's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Blood, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Vomit, Police brutality, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Minor: Drug use, Gun violence, and Medical content

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

citlalialvrod's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-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

3.5

Una muy buena historia dentro de un mundo bien construido.

La autora supo muy bien crear el folklore y unirlo a un mundo contemporáneo con sus propias leyendas, me gusta bastante y creo que se podría expandir de una forma muy interesante.

Siento que me hubiera gustado más si lo hubiera leído en una ventana más corta (leía un poco y lo abandonaba meses y así sucesivamente), pero eso fue enteramente mi culpa.

Es mi segundo libro de la autora y definitivamente la quiero seguir leyendo, además que sus historias son bastante versátiles.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Minor: Death of parent

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

iamsammie27's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Drug use and Alcohol

Minor: Death and Death of parent

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

rachelfayreads's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Rape, Sexism, and Sexual assault