A review by apollinares
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

This book had been hyped up for me and based on that, I expected to like it a lot more than I did. I feel like a lot more could have been done with the premise and setting, and many aspects of the story fell very flat for me. 

Noemi isn't as one dimensional as her cousin Catalina, but she doesn't feel as fleshed out as she could have been. She's not vapid or shallow per-se, but the way she reacts to the (batshit insane, and in theory - horrifying) things happening around her is... underwhelming. My love for pathetic sickly men kept me rooting for Francis, but otherwise - the antagonists were predictable, Noemi was predictable, and the ending was kind of rushed? Lots of telling (rather than showing) going on too, and the main conflict/villain/clues towards what was going on, was revealed to Noemi through dreams, which is cheap. 

I genuinely wish I liked that more than I did. It sounded so up my alley, I'm gutted. 
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