Name: Katie Allard's review of Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Item: Certain Dark Things
Rating: 2.5
Author: Katie Allard

Silvia Moreno-Garcia

From Silvia Moreno-Garcia, the New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic, comes Certain Dark Things, a pulse-pounding neo-noir that reimagines vampire lore. Welcome to Mexico City, an oasis in a sea of vampires. Domingo, a lonely garbage-collecting street kid, is just trying to survive its heavily policed streets when a jaded vampire on the run swoops into his life. Atl, the descendant of Aztec blood drinkers, is smart, beautiful, and dangerous. Domingo is mesmerized. Atl needs to quickly escape the city, far from the rival narco-vampire clan relentlessly pursuing her. Her plan doesn’t include Domingo, but little by little, Atl finds herself warming up to the scrappy young man and his undeniable charm. As the trail of corpses stretches behind her, local cops and crime bosses both start closing in. Vampires, humans, cops, and criminals collide in the dark streets of Mexico City. Do Atl and Domingo even stand a chance of making it out alive? Or will the city devour them all?

A Novel

Certain Dark Things

Cris Bee

I have only heard great things about Moreno-Garcia, and the premise of this book seemed so cool, so I had definitely hyped it up. Sadly, it did not live up to it. Super slow to start, it’s an interesting world and I love how the vampiric culture was tied to where they originated, but most of the time I was wondering where we were going with the plot. I don’t think it’s fleshed out enough. There were things I liked though. She’s definitely a talented writer and I loved Domingo and Atl as characters. Their arc was sweet. But the ending just felt anticlimactic and dull. 

Katie Allard

Welcome to Mexico City, an oasis in a sea of vampires. Domingo, a lonely garbage-collecting street kid, is just trying to survive its heavily policed streets when a jaded vampire on the run swoops into his life. Atl, the descendant of Aztec blood-drinkers, is smart and beautiful - and very dangerous. Domingo is mesmerised. Atl needs to escape the city quickly, to get far away from the rival narco-vampire clan relentlessly pursuing her. Her plan doesn't include Domingo, but little by little, she finds herself warming up to the scrappy young man and his undeniable charm. As the trail of corpses stretches behind her, local cops and crime bosses both start closing in. Vampires, humans, cops, and criminals collide in the dark streets of Mexico City. Atl and Domingo stand little chance at all of making it out alive before the city devours them all - but they are determined to try . . .

Anyaconda

I much prefer her newer work. I think I've almost read everything Silvia Moreno-Garcia has published. This was another one that didn't do it for me. The writing felt way more choppy and stilted, the fight scenes were meh and now I can kind of see a pattern in her characters. Domingo felt very much like Elvis.
Although this was not that great for me personally, I'll be looking forward to any of her new titles.

Maya Johnson

This story is like cyber punk in Mexico City and that was new and cool. I wish we got more descriptors relating to the futuristic environment but I didn't mind it so much because of the amazing clan building when it came to the different kinds of vampires. I really loved Domingo, he was so sweet that I got teary eyed while reading. Domingo is definitely my favorite character. I basically have an issue with the main character being 23 and her love interest being 17 and that's why I gave this 4 stars instead of 5.

Lane Hokanson

I wish we could do partial stars because I'd give this one a 3.5. It might have just been that I have such high expectations from this author, but this one just wasn't quite as good to me. That being said, it was an amazing and imaginative concept and the storytelling was beautifully done. The audiobook narrator did a fantastic job with all characters. Still recommend, but I'm ranking it lower than Mexican Gothic and Beautiful Ones.

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 Moreno-Garcia's debut, Signal to Noise, was named on seven year’s best lists including Romantic Times, BookRiot, Buzzfeed, io9, Vice, and Tor.com. Certain Dark Things was also listed on io9 as one of 40 Science Fiction and Fantasy Books That Will Rock Your World In 2016!

Maggie Gordon

I do not read much YA anymore. Nor do I read stories about vampires. But I was visiting Mexico City, so the idea of an urban fantasy set in a place I was about to see pushed me to put aside my preferences for a moment. I am glad I gave this one a shot! It reads very differently from most YA and most vampire stories. 

Domingo is a garbage picker. He searches the refuse of the city for valuables, watching the world buzz around him. One day he sees a striking woman on the subway, and in a chance meeting he is swept up into a dangerous battle between vampire gangs. 

In Moreno-Garcia's world, the world knows that vampires exist. There are multiple species, all extremely strange, creative, and much more frightening than the most recent sparkling ones. Atl is a descendant of the Aztec vampires, and her clan has just been wiped out in a drug war. She has fled to Mexico City, a no-vampire zone, to try and contact her mother's old allies so that she can escape Mexico. But her troubles follow her, and she and Domingo try desperately to stay alive.

Certain Dark Things doesn't have a very complicated plot. It is essentially Atl on the run from the Narcos, and a rather tragic love story that doesn't mirror all the other terribly frustrating ones from YA that I burnt out on. It's a dark, ugly book. There is no happy ending, no redemption, no perfectly wonderful characters hiding behind circumstances beyond their control. Domingo has a heart of gold, but everyone else is pretty terrible and the book does not hide their faults. My only complaint is that the story was over too soon, and I wanted to see more of this world. However, Domingo and Atl's story, though short, was perfect as is.

Lauren Sullivan

That cover is gorgeous! And hey, who doesn’t want to read a book about a vampire and her glowing dog?

“Bribes could buy almost anything back north, but this was not the North. This was good old Mexico City, which had fallen to the Spaniards but would not yield to vampires.”

In this alternate world, vampires were revealed to the world in the 1970s, leading to political upheaval all over the world. While the rest of Mexico may be controlled by various vampire gangs, Mexico City has only the staunchly human variety. Vampires aren’t allowed within the city, and this is enforced by various health checks and general human nosiness. But when the Godoy vampire family massacres a Northern Mexico clan of vampires, the sole survivor flees to the city, leading other vampires – and a bloodbath – straight to several unsuspecting humans.

“We are not very nice creatures. You are foolish to seek the company of vampires. Have you any idea what I am talking about?”
“Humans are not very nice either,” Domingo said.”

The POV switches between multiple disparate characters: Domingo, the street kid who’s enchanted by the beautiful woman he meets on the subway; Atl, the vampire running for her life; Rodrigo, who’s accompanying Nick, the spoiled Godoy heir, to kill Atl; and Ana, the detective who gets mixed up in all this due to one of Nick’s impetuous kills. I absolutely adored Atl, who’s spent much of her life as the younger sister of the heir apparent partying it up and generally shirking any form of responsibility. Friendless and on the run, she has no choice but to accept Domingo’s help. Domingo is, frankly, ridiculously naive and he falls for the beautiful Atl quickly, which causes him to make, well, some particularly dumb choices. He’s got zero idea how the vampire world works but he’s so earnest about helping Atl. I spent a good portion of the book wanting to either slap him or wrap him in a blanket and feed him soup, which is pretty much the reaction most teen boys engender in me, so, props for accuracy. Rodrigo and Ana I didn’t care as much about, though they served as interesting foils for the much younger characters: one committed to ridding the world of vampire violence, and one who’s perpetrating it. And, of course, there’s Cualli, Atl’s genetically modified dog, who is a very good boy. I loved his interactions with Domingo.

The pacing moves along at a breakneck speed, with very few pauses, which fits the barebones plot very well. It also makes this a quick and enjoyable read. While most things feel streamlined, it does dole out several extremely interesting bits of vampire lore. I liked the various types of vampires, especially the Aztec-linked Tlahuelpocmimi and the Revenants (super creepy).

“In the end, we are always our hunger.”

Overall, this was a delightfully noir take on vampires, highly recommended for anyone looking for a violent bloodbath involving not-your-usual vampires.

I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Content notes: (view spoiler)[extreme violence and gore (including murder), gun violence, death of a mother (retold), death of a sister (retold), animal abuse, tobacco and alcohol use, adult/minor relationship (17 year old and early 20s) (hide spoiler)]

From Silvia Moreno-Garcia, the New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic, comes Certain Dark Things, a pulse-pounding neo-noir that reimagines vampire lore. Welcome to Mexico City, an oasis in a sea of vampires. Domingo, a lonely garbage-collecting street kid, is just trying to survive its heavily policed streets when a jaded vampire on the run swoops into his life. Atl, the descendant of Aztec blood drinkers, is smart, beautiful, and dangerous. Domingo is mesmerized. Atl needs to quickly escape the city, far from the rival narco-vampire clan relentlessly pursuing her. Her plan doesn’t include Domingo, but little by little, Atl finds herself warming up to the scrappy young man and his undeniable charm. As the trail of corpses stretches behind her, local cops and crime bosses both start closing in. Vampires, humans, cops, and criminals collide in the dark streets of Mexico City. Do Atl and Domingo even stand a chance of making it out alive? Or will the city devour them all? At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Rebecca Bell

I really wanted to love this because I loved Mexican Gothic, but this was boring, predictable and far too YA.  Such a shame.  The best bit was definitely the glossary in the back.

Welcome to Mexico City... An Oasis In A Sea Of Vampires... Domingo, a lonely garbage-collecting street kid, is busy eking out a living when a jaded vampire on the run swoops into his life. Atl, the descendant of Aztec blood drinkers, must feast on the young to survive and Domingo looks especially tasty. Smart, beautiful, and dangerous, Atl needs to escape to South America, far from the rival narco-vampire clan pursuing her. Domingo is smitten. Her plan doesn’t include developing any real attachment to Domingo. Hell, the only living creature she loves is her trusty Doberman. Little by little, Atl finds herself warming up to the scrappy young man and his effervescent charm. And then there’s Ana, a cop who suddenly finds herself following a trail of corpses and winds up smack in the middle of vampire gang rivalries. Vampires, humans, cops, and gangsters collide in the dark streets of Mexico City. Do Atl and Domingo even stand a chance of making it out alive?

Sheila

Such a refreshing vampire story! Very atmospheric & full of background detail/mythology that breathes life into the world of Mexico with vampires. Dark, semi-noir, with effortless writing that makes this book go down as smoothly as a warm latté.

My only complaint (though it's kind of a big one) is that the plot was threadbare. There was such a focus on world-building that I feel the actual reason for the book got lost in the details. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this!

Sahi K

I enjoyed the whole concept of different kinds of vampires with unique powers and weaknesses and how they coexist as well as treat the humans in this alternate version of Mexico City. I thought the female MC was pretty cool and badass. The author’s signature writing style also works very well in describing this mysterious city as well as its inhabitants. But the overall story didn’t wow me much.

Jennifer

I might have discovered that paranormal books, especially ones with a lot of horror elements, aren't my kind of thing. Certain Dark Things is amongst one of these books that I want to give a chance to enjoy, but ended up falling flat. 

Anyways, I do want to talk about a few good things first and these few redeeming spots are what made this a 2-star read to me. Silvia Moreno-Garcia excels at portraying the Mexican culture with great detail, illustrating the diversity in the communities - here in Certain Dark Things she crafted a pretty intriguing concept of different vampire subspecies each with different geographical origins and characteristics. In addition to the diversity of the characters, I also appreciated how the author explored a few central themes which were closely tied to her own culture: religion, divinity, and sacrifice. I found that this is pretty well done through the description of the Aztec subspecies. 

On the flipside, I think this is one of those books where there are quite some interesting concepts but the full potential isn't fully realised. Personally I would hope that more about the vampire subspecies concepts are better fleshed out. Certain Dark Things consists of multiple POV's but there aren't enough pages to properly develop these characters along with the concepts. If this novel is slightly longer with better character development, I would probably buy into the characters more because right now I felt that I was being distracted by the sensationalisation & the graphic elements in the plots rather than the intended central messages Silvia Moreno-Garcia is trying to convey.

Personally my biggest concern with Certain Dark Things is its content. This is a highly graphical and dark read - so there are quite some content triggers to be aware of. Some of the major triggers in the book are: gore, violence, death, and murder.

Because of the large amount of such content stated above, I shelved this under "18-plus". 

I had like a few horror books in the past, but I don't really like it when the graphical content distract me from the essence of the story. My biggest issue with Certain Dark Things is that I felt that the graphical details came across sensationalised. I felt uncomfortable and it's difficult to engage in the story. So I think this is a pretty personal thing: while I found the concept interesting, I couldn't tolerate the horror elements.

It's a shame that I didn't vibe with Certain Dark Things, but this novel nevertheless has an interesting concept set in a diverse cultural landscape.

4.5 stars, rounded up.

This was such a neat book. I read it for an international horror challenge, but I'd put it more in the fantasy genre personally, though there is quite a lot of violence. I really loved how Silvia Moreno-Garcia developed a whole set of mythology for her vampires, including many different types with different strengths, aversions, etc. I'd love to read more in this world, but it doesn't look like this is a series, sadly.

I was sad about (view spoiler)[Ana dying. Poor Marisol will be without her mom now. And it's not addressed? It's just left like that. I get that she wasn't the main character but still, I wish that loose end had been tied up. (hide spoiler)] But overall, this was a great book. Super enjoyable, and definitely had a gritty noir vibe to it. In the right hands, it would make a cool film.

Nota

Certain Dark Things takes place in Mexico City, a place that doesn't welcome vampires with open arms unlike the rest of Mexico.

The good:

There's about 10 vampire subtypes in this setting. Sadly we only see a small portion of them in this novel ("sadly" because the others sound very interesting too!). You can tell the author is passionate about them, it is a love letter to noir and vampires, things she grew up with.

There's a lot of Mexican places and terminology mentioned, barely knowing anything about Mexico I had to google them a ton at the start. Exploring a new place is fun.

The narration is 3rd person, but also includes the protagonist's thoughts and the way they speak, I haven't seen that before and I thought it was cool.

The mixed:

The novel's execution is not ideal. There could be more done with characters and plots. When horrible actions happen you feel bad because of how horrible the actions are and not because the characters are being hurt, even if you try to love them hard (I cried for them, but still). They are flawed and interesting, but the time spend with them isn't enough, the constant shifting of protagonists doesn't help. The way their arcs concluded could be also better.

I personaly felt distanced by the talk of alchohol, street talk, and alchoholic bewerage recipes at the back, but I get that it fits within the noir of it and that it could be a plus for other people.

Conclusion:

It was an interesting read and I want to read more from the author, especially because they write in a lot of genres.

Katie

I don't know what is in Silvia Moreno-Garcia's head to get her to think of all these stories, but I want it.

This book was dark and gritty and FUN. I loved the setting, Mexico City, and I loooooved all the character perspectives I got to read from. SMG likes to really show you how despicable her villains are, so I spent a decent chunk of the book in his head, which of course made me hate him all the more and root for the protagonists.

I do feel like this is one of those books that is difficult to describe, so I'll leave you with this: if you like vampires and crime dramas, this is a book to pick up!

celeste

i absolutely 
  loved
 everything that had to do with the lore and the interesting and original take on 'vampires' that moreno-garcia made in this book taking influence from the folklore of pre-hispanic civilizations, specifically the aztecs. unfortunately, i didn't really care about the story nor the characters enough to fully enjoy this one.

Kathryn

“There is a phrase, atl tlachinolli, ‘the water that scorches the earth.’ My name means ‘water’ but it is also war”.

To me, “Certain Dark Things”, reads like an indie vampire novel/film, which given the “Note to Reader” I think that was the intention. 

This strange, gritty and dark story hits the head on the nail, and for the right audience they will love it. Sadly it was a little too noir for me, but I love the journey it took to be written and I’m glad I got to read this as part of my October tbr. 

3/5⭐️

Kristin Rocca

I loved the world building and the history behind the different types of vampires. The writing was also incredible! I just wish it were a bit a longer and we got more plot and less romance. I definitely recommend it, especially if you are looking for a unique take on vampires. 

Jo H

Nov 2018.

It started off great, the lush landscape, the rich culture, the strange and different species of vampire... but I wanted to love it and I didn't, I just liked it. 

I was initally glad of the lack of a romance arc and then became a little upset at the seeming turn towards romantic feelings that seemed to occur somewhere along the line. It just seemed implausible to me, given the types of people Atl and Domingo were. And I'm not sure when or why, but at some point I began to be less concerned at the outcome of their adventures and I think that maybe this book, for all of it's richness, was just too different from the type of supernatural that I'm used to, to make me feel satisfied. Maybe I just need to seek out more supernatural beyond my ususal types.

Cris Bee &
Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Reviews

Join the club

Cris Bee &Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Reviews

Join the club

Cris Bee &
Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia