Certain Dark Things - Rambling Readers

Corey reviewed Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Review of 'Certain Dark Things' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

In terms of its worldbuilding, CDT easily earns complimentary comparisons to Justin Cronin’s Passage trilogy and Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles (before the series devolved into gothic self-parody [Atlantis? Really?]). This is a Mexico City that lives and breathes, and a vampire mythology that demands further inspection. In one of the novel’s many smart moves, Moreno-Garcia grafts Aztec mythology onto her monsters, giving each subspecies their own specific traits and flaws, allowing the story to organically expand its world. Aside from the Tlāhuihpochli and Necros, we also learn of Revenants, Nachzehrers, and others, all distinct subspecies within the genus. (As a sidenote: in CDT‘s glossary is the suggestion that the mythological Wendigo is a subspecies native to Canada. More, please!) Moreno-Garcia lays her world out with subtle grace, leaving crumbs of information around, trusting the reader to intuit how this world functions.

Read the full review at the Redeblog.

Leaf 🍂 reviewed Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Review of 'Certain Dark Things' on 'Storygraph'

4 stars

Certain Dark Things takes place in a near future Earth where, in 1976 vampires were discovered to be real and not just creatures of folklore. Atl, last living daughter of a matriarchal vampire family, flees to Mexico City ahead of her family's killers. There she finds an unlikely ally in a down-and-out street kid, Domingo, who fundamentally changes the way Atl feels about humans. Though she's loath to trust him, and she knows she can't reveal the full details of her own past to him without alienating him, she needs all the allies she can get. Mexico City might be a vampire-free zone, but her family's murderers are still closing in on her and she can really use all the allies she can find...

A far more morally ambiguous, human story than you'd expect out of a book that also summarizes nicely as "battle between vampire druglords in Mexico City". …

Certain Dark Things takes place in a near future Earth where, in 1976 vampires were discovered to be real and not just creatures of folklore. Atl, last living daughter of a matriarchal vampire family, flees to Mexico City ahead of her family's killers. There she finds an unlikely ally in a down-and-out street kid, Domingo, who fundamentally changes the way Atl feels about humans. Though she's loath to trust him, and she knows she can't reveal the full details of her own past to him without alienating him, she needs all the allies she can get. Mexico City might be a vampire-free zone, but her family's murderers are still closing in on her and she can really use all the allies she can find...

A far more morally ambiguous, human story than you'd expect out of a book that also summarizes nicely as "battle between vampire druglords in Mexico City". Moreno-Garcia introduces us to different folkloric traditions of vampires, as ten different known species exist which draw from traditions all over the globe. Extremely interested to see some more of them show up in the sequel!

Greyson (they/them)

rated it

Nov. 29, 2021