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moscat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Death and Murder
Moderate: Drug abuse
Minor: Racism, Cultural appropriation, and Toxic friendship
reddeddy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, Vomit, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation
mari1532's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.0
I read this audiobook through my local library.
Brief Summary: Montserrat, a brilliant sound engineer, is facing sexism where she is the only female sound editor. In addition to her struggles at work, she is trying to help her sister through her cancer treatments and be emotionally supportive of her childhood best friend, Tristán a charming but out-of-work soap opera star. However, Montserrat attempts to keep her life on track and her feelings for Tristán in check things are taken off the rails when she meets Tristán's mysterious neighbour Abel Urueta.
At first, Montserrat is intrigued by Abel as he is the director of a lost film that was never finished. As she and Tristán get to know Abel they learn that the film is shrouded in mystery because it's cursed. When Abel asks for assistance in removing the curse Tristán and Montserrat think no harm will come from helping him. That is until they start to see ghosts and shadows. Racing against the clock Montserrat and Tristán have to work together to untangle the intricate web of occultism that they've awakened.
Thoughts: First, I want to make it very clear that this book deals with Nazi ideology and cancer treatment. Both of these things permeate the book and at times could be very difficult to hear, so if these are topics you do not enjoy reading, I would not recommend this book.
Third, the book was a bit slow to build to the climax, but I found the story interesting throughout. Moreno-Garcia's writing is so engrossing that I didn't notice how long it was taking to get to the end of the book. I also found the mystery, occultist angle kept the story riveting.
Finally, I think that Moreno-Garcia dealt with several very difficult topics throughout this book and managed to do so in a way that made Montserrat and Tristán interesting and flawed human beings. Morally grey characters are so hard to get right in a book and I felt that Moreno-Garcia did just that throughout the book. I also learned a great deal about the film industry in general and loved how Montserrat was such a nerd (I mean this with great love) about movies and the film industry.
This is a good book that had me captivated until the end. I would recommend it.
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Bullying, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Nazi ideology, Nazi occultismgarrettcz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I struggled with this book. I really liked the occult and mysticism elements. I really liked the history tie-ins and details. I liked some of the details about the film industry.
I really disliked the characters. It felt like the author was going out of her way to make them unlikable and really awful to each other.
I felt the story spent way too much time on really boring, mundane things and far too little time on the cool things like mysticism, occultism, and the horror elements. The story would sometimes dip into horror but the scenes felt way too fast so the atmosphere didn’t build up enough to where I really felt anything from them. I couldn’t get immersed in the spooky/horror scenes to really care and I didn’t care about the characters enough to really be engaged by the action scenes, so there never really felt like there was enough tension.
Spoilers:
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I REALLY hated the romance ending thing. I saw it coming and was really hoping this wouldn’t happen. These characters felt like they really disliked each other and if romantic chemistry could be approximated with temperature theirs would be somewhere in the ballpark of absolute zero. Yuck.
3.5
Graphic: Bullying, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Drug abuse, Drug use, Violence, and Alcohol
Minor: Suicide, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail
achay91's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Toxic relationship and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Cursing and Racism
Minor: Drug use and Murder
falchionm'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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Gore, and Blood
Moderate: Racism, Suicide, and Toxic friendship
katndrsn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Cancer, Terminal illness, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Vomit
rachelunabridged'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
4.0
After having a blast with Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Mexican Gothic, I knew I had to check out more of her work. I'm so glad that I finally had the chance to do just that with her latest book, Silver Nitrate. With a background consisting of the Mexican horror film scene and Nazi occultism, it really snatched my interest right from the beginning.
Though the build-up was quite slow, I felt like the author did an awesome job letting the plot simmer for the first half of the book, but then really letting shit go wild in the last half. I had such a blast following the characters throughout this read as they peeled back the layers of intrigue and mystery, and I loved getting to linger in the tension and atmosphere that Moreno-Garcia built.
While there were some spooky scenes, I think that calling this a horror story might be misleading in some reader's eyes so I would actually recommend this as more of a thriller or suspense with some horror elements. If that's enough to grab your interest, definitely give it a read!
Graphic: Death, Racism, Blood, Car accident, and Murder
Moderate: Ableism and Toxic friendship
Minor: Addiction and Alcoholism
ecn's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.25
The writing was spectacular and the fantasy elements kept me entertained. I just wish it was edited a bit better and a whole lot spookier (then maybe I could feel fine with not dive too deep into the characters?).
However I will say the biggest win is having two messy/annoying bisexuals obsessed with horror (kinda) as the MCs. Huge representation win lol
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, and Colonisation