Certain Dark Things

by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Certain Dark Things combines elements of Latin American mythology with a literary voice that leads readers on an exhilarating and fast-paced journey.

Welcome to Mexico City, an oasis in a sea of vampires.

Here in the city, heavily policed to keep the creatures of the night at bay, Domingo is another trash-picking street kid, just hoping to make enough to survive. Then he meets Atl, the descendant of Aztec blood drinkers. Domingo is smitten. He clings to her like a barnacle until Atl relents and decides to let him stick around. But Atl's problems, Nick and Rodrigo, have come to find her.

When they start to raise the body count in the city, it attracts the attention of police officers, local crime bosses, and the vampire community. Atl has to get out before Mexico City is upended, and her with it.

In 2015, Silvia's debut, Signal to Noise, was named on seven year's best lists: B & N's Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog, RT, BookRiot, Buzzfeed, i09, Vice, and Tor.com. Certain Dark Things was also listed on B & N's Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog as one of 42 books they can't wait to read in 2016 and on io9 as one of 40 Science Fiction and Fantasy Books That Will Rock Your World In 2016!

• ISBN13: 9781529421606
• Publish Date: 7 September 2021 (first published 25 October 2016)
• Publish Status: Forthcoming
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Quercus Publishing
• Imprint: Jo Fletcher Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 320
• Language: English
• Special: Signed

Reviews

[Quirky Cat]

If you're looking for a spooky read to pick up this year, consider Certain Dark Things. Written by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (the author that brought us Mexican Gothic), this novel very much delves into the paranormal side of things in a delightfully dark fashion.

In a world where vampires exist, there are few places that are truly safe from them. Especially when you're a vampire on the run from a rival clan, Atl can assure you of just how difficult that challenge is.

Her run brings her across Domingo, a young man living in Mexico City. Together, they're going to keep running and do their best to stay alive – and out of the hands of police and vampires alike if they can help it.

“Nothing is easier." Elisa said. “It’s just another way to get killed.”

I don't know how, but I somehow managed to miss the release of Certain Dark Things back in 2016. Thankfully, it caught my attention during the reprinting process this year, so I'm going to take this as a net positive.

Certain Dark Things is a very different vampire novel than I'm used to. Personally, I love seeing different takes on legend and lore, so I was thrilled to see what sort of world Silvia Moreno-Garcia created here.

That being said, I do wish that we could have had more time to delve into it a bit deeper. I feel like there's so much potential here and that we only just scratched the surface of what was available. I don't know; maybe that's just me being a greedy reader?

Don't worry; there's still plenty of blood in this vampire tale! It's actually quite a lot, so if blood and gore isn't your thing, you should probably find a different book to read. On a related note, other warnings for this book include slavery, eye trauma, and animal abuse (dogfighting). I'm not going to lie, the latter was pretty rough for me to read, and I probably would have put it down had I not been feeling so stubborn at the time.

Still, I think Certain Dark Things is a novel that paranormal fantasy lovers will really enjoy, especially if they like it when their novels get a bit dark and gory.

Thanks to Tor Nightfire and #NetGalley for making this book available for review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Check out more reviews over at Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks

[alindstadtcorbeax]

Star Rating: —> 3.5 Stars

A refreshing neo-nior take on Vampires, that takes place in the underbelly of Mexico City; The narrator was an absolute perfect choice to fit the tone of the book. An undeniably fun, dark & gritty, action packed, entertaining tale, & entertaining audiobook in its own right. Another winner for Silvia Moreno-Garcia!

A huge thank you to Silvia Moreno Garcia, Tor Nightfire, & Macmillian Audio via Netgalley, as well as Aida Reluzco for the audiobook ARC! This in no way changes or affects my review.

[Djilan]

A book with a different take on vampires and I think an interesting one.

Loved the story about Atl and Domingo and their interaction.

[ayla_abbott]

Moves fast in a setting far different from those other in the genre that I've read. The various types of vampires were fascinating and the outcome, while sad and bittersweet, felt right.