Certain Dark Things is the tale of a garbage reseller who meets a beautiful vampire on the run in Mexico City, and risks being eaten to befriend her. This read more like a short story but was an enjoyable and fast-paced read.

I love a good vampire novel, but this just wasn't for me. I think this is a case of the author's works just not being what I look for in a fantasy novel. I had some major gripes with the story such as the writing style and the plot set-up, and some minor ones as well. The writing style didn't feel like a well-executed story, it felt more like a stream of thoughts. While that is not necessarily a bad thing, it makes the writing rather choppy and hard to read. This was made worse by the fact that there were short sentences one after another. Regarding the set-up for the story, I felt like it just jumped right in there with really no preamble. And, as for me being picky, I found it hard to get past the character's name as Domingo just sounds like a game to me.

You can take what I am saying with a grain of salt as I did ultimately end up not finishing this. Thank you nonetheless to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to give it my best shot.

“Sometimes you have to sin in order to earn your way to paradise.”

Atl is on the run from a clan of vampires that has destroyed her entire family. She meets Domingo, a young trash picker. Despite her privacy and reluctance, Domingo wants to help her. He knows what it’s like to be alone.

Meanwhile, Ana is in charge of a gruesome murder—a vampire attack. She joins forces with a crime group, Deep Crimson, in order to fight what she thought she was safe from in the city.

I really enjoyed Certain Dark Things! The world Moreno-Garcia created for just a 280 page book is so vast and I really hope she writes more in this universe. I liked the mixing of paranormal and crime noir, and it was interesting to read a book where vampires are a normal thing and there’s laws regarding them.

Thank you to Net Galley, Tor Nightfire, and Silvia Moreno-Garcia for this review copy! Certain Dark Things releases on September 7th.

I've wanted to read this book forever because I loved Mexican Gothic, but it's been out of print for a while. I'm so thankful that Tor/Macmillan Forge is releasing it in a new edition. "Certain Dark Things" was dark, bloody, and fresh. It subverted vampire fiction tropes and was unlike anything I've read from the subgenre. I also love the social commentary and observations about prejudice that Moreno-Garcia incorporates into the text.

Certain Dark Things is full of things I already knew I loved:

Vampire stories? Check. (I’m such a sucker for them all. Pun belatedly intended.)

Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s ability to transfer her fabulous, gritty writing from genre to genre? Check.

A noir alternate history set in Mexico City (in which different species of vampires, of course, play a role)? Check.

The book is actually a reissue, originally published in 2016 and since out of print. I’m so, so glad that Tor Nightfire is bringing it back.

Certain Dark Things is about Atl, a twenty-something Tlāhuihpochtli, a type of matrilineal vampire who can shape shift. After the murder of her family, Atl has fled to Mexico City and is desperate to escape the notice of those who are hunting her. The other main character is Domingo, a garbage picker who catches Atl’s eye and becomes her “Renfield,” her human servant.

As Atl and Domingo work their way through a list of people (and vampires) who may be able to help Atl get to safety, they’re pursued by Nick, a Necro vampire, and his own Renfield, Rodrigo, who is doing one last job before he retires. Nick is desperate to capture Atl, who humiliated him, and Rodrigo is charged with keeping Nick safe and helping him to find their nemesis.

It’s a fun, action-packed story that gradually peels back the layers on this new world of vampires, filled with different species, new rules (they can’t make humans into vampires), and an interesting story about how vampires integrated into the world after their discovery in the 1970s.

Moreno-Garcia has an amazing touch with world building and with crafting troubled, problematic characters who nevertheless earn the reader’s feelings of loyalty. Domingo’s naivete pairs beautifully with Atl’s world-weary guilt, and the sense of dread that increases every time we get a glimpse of Nick and Rodrigo as they slaughter their way toward their prey is just delicious. (This would, by the way, make a great adaptation!) Whether you’re new to Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s writing or have enjoyed her books before, Certain Dark Things is a perfect addition to her list of phenomenal books.

I'm not really a fan of famous authors getting their backlist re-published because that work almost never lives up to what they're producing now. This book is no different. It's fine--I love vampires--but compared to her other work it simply didn't do it for me.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia has a compelling voice that kept me turning pages. I can't believe this gem of a book didn't have its glory before but I'm glad it's surged. There is a lot of action, a slow burn romance with a strong female character that's empowering. The story felt fresh, and the reimagined Mexico City felt super alive.
A must-read for vampire lovers.

In Certain Dark Things, Silvia Moreno-Garcia paints a lush supernatural world of vampires in Mexico City. She is able to build a believable setting with it's own politics and have each character with their own agenda. While this isn't my favorite Moreno-Garcia novel I am impressed as always at how much she is so skillfully able to pack into her stories. Her vampires are unique because she is able to blend global mythologies into her narrative in a way that makes sense, as well as what feels like an accurate depiction of how countries would react to the knowledge of creatures like vampires. I wish we got more time with Ana and really saw her world a bit more, and wish we got less romance towards the end as it wasn't very believable to me; But I do see how it all fits into the noir genre perfectly. I would recommend this book to anyone that loves vampires, film noir, or vibey settings.

While this isn't my favorite novel by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, I still enjoyed this very much. It is a book that will stick with me. This is action-packed from start to finish, and kept me hooked until the very end. I love her take on vampire lore and the topics and issues addressed.

Title - Certain Dark Things

Things to know:
-Release date: Sept 7, 2021
-272 pages
-Horror
-Multiple viewpoints
-Noir
-Quick read
-Vampires
-Moody
-Gory

Synopsis:

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?

Review: 4 Stars

Okay, I loved this from the get go! Within the first chapter I was picturing the story in black and white with the exception of the vivid colors. Such as colors from a television screen in a square, colors you may see after getting a hard blow to the head, etc. Vivid colors. Like cutscenes from the game LA Noire. I felt like in some scenes I could hear the 50’s background music. I loved everything about this book. It's so different from anything that I’ve ever read so I can’t really compare it to anything.

Fun fact this book was supposed to be released in 2016, but after the publisher downsized the book was dropped. They went out of print. Some copies were roaming around and the author thought that this book would end up a cult book. But luckily this year we are getting to see it released, and I am so glad that it was!

Certain Dark Things is not just another vampire story. There are many species/races of vampires who are so very unique in every way.

I really found myself relating to Atl, minus you know the whole vampire thing! She was a rough and tough girl who took no shit from anyone. On the outside she is so comfortable in her own skin, but on the inside she isn’t as sure as she puts on. I know this feeling 100%! Plus her whole aesthetic is a vibe for sure and I am here for it!

This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2021 and I was not let down! The only reason I rate this a 4/5 star and not a 5 star is because I felt like there was way more build up than there was action and conclusion. I felt like the ending was somewhat rushed. Thank you Silvia Moreno Garcia for reviving this book and sharing it with us all!

In a market saturated with romantic sexy vampires this was a breath of fresh air. More reminiscent of 90s vampire horror like Black Ambrosia and Sonja Blue, but written by a master of genre hopping who once again creates such a real and vivid world I swear I could be there, in this alternative Mexico City (in a world where Vampire races came out of hiding in the 60s/70s). And once again her unexpected characters reeled me in and had me rooting for them. Domingo, a teen on the cusp of manhood, a street kid who collects garbage, and an Atl, an Aztec Vampire in her early 20s, who's family has been murdered in a drug war. So unique and so interesting, the plot is pretty fast paced, with her on the run from a vampire drug cartel and trying to hide out from both police and vampires, it actually had a bit of an 80s cyber punk vibe along with those noir vibes I associate with Moreno-Garcia. It was great.

If you liked Mexican Gothic or Velvet Was the Night, don't let the horror/vampire vibes scare you away...this is a great book with a page-turning plot and great character development in the unlike friendship (potential romance) of our two leads, and in the always interesting supporting cast she presents us with: Nick, Ana, Rodrigo, Kika, and my favorite Bernardino (along with Atl's cyber punk doberman Cualli) who was everything I ever wanted in a stereotypical old world, black and white films era vampire. Yes there's action and intrigue, but its also very poignant with a lot of heart (on that note those looking for a scary vampire horror novel this might not be your jam).

3.5 stars
TW: drugs, blood, mutilation, murder

As a story about vampires in Mexico and their nefarious doings, this is sure to pique a lot of interest. It definitely piqued mine. The story was rich yet gritty, like expensive dark chocolate. But just like dark chocolate, it’s widely loved and hated. I really enjoyed this book, don’t get me wrong, however crime plotlines aren’t really my cup of tea. I personally found it difficult to get into, but I’m certain that this will be a well loved book when it’s released and I’d highly recommend checking it out if you ARE into crime plotlines.

Full disclosure: I requested this book because I read Mexican Gothic and enjoyed it and also because THIS COVER IS ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!

What an interesting sort of noir type crime story with some unique and absolutely fascinating vampires. I will say that this book is a slow burn - similar to that of Mexican Gothic if you read it, but without the suspense. It took me a bit to find my groove with the story because the different types of vamps were just mentioned, with no explanation of what they were (at least not initially), what made them different and with names that didn't lend much in the way of using context clues to figure out. As the story progressed, we did get that fleshed out,

I really started enjoying this one around the 15% mark as the plot became clear and I formed an attachment to our character Domingo. In addition to loving Domingo, I especially loved the Aztec and Mexican folklore regarding vampires which really makes this standalone stand out when put against other vampire novels.

Certain Dark Things is a multi-pov story in which we follow several characters and how different events lead them to intersect with each other. This takes place in Mexico, where they have extremely strict rules regarding vampires...so strict that the vamps have all settled elsewhere. So when vamp-on-the-run Atl needs somewhere to hide, Mexico seemed a good idea as a place to hole up. This is where she meets young Domingo and the two strike up a shaky friendship with one another. Domingo is homeless and starved for companionship and becomes enamored of Atl when he meets her. We also have Nick, who is a vampire that is pursuing Atl and finally, Ana, the detective who finds herself caught up in the midst of the very things she came to Mexico to escape from - vampires.

This was really surprised me as I started off thinking I would not enjoy it, but all of a sudden, it had me in its grasp and turned out to be a great read that will definitely be finding its way into my collection when I'm able to purchase this particular cover.

I really, really wanted to like this one but it just fell short for me. I loved the concept of vampire gangs in a dark urban fantasy, but I felt like nothing really happened in this book. The first half of the book just felt like it was marking time. I kept waiting for something to happen, but nothing really did.

I also felt like the characters were very flat. The most interesting characters throughout were side characters that we spent very little time with. I found myself not really caring about the two main protagonists, instead I just kinda found them both annoying. And I really wasn’t much of a fan of the romance that developed between them. Their relationship just felt so forced to me.

By far the best part of the book was the setting and the use of Aztec mythology. I wish there was more of both. All in all, if you like dark urban fantasy stories and don’t mind unlikeable characters, you may enjoy this one. It is a very interesting take on vampires and I loved the setting but I wish there was more action throughout.

Thank you for granting me access to this review copy in exchange for an honest review! This review will be posted on my blog pagesandprose.net on 06Aug21, and also shared on Twitter and copied over to Goodreads the same day.

If you are or ever have been someone who enjoys fantasy or even just YA fiction, you’ve probably went through a vampire-craze phase at some point in your life. While Certain Dark Things is definitely a much grittier and more horror-focused vampire story than, say, Twilight, I think it definitely satisfies any vampire-shaped holes that you may find yourself having in your reading lists.

I had pretty high expectations for this book going in to it, since I enjoyed one of Moreno-Garcia’s other novels, Mexican Gothic, so much. I knew going in to this that it was going to be very different than Mexican Gothic, but I was still hoping for a similarly atmosphere-drenched story. While I found myself to be disappointed that Certain Dark Things was not nearly as atmospheric as Mexican Gothic, it was still a fairly enjoyable read. This is a rather short novel, coming in at just around 300 pages, but I was rather impressed with how quick the pacing was and how Moreno-Garcia was able to pack quite a bit of world-building in such a small amount of pages. Now, this story is based in Mexico City, so she had the already-established real world to work off of, but I’m more talking about the world-building centered around the vampires specifically. There isn’t just one type of vampire in this book, but instead ten different types, at least three of them making a significant appearance in our actual story. Each vampire type is based around vampire lore from different regions of the world, and Moreno-Garcia does a wonderful job creating a rich sense of history and general background information for the vampire clans of this story without making it feel like a lot of info-dumping.

While I think the world-building was well developed and executed, I found myself disappointed in the structure of the plot itself. Certain Dark Things follows Domingo as he gets wrapped up with Atl and her trouble in the vampire-lead crime rings of Mexico City and surrounding areas. The story was entertaining, but I think it is too ambitious of a story for only 300-ish pages. We immediately get dropped in to what feels like the middle of Atl’s story, and even though we eventually get a decent explanation to what happened leading up to where we join in, I think that I would’ve been so much more invested if we actually got to follow Atl from the very beginning. Not only that, but I found myself to flounder quite a bit as I struggled to really get my footing in this story. We also swap perspectives quite a bit, not only between Atl and Domingo, but we also get to read from the perspective of someone in a rival crime circle as well as a police officer. This added more layers to the story that were very enjoyable, but again, I wanted more time with both of these characters. Moreno-Garcia did do a good job giving them a sense of identity with the time that we were given with these characters, but there were still moments and developments that felt rushed.

Speaking of characters, while I think that both the side characters mentioned previously as well as our main characters Atl and Domingo felt fairly solid, I struggled with the relationship between Domingo and Atl. I felt that there was a severe lack of chemistry, and the sudden change in direction between them just didn’t feel natural at all. Again, I think that this really just stems from the lack of opportunities to really dig in and flesh out the synergy between these characters that such a short book gives.

Even though Certain Dark Things had me strongly desiring an extra 100 pages to give us the actual beginning of the story as well as better character dynamics, I still found this book entertaining. Moreno-Garcia definitely gave me the gore and horror-focused vampires that I was looking for in this book. If you like creepy vampires and seedy cartels, then I think that you’ll enjoy Certain Dark Things.

This review is SO painful for me to write because Silvia Moreno-Garcia only writes stand alone novels, to my knowledge, and I want so, SO badly for this to be a series. Moreno-Garcia creates an incredible world pulling on folklore about vampires from across the world and from page one you are invested in the story of Atl, a vampire barely in her twenties who has had everything stripped away from her. A complicated mixture of teen and monster she makes all the same mistakes we would have made in our youth. She meets Domingo, a kind boy with nothing who makes his living as a trash collector. One night their lives collide and the rest of the book details how two people, two creatures with almost nothing in common, could mean everything to one another in a short period of time. I wish I could read this book for the first time a hundred times over. I cannot adequately express how much I loved this book. Just when you thought you'd read all the vampire takes, Moreno-Garcia gives us a beautiful noir thats part Bladerunner, part Blade and all magic.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC!

This story follows Domingo who upon chance meets Atl, a vampire with Aztec lineage. Atl is on the run from another group of vampires and Domingo agrees to help her flee.

I absolutely love books with vampires and this one did not disappoint. I loved how the book took place in Mexico City! I also enjoyed the twist she put on vampires by sub-categorizing them into different groups. The main characters were also interesting and had depth. It also deals with serious topics such as gangs, drugs, etc.

I highly recommend for fans of vampire stories!

I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect when I started this. I don’t think I have read anything classified as neo-noir, or what to think of something claiming to reimagine vampire lore. But I was a bit surprised how much I ended up liking the book in some ways and yet being a bit bored by it too.

The thing I really liked about the book and what kept me going, was all of the different types of vampires and the lore surrounding them. I also liked how different countries were treating them, once they were discovered in the 60’s. There was a lot of complex world building that was neatly woven into the story so it never felt like info dumping. Also the dark and gritty streets of Mexico city were easy to imagine in this slightly futuristic world. It was easy to imagine this story as a movie with the amount of detail that went into the world.

I did find it very hard to connect to any of the characters, mostly because they were a little on the one dimensional side. I just never felt like I knew any of them well enough to care about them. Atl was the most interesting vampire that we met, in that I felt she at least had some morals and that she felt some guilt with the situations she got Domingo into. But I never was able to totally root for her.

I did like Domingo a lot, and felt some connection to him. He was just a street kid struggling to survive in a harsh world when he becomes ensnared by Atl and her world. He was already obsessed with vampires and it was amusing how his fantasies were being canceled out by the reality. I do think that Domingo came to care for Atl, and she came to care about him to, but I am not sure I would classify it as a romance between them.

There are a lot of other characters involved in the story. Nick, the vampire who is trying to kill Atl, was perhaps the most despicable of them. He is the worst kind of vampire with no control over his blood lust. There is also the human cop Ana, who had just as many issues as everyone else, but I kind of liked her. She was fighting for survival to in a world that didn’t want her to succeed.

The story itself was also something that kept my interest, although there were times when the plot slowed down a bit too much. I liked how the gang wars between the vampires were something akin to the drug cartels we have today. Everyone killing each other for territory or for revenge. It is all a nasty business and there didn’t seem to be anyone who cared that much as long as it was vampires killing each other.

If you are looking for something different than the typical vampire story that you see in YA, this is a book you should think about reading. The different vampires and their lore and how they are a totally different species from humans makes for interesting reading. The plot of the story is also good, although it was a bit slow moving for me at times.

Cool plot, cool world. The writing kind of dragged for me in a few places, but I loved reading about the different kinds of vampires.

For fans of vampire novels, this dark urban fantasy is set in an alternate Mexico City. Alt is on the run when she ropes in Domingo to help her escape.