I've adored vampires since I was a kid, but it has been years since any vampire book has surprised me. Everything that could be done to the vampire had been done: Bram Stoker started it, Anne Rice perfected it, Charlaine Harris made it silly and fun, and Stephenie Meyer threw glitter on it. And countless other authors did everything else you could imagine to the vampire, for good or for ill.

But Silvia Moreno-Garcia has written a vampire novel that surprised me, and excited me, which is why I gave this book five stars despite some issues I had with pacing (and how Necros mind control works, or doesn't, but I won't spoil anything for you). She blends science fiction, alternate history, and folklore, runs it through horror and action movie filters, and out comes vampire drug cartels in Mexico.

You might be saying "wtf," but if you like vampires, you need to read this book. The glossary by itself is a diverse and rich vampiric world that made me crave more books. (Please write more vampire books, Silvia!) But you'll also want to meet Atl, an Aztec shapeshifting bird vampire, and Bernardino, who is a recluse who loves cats and his phonograph and is now one of my favorite literary vampires. (Domingo, a human, is also an endearing standout character. He's so good-hearted and dopey that I sort of had no choice but to love him.)

Certain Dark Things is not quite perfect, but it's pretty damn close, and I'm so happy that an author has made vampires, so ancient and so frequently poorly-written, feel new.