It’s always great when I A) read a book from my stack of ARCs, and B) it fits a Bingo square, and C) it’s also a great book. I expect lots of people will be reading Silvia Moreno-Garcia for Bingo (between the Latin author square and the Gothic fantasy square); I’m happy to report that this book, at least, was pretty great.
This is a vampire story set in modern Mexico City. It’s mostly the same as our world, except that vampires were found to be real sometime in the 60s. The world has shifted because of this. In Mexico, the local cartels have made it a point to keep Mexico City itself free of vampires, though they largely are in control of much of the country (the genesis of this book had to be, at least in part, Moreno-Garcia asking “what if the drug cartels were run by vampires?”) Domingo is a teenager living on the streets, making a living by collecting and sorting through trash. He meets Atl, a vampire (and therefore incognito, because the local cartels do not tolerate vampires) on the run from other vampires. And so we’re off.
There’s lots that I enjoyed here. The book takes place entirely within Mexico City, and I found Moreno-Garcia’s writing of the setting incredibly evocative. The perspective shifts a bunch, though Atl and Domingo are the protagonists. Other perspectives are the vampire hunting Atl, the high-ranking Renfield with him, and the cop trying to stop them all.
It’s all great, but three things in particular stood out for me. First was the atmosphere, as I mentioned above. Second is the action scenes: they happen with shocking suddenness, and are often over as abruptly leaving you with residual adrenaline. And last, and most importantly, is the dynamic between Domingo and Atl. It’s got a sweet boy-meets-girl thing going on, in the middle of all this danger and tension. And despite the fact that it’s a vampire story (with Atl quite literally feeding off of Domingo) there is no sense of a predatory relationship as there so often is with vampire stories.
Overall very strongly recommended.
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