Having only read Silvia's short story work and consistently enjoying it, I was interested to what she did with a novel format. I was not disappointed. Certain Dark things is a modern day, slightly altered reality vampire story taking place in Mexico City. The story focuses around Domingo, a young but resourceful street dweller and Atl, a relatively young vampire with family issues like crazy. Atl is on the run from family rivals, forcing her to hide in Mexico City where she must deal with compounded dangers on all fronts. Rodrigo meets her by chance and gets swept along into Atl's peril, for better or worse.
I've been hesitant to read vampire fiction of any stripe of late simply because the bulk of it falls squarely somewhere on the Twilight spectrum, where all character development is just a precursor to some human/undead bumping of uglies. Certain Dark Things avoids that. Sure, there are some romantic elements to the story, but they only go so far as to define the relationship between the characters involved, not becoming the all-consuming purpose for the characters involved to exist in the first place. All of the named players in Certain Dark Things have great depth of character, with no one being a throw-away. Silvia's world-building is excellent as well, creating a believable environment where the existence of vampires is acknowledged and how that effects the culture and everyday life. The work done into describing the various vampire types is complex without ever becoming unwieldy. The inclusion of Aztec mythology into the fabric of the story is beautiful as well, and should not be overlooked. I definitely recommend it.
