Review – Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Posted September 7, 2021 by Carole in Reviews / 9 Comments

I received this book for free from the publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Review – Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-GarciaCertain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Narrator: Aida Reluzco
Published by Macmillan Audio on September 7, 2021
Genres: Fiction / Fantasy / Dark Fantasy
Length: 8 hours 46 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Publisher
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three-stars

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.

I liked this book but I didn’t love it as much as I had hoped that I would. I went into this book with incredibly high expectations which may have been unrealistic. The book has been one that I have wanted to read for a long time so I jumped at the opportunity to listen to this audiobook. There were a lot of things that I really liked about the book and I am glad that I finally got the chance to experience it for myself.

One thing that I really liked about this book is how different the vampires were compared to most vampire stories. The fact that there were different vampire subspecies and they were all different was really interesting and I think that it added a lot to the story. Atl is an Aztec vampire which is bird-like. Atl is on the run from another clan that wants to kill her. She pairs up with a human, Domingo, who is completely taken with her right away. Can they stay safe if they work together?

My favorite character in the book was Domingo. He was all in from the start and really wanted to be the support that he felt Atl needed. Atl was much more complicated. She has been through some terrible things and the odds were really against her. I did love Atl’s dog and loved how protective he was of her. I thought that most of the characters were interesting but unfortunately, I never grew to care about any of them. There was just something about this book that failed to hook me.

Aida Reluzco did a good job with the narration but I do feel like this book would have been better if several narrators were used. There were times that I wasn’t quite sure which perspective the book had switched to which could be rather confusing. I thought that she had a very pleasant voice and was easy to listen to for hours at a time.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a different kind of vampire story. This book didn’t completely click for me but I do think that a lot of other readers will really appreciate the story. I definitely plan to read more fo this author’s work in the future.

I received a digital review copy of this audiobook from Macmillan Audio via NetGalley.

9 responses to “Review – Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

  1. I had a book recently that had a lot going for it to hook me in, but just never did. It does sound interesting with the different types of vampires.

  2. I had a very similar reaction to Velvet was the Night. I liked the idea of the book itself, but the execution left me wanting something more.

  3. That’s too bad this wasn’t a winner for you but I’m glad you enjoyed it. I’m intrigued by the different take on vampires.

  4. I really enjoyed Mexican Gothic by this author and so have my eye on reading this one as well. I like that it presents vampires a bit differently but will definitely keep my expectations down when I pick this one up.