Reviews with content warning for Violence - Certain Dark Things

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

87 reviews

bobbyob's review against another edition

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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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izak113's review against another edition

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4.5

Spoiler

I'm so glad the dog lives and as much as I did cry when Atl left Domingo behind, I think it is the best for him AND the dog. They both deserve to live good and comfortable lives. Also, Domingo being 17 and having a relationship with 23 year old Atl *siri play All Too Well by Taylor Swift*. Ultimately, I really enjoyed this (the narrator was utterly amazing, like by far the best narrator I've ever listened to) and I think I'll actually end up giving it a higher rating after I give the ending some time to marinate.

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sarahbethhh's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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

2.25

Mexican Gothic made me want to read anything and everything Moreno-Garcia wrote. I was so excited to pick up this one, especially since I was a Twilight girlie in middle school. This one just absolutely fell flat for me. The interactions and character developments felt forced; the various storylines converged in a disappointing and frantic way; the plot felt weirdly cliche and like a stretch at the same time. Domingo, though, is precious and needs to be protected at all costs. He alone saved the story for me.

I'll also give credit for the lovely use of folklore that Moreno-Garcia wove in. It was refreshing and interesting, even if the story itself wasn't one that particularly resonated with me.

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chubble's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.25

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sophiamoonlight's review against another edition

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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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accorintijeanette's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Look, I love vampires, I love noir, and I love Moreno-Garcia's writing. I picked this for a book club and all three of us had fun with it. Love me some messed up vampire stuff. Girl if you're out there, I'm a huge fan.

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wayfarer_reads's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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daniellekat's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.25

Silvia Moreno-Garcia is one of my favourite author's but this one fell a bit short for me. I typically love the vividness of her writing and her characters but everyone felt flat and one dimensional here. There were too many characters for me to feel connected to any of them, but I do think the changing POVs was well utilized for this narrative. The book was well paced and had me engaged throughout. I loved all the vampire lore but it was weirdly woven into the storytelling (It often felt like Domingo's only purpose was to ask questions for the reader). Overall, SMG is still one of my favourites and I love the diversity of her writing, you never know what you'll get.

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ramalam98's review against another edition

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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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ashley_elizabeth's review against another edition

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dark

Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.0

I did not care for this entry from SMG as much as her "Mexican Gothic", but it was certainly an interesting take on Vampires set in Mexico. I could not get past the gross age gap between the two MCs, not because they are particularly far apart in age but because one is still a minor (age 17), so that definitely impacted my enjoyment. Also I found Domingo's puppy attitude pretty annoying.

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