Synopsis:
Vampires and vaqueros face off on the Texas-Mexico border in this supernatural western from the author of The Hacienda.
Nena knows a thing or two about monsters—as the daughter of a rancher in Mexico, her home has long been threatened by tensions with Anglo settlers from the north. But something more sinister lurks near the ranch at night, something that drains men of their blood and leaves them for dead–something that once attacked Nena nine years ago.
Believing Nena dead, Néstor has been on the run from his grief ever since. He has night terrors of sharp teeth, and is haunted by the life he and Nena could have had together.
When the United States attacks Mexico, the two are thrown together on the road to war. But the shock of their reunion—and Nena’s rage at Néstor for seemingly abandoning her long ago—is quickly overshadowed by the appearance of a nightmare made flesh.
Unless Nena and Néstor work through their past and face the future together, neither will survive to see the dawn.
Review:
Hello again dear reader or listener, I have another arc review for you today and it will be one of those you might need to buckle up for, yet again, cause I need to gush. I binge-read this in less than a day so now I’m making it everyone’s problem.
First of all, a big thank you to the team at Solaris Books for granting my eArc request for this book, in exchange for an honest review!
It seems I find myself in a bit of a speculative horror fiction kick at the moment and what better time for me to find out a book whose arcs for the US release I’d very sadly missed, is about to have its UK release and thus a new arc run?! In fact, I’ve been *dying* to read this book for the longest time and things kept getting in my way, but then Solaris swooped in like a bookish fairy-godmother.
In short, Isabel Cañas’ Vampire of El Norte is everything you could possibly wish for in a Mexican gothic, with rich folklore, beautiful and atmospheric prose, complex characters, and a forbidden romance rooted in cultural and historical authenticity, to die for. Not to mention how incredibly it shows the “other side” of the Mexican-American war of the late 1840s, in ways you rarely see in mainstream media. Or how the author navigates topics of class/social standing in a manner that was both realistic and genuine.
But let’s be a little more verbose, shall we? Humor me, you know it’ll be fun!
First, Latin American folklore is among my personal favorites for too many reasons to go into, but one of them is for how deeply seeped into its wider culture it has remained to this day. So, you can imagine how even more important and prevalent it might’ve been back in the 1840s! For example, Cañas does an incredible job in rendering the seamless coexistence of religion and folklore, of the secular and the mystical, while showcasing through her protagonist Nena, and supporting character Abuela, the duality of the curandera, a healer of the body but also of the spirit/soul. Or by presenting the very real dangers behind the myths of El Cuco alongside the encroaching Anglos and Yanquis seeking to expand their territories through force. In such a way this book is an artefact of the oral tradition it is borne out of – an intrinsic homage to the fireside tale or news shared and spread from grandmother to child, worker to worker, traveler to traveler.
Also let’s be honest, this is a western with a badass monster feature. I mean, come on, it doesn’t get cooler than this!
Secondly, the romance central to the plot had me in a chokehold. And I don’t mean in a sexual tension or tee-hee spice kind of way (there is none of the latter but some exquisite bits of the former, granted). But rather because I was on both of their sides in equal measure, which absolutely shreds you when Nena and Néstor fight. Because, what Cañas does expertly, is deromanticize a situation too often complacent in its trope status. What I mean is, we all love a romance forbidden due to class separation for example. It is a trope for a reason. But far too often the obstacles to overcome are shallow, or the story will gloss over the real reasons why a match of that kind cannot happen since true love conquers all etc, or finally, the characters do not really act as if they were from different standings. Whereas Cañas shows how it’s such a complex situation that it’s incredibly difficult to untangle even if there is a reconciliation. Yes, my feels where aching, but the casual way in which either of the protagonists might accidentally hurt the other even with an off-hand comment, was so genuine and brilliant. It perfectly exhibited the truths of the time setting and culture, while still wringing every emotion out of you, making you yearn as much as the characters for a solution that might not come.
Lastly, this book could have been such an angry story, rooted in warranted resentment. It had all the openings to be, be it from a feminist perspective, allowing Nena to fight and rage against the constraints put on her as a woman and the betrayals from those closest to her; from a class perspective, showing Néstor not only bristle but fight with blood and sweat against the unfairness of the opportunities and rights denied him. Hell, even from a socio-political perspective, showing the disparity in men fighting for someone else’s cause, the bitterness of a nation’s leaders not caring about the hardships of their people in any way that matters, or ultimately the nonsensical violence that accompanies every war of expansion. All of which shown not from the victor’s point of view but rather the often-overlooked side of the defeated.
And yet.
Isabel Cañas wrote a nuanced and emotionally intelligent story, deeply rooted in the bonds of love, honor, pride, and hope. Infused with just as much folklore and myth as history and realism, she presents the reader with a novel that touches on all of the anger, but the author does not allow her characters to be consumed by it, but rather focuses on everything that each character is fighting for and towards. Ultimately creating a sweeping romance that has you on the edge of your seat, makes you want to double check all the eerily quiet shadows for fangs glinting in the dark, and that aggravates as much as it delights.
Vampires of El Notre comes out in the UK October 24th, and it will not only make the perfect Halloween read, but it will make you want to read everything else this author has written or will write in the future. It certainly did for me.
Until next time,
Eleni A.E.
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