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?
This month's pick for Maven's Vampire Book Club is a recent reprint following the author's wildly successful Mexican Gothic, which I admittedly haven't read yet. So, other than knowing that this author has gotten a lot of praise for her suspenseful and beautiful writing, I had absolutely no idea what I was getting into. I'm not one who usually enjoys gritty stories (I'm a bit put off by the mention of "narco-vampires"), but a kick-ass vampire on the run with a charming human sounds like it could be fun, right? Right?
Unfortunately, I don't think this book was for me. I'm very escapist in my reading preferences, and while I like there to be stakes and drama in what I read, I also revel in fantasy and good feelings. This story is dark, gritty, and a bit painful in the end, though there are a few glimmers of hope sprinkled here and there. Still, I don't think my feelings are going to express as much love and adoration as others, so just getting that out there.
I did like the characters. Yes, even the bad ones. Atl is the youngest in a family of narco vampires, now on the run from a warring clan. She's been pampered most of her life, but still holds her ancestry—which dates back to the Aztec empire—in highest regard and tries to hold herself to the same standards, even hampered by inexperience and dire circumstances. She's got a bit of an inferiority complex to her older sister, who was the one raised to carry on the family legacy, and with her family's fate now on her shoulders she's scrambling to keep up appearances and traditions, all while staying alive.
That's where Domingo comes in. Living on the streets, collecting trash for a meager existence, he's nonetheless fairly content with life. Until he sees a beautiful woman on the subway, that is. Raised in one of the only cities in Mexico that bans vampires, his main form of knowledge of them comes from comics and media, and he's more than eager to step into the mysterious world Atl represents. He's a bit of a dreamer, an idealist, and though his youthful naivité can come off as annoying at times, like an over-exuberant puppy he's bound to grow on you given enough time.
The rest of the main cast consists of Nick and Rodrigo, Atl's pursuers and all-around bad news; Ana, an underdog cop with experience killing vampires; and Bernardino, an ancient vampire who has an equal chance providing aid or death to our protagonists. Each of them gets either some time as the POV, or, in the case of Bernardino, a healthy amount of presence and dialogue. Nick was fun to hate, with a personality that matched his horrific abilities, while Rodrigo was the epitome of a salary-man, just wanting to get his job done so he could retire, which made it hard not to root for him a little bit. Ana was by far the most sympathetic of the antagonists, just wanting to keep her daughter safe and provide for her. And Bernardino was by far the most charismatic, being an homage of sorts to the author's favorite vampire actor, Germán Robles, and provided the majority of explanation and advice to our young protagonists.
I also loved the setting for the book. Not only was this Mexico City a fascinating mix of grit and punk, but the world as a whole is brimming with stories yet to be told. There is just so much vampire lore (there are 10 unique types detailed in the book's Encyclopaedia Vampirica), as well as this new disease, Croneng's, running through the human population, a drug trade largely controlled by vampires, and genetically modified animals—but so little of it actually made it into the story! Croneng's especially was made a big deal, but it only factored into the story through one Sanitation sweep (which then allowed for Atl & Domingo to be discovered later) and was then dropped. Sure, the disease scare causing the sweeps further causing the characters to clash was fairly clever, but dropping it once that purpose was served was a bit disappointing. Same with the name-drops of the other vampire clans, and the sci-fi aesthetic: I want more!
I will say, the three vampires we did get were all distinct, powerful, and utterly fascinating. The Necros and the Revenant are both a conglomeration of the Dracula legend, with Necros seeming the closest to their feeding practices and strength, and the Revenant being the more posh and mired in traditions. Meanwhile Atl's Tlāhuihpochtli heritage was completely new to me, stemming from Aztec culture/myths and appearing a bit more magic-based than pure science. But one common thread that all vampires share in this world is that they are born, not made—meaning humans cannot be changed into vampires, despite what pop culture might fantasize about.
Another commonality is that vampires, no matter their clan/type, are ruled by their hunger. As Bernardino warns Domingo later in the book, though they look the same on the outside, they are not the same inside. It's common to look at vampire stories and examine the metaphor the vampire serves. The author said in an interview that she had written the vampires to "touch upon class," which can be seen throughout as these vampires are constantly flaunting their wealth (or at least financial comfort), and their power is unrivaled even when it comes to the police. Even with weaknesses such as silver and sunlight, these vampires can't be taken down by mere humans. And yet Domingo and Atl seem to have a spark of something... Yeah, we've seen this romance song and dance before with a human and a vampire, but this story is not a fairytale.
And that's where I started falling off of loving this book. Like I said earlier, I mainly go to books for escapism and stories that inspire hope or love or some such emotion. But this...this had death and pain and suffering and drugs and torture and... Well, you get the gist. And to top it all off, we get that ending.
That ending, it sat with me. And then the book club discussed it and I sat and thought about it some more. After all that struggle, all that death, and that climactic showdown, was that really the message this book is leaving us? And after thinking some more... ...I convinced myself I really liked this book after all. Yes, even with the death...
Well, I didn't agree with all the deaths, but the story being a neo-noir, I did kinda expect it. And the book club did help me with interpreting one of the more tragic deaths, so I wasn't angry at the book anymore either. Moral of the story: book clubs are great!
Overall, it took a while, but like the puppy that is Domingo, this story grew on me. It's definitely not for everyone, with dark and adult themes very much overwhelming the 'vampire romance' vibes, but so long as you're prepared for a somewhat gritty vampire noir, I think you'll enjoy it as much as I did. The fast-paced writing and unique world made it easy to fly through, though you may, like me, need more time added to the end to fully digest everything, but luckily the newer version offers just that with its Encyclopaedia Vampirica, author interview, discussion questions, and more. So if you're in the mood for a stand-alone vampire book with unique lore, strong female characters, a bit of sci-fi punk, and a lot lurking beneath the surface, then try sinking your teeth into this one.
Read by Dan Bittner
Unabridged Length: 9.4 Hours
Listened at 2x Speed
Unabridged Length: 9.4 Hours
Listened at 2x Speed
First things first: I read the 2021 edition of this book. But I listened to the 2016 edition. As you can probably tell by the fact I'm bringing it up at all, this made my experience a bit strange. (My library didn't get in the new edition in in time for my book club read.)
Be assured that this was in no way due to Dan Bittner's performance. He brought tons of life and personality into each of the characters, male and female alike, and made each one so distinct. Bernardino especially was a treat to hear, reminding me a bit of Ricardo Montalbán. And though I'm sure the new reader (Aida Reluzco) brings a great performance and authenticity of her own (I was a bit surprised that they'd picked a white male reader for a book largely starring a latina character), it truly was a pleasure to experience Bittner's talents. My only critique was that he kept pronouncing Quinto's name differently (switching between a hard 'Kinto' [traditional Spanish pronunciation] and a softer 'Kwinto' [pronouncing the u]), which was especially notable when it came up multiple times in the same paragraph.
Unfortunately, the differences in the text were a bit more than Bittner's performance could overcome for me. Mostly it was just a couple lines added here and there, but every so often there were entire paragraphs added (or rearranged) in the 2021 edition, and the final confrontation was nigh near impossible to follow between the two editions. Obviously if you're not reading along, you can go with either recording, but if you are reading along, definitely choose the edition/cover that matches what you're holding.
From what I noticed, most of the additions/changes between the editions were further fleshing out the characters, especially Atl. I get the feeling that perhaps the feedback from the initial printing was that readers didn't understand her motivations or see her change through the story, so more was added to show her progression and thoughts through the story, aiding to her actions at the end. Hard to say if you'll get the same feeling in the 2016 edition, since I had the added text in front of me, but the consensus in the book club was that she came across fine on the whole, so no real loss either way.
Overall, this audio was a great listen, but you might want to check out the newly revised version. I think Bittner's performance was spectacular, but I can definitely understand why they chose to recast a female Latinx reader for the update. I'd definitely be willing to compare and contrast both performances in the future, but for now I can still recommend this one for its great voice acting and delivery on the whole.
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