This is my third book now from Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and I’m constantly surprised by how much range she has. I’ve had a horror, historical fantasy/romance, and now noir and vampires. If I had to read these blindly, I never would’ve thought the same author can write all these genres so well.

My absolutely favorite part of this story had to be the vampires themselves, from the world they’re set in (and how their existence being revealed shaped the alternate world the story takes place in) to the lore behind all the different types of vampires. I really enjoyed reading all the information in the back of the book that described their histories, powers, and traits, even if it was just like reading a textbook in a sense. I did have to read up on everything early in the beginning, though, just because I was having a hard time remembering all the vampire types + shortcuts of their names at first. Once I read the descriptions in the back, though, I was perfectly fine!

The characters were also well-done, as they all felt like they had real substance to them. There were no real ‘good’ characters, just bad and less bad ones, and I liked how morality just didn’t really come into play for the most part, since it was about survival for almost everyone. Everyone also really had their own motivations for their actions, which their personalities and actions were really based around. It made all the POVs quite distinguishable from each other, which is always so helpful in multi-POV books. I really felt like I was in each character’s head, and that they weren’t just the same character copy and pasted multiple times. It was so well done that at times I was so icked out by the certain POV I was reading that I was wanting to skip to the next chapter. Of the characters, I liked Atl the most (I just thought she was really cool!), and Domingo second. Domingo was honestly like a golden retriever puppy, and while I get the relationship between him and Atl wasn't equal/balanced in any sense, I did like the dynamic they had, and how Domingo pushed Atl (since no one in her past really ever did that). The romance was a cute addition at points, though I did care more about the friendship/platonic dynamic of their relationship more.

My only wishes are that it had been a bit longer. I really loved the world and wish I had gotten to see just a bit more of it. I don’t necessarily need more of Domingo and Atl, since their story feels definitively ended, but I would love more of these vampire snapshots in other areas (though I loved the location of this book, I just want to meet more vampire types!), or even just the same area + more/different vampires. The plot of this book, while wrapped up in the vampire politics of the world, was still just heavily a survival/get away story, so I’d love one with a bit more of the clans/gangs, more lore, etc.! Also, this book overall was extremely heavy and bleak, which was fine and did fit the story/vibe, but that did make it hard to finish in the end too.

Overall, I did really enjoy this, and I can’t wait to read another book by Silvia! All I’ve seen from her so far are fantastic stories.