Originally published in October 2016, Certain Dark Things has recently been rereleased by Tor Nightfire with this splendid new cover!

Afterward, Atl’s family got into the drug trade, but according to Atl, a new set of colonizers have taken over. And she was a beauty, with that black hair and the dark eyes and the way she stood, so damn graceful.There are a multitude of different races from Atl’s Tlahuihpotchtli clan of matriarchal run shape shifters, to the Godoy’s Necro style who can control people’s minds by sharing their blood. One of the five POVs is from a 17 year old (Domingo), but the other POVs are two people in their twenties and two people in their fifties.

Domingo’s life on the street made him the perfect person to become a Vampire’s assistant, his desperation for solidity, for something regular ensures his loyalty, and while Atl does take advantage of this, she also see’s the strength in it. Atl needs to escape the city quickly, to get far away from the rival narco-vampire clan relentlessly pursuing her. Warning: I don't know why people on Goodreads insist on classifying this as YA, but it's an adult novel. These are not your typical bloodsuckers, and I'd be willing to give the author another shot at a vampire book that didn't focus on these particular characters and plot lines.

I fully know I’m wrong, as there’s a lot of cool stuff going on in Horror right now, it’s just that the titles and covers aren’t as descriptive as they could be? He would walk around Mexico City in his long, yellow plastic jacket with its dozen pockets, head bobbed down, peeking up to stare at a random passerby. Only Mexico City has succeeded in remaining vampire-free, thanks to strict rules and vigilant organized crime. Despite my love for Silvia Moreno Garcia’s writing, I hesitated to read this novel despite adding it to my tbr every year since its publication.

Bernardino was the best character, but his motivation was non-existent and his believability was nil. But then there’s the ending of the book – or, more accurately, the lack of one – and it’s such a disappointing fizzle that I just can’t bring myself to have the same enthusiasm for the book that the rest of it deserves. While Moreno-Garcia brings certain tropes that we know and love into the story, the addition of gang style violence, her use of Vampire races and the colonialism references that come with it and her expertise in writing unique and complicated characters make sure that it will stand out in the genre. As you watched Rodrigo try to manage the junk-food-addicted Necro vampire Nick Godoy while they pursue Atl—while Ana pursues them all—what distinctions are drawn between male and female characters in the novel? She also takes common genres and tropes but then infuses them with Mexican culture, history, and mythology.

Or, to say it differently, if she wrote a book about Mexican vampires now, after having written something as fantastic as Mexican Gothic, it would be a much stronger book. The next story was of a pop star, the singing sensation of the month, and then there was another ad, this one for a shoulder-bag computer. Domingo isn’t even a person except in his relation to Atl, the vampire he meets and gets immediately obsessed with, only to immediately fall in eternal love with her. She has many dangerous people looking for her and Domingo insists on helping; even though he is clueless to the ins-and-outs of the vampire world.

One of my favorite things about Silvia Moreno-Garcia is probably something that frustrates a number of readers: when you pick up one of her books you’re never sure what you’re gonna get. This book has rock-solid world-building, very compelling characters, and a wonderfully addicting storyline filled with action and violence. I loved the sense of place that she brought to this book; I never forgot that we were in Mexico City. But he’s also trying to conquer Atl because he’s overwhelmed by her beauty, the tan skin that links her to her indigenous origins, and he can’t stand that she’s rejected him. Atl and Domingo come to rely on each other as they try to survive and ultimately escape Mexico City, while pursued by a rival vampire, the police, and the organized crime syndicates that have made Mexico City a no-vampire zone.It’s all in a sleek, urban fantasy/noir/cyberpunk-without-the-cyber aesthetic, which is right up my alley. Gangs, drugs and corruption run rampant in the capital, but what you won’t have to worry about are vampires. It also helps that Moreno-Garcia populates her Mexico City with a cast of well written characters, all of whom are just trying to get by in desperate circumstances. All these things make Certain Dark Things a unique vampire novel that transforms Mexico city into a cyberpunk landscape with the same charm as the modern city full of street vendors and pyramid ruins.