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mlovesbooks's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Death and Blood
Moderate: Cancer, Misogyny, and Racism
Minor: Animal death
cadence99's review against another edition
- 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
felt like the character development was much improved from the books that I’ve read of hers in the past. I’d highly recommended it to anyone who can handle supernatural horror. A lot of if also felt very historical fiction heavy, with all the elements of old Mexican horror movies inserted throughout, and I really enjoyed that about it.
Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Bullying, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Antisemitism, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Biphobia, and Cancer
Minor: Animal death, Child death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Homophobia, Suicide, Vomit, Stalking, Abandonment, and War
savvylit's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
The mysterious sorcery at the novel's center draws from classic film techniques and Nazi views of "purity." Moreno-Garcia blends these two elements both skillfully and chillingly.
Ultimately, though, I felt that this novel was too plot-focused and could have used more character development. Montserrat and Tristán were appealing main characters - but that's what made me want more from them. More about them. Both of their perspectives seemed oddly predictable and surface-level. It made it difficult for me to feel their fear, which thus made it difficult for me to really appreciate the horror that was central to this story.
Thank you @netgalley and @penguinrandomhouse for the advanced copy of Silver Nitrate in exchange for my honest review! All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Cancer, Death, Drug use, Misogyny, Racism, Blood, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
devynreadsnovels's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
Moderate: Death, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, and Antisemitism
Minor: Cursing, Misogyny, Self harm, Blood, Vomit, and Alcohol
bkwrm1317's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
A bit different than other novels by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Silver Nitrate is an (of course) exquisitely researched and written novel, at its core, about folks who work in the film industry in Mexico, a film recorded on silver nitrate reel that was part of a magical spell, and a Nazi occultist. Our main characters, Montserrat and Tristán, childhood friends, both embedded in the film industry and starting to be looked over in their respective portions of the field (Montserrat, or Momo, in the sound editing world; Tristán in the acting world) as they start to get older and don't seem to cut it compared to younger, more attractive colleagues.
Perhaps most interesting in this particular Moreno-Garcia novel is the weaving together of the film industry of years past and Nazi occultists' obsession with film as conveyer of magic. Tristán and, especially, Montserrat, get themselves into lots of supernatural trouble as a result of messing with a film that contained the "unfinished" spell of one such dead Nazi occultist from Germany (this character, Ewers in the novel, is based on the real historical figure of Joseph Goebbels, former Chief Propagandist of the Nazi party (etc), and who was convinced that cinema was "one of the most effective propaganda instruments" (Author's Note).
As with all of Moreno-Garcia's works, the author also comments on historical and contemporary social issues like colorism and racism within México, love and the forms it takes, disability, homophobia and biphobia, and one could even read commentary of white folks co-opting spiritual practices of folks from the Global South into some of the novel, among others.
Spoiler ahead:
I hope folks enjoy this Moreno-Garcia novel just as much as her others. It felt a bit different to me (not at all in a bad way) from prior works of hers, so I'll be genuinely interested to see what more folks things once this book hits shelves in a little over a week!
CWs in more or less order of intensity/severity: some explicit detailed gore (of someone long-deceased, but would give this one as a more graphic warning; description is fairly brief), misogyny, death, ableism, cultural appropriation (done by the Nazi occultist because of course), biphobia, bullying (as flashbacks/references to childhood), addiction (specifically alcoholism and references to the alcohol intake of a character increasing, references to side effects of hangover, etc.).
Graphic: Gore
Moderate: Ableism, Death, Misogyny, and Cultural appropriation
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Biphobia, and Bullying
val_so_'s review against another edition
- 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? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Murder, and Alcohol
Moderate: Xenophobia, Blood, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Ableism, Biphobia, and Medical content