Reading Skywards – Your Friendly Bookshelf

INFORMATION ABOUT THIS BOOK
Publisher ‏ : ‎ VINTAGE ESPAÑOL
Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 2024
Format:  Hardcover,  audiobook, and ebook
Print length ‏ : ‎ 382 pages
Genre:  Horror Suspense Fiction

MY PERSONAL OPINION OF “VAMPIRES OF EL NORTE”

This book has been on my TBR since 2024, when it was published. I have wanted to read this book by Author Isabel Canas, as well as her other celebrated book La Hacienda. I was so excited when, browsing in my local Library, I found the book. I read this book quite fast and, I must confess, I have a bit of mixed feelings.

The beginning of the book was very good. It was fast-paced, the early attack on Nena (the main character), the consequences of the attack, and the next nine years, Nena and the other main character Nestor live. Elena becomes a curandera, and Nestor (believing Nena is dead) works as an independent vaquero, saving money to buy his own land.

Then the war between Anglos and Mexican starts, Nestor returns to El Rancho, facing Nena alive, vampires, and the war. The best moments were the moments in which Nestor and Nena are together. The difference between the owners of the Land and the vaqueros who work the land is very clear and clearly written, which brought the intense drama between the characters. My least favorite part was the ending. It felt confusing to me. I expected more horror, and the horror felt short. There was suspense, and a lot of it, but no horror in my opinion.

I will definitely read La Hacienda from the same author, and I did enjoy her writing style, which in my opinion was very “to the point in a poetic way”

It was a very entertaining read.

PREMISE OF THE BOOK AS FOUND IN AMAZON / GOODREADS:

As the daughter of a rancher in 1840s Mexico, Nena knows a thing or two about monsters—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, moving from ranch to ranch working as a vaquero. But no amount of drink can dispel the night terrors of sharp teeth; no woman can erase his childhood sweetheart from his mind.

When the United States invades Mexico in 1846, the two are brought abruptly together on the road to war: Nena as a curandera, a healer striving to prove her worth to her father so that he does not marry her off to a stranger, and Néstor as a member of the auxiliary cavalry of ranchers and vaqueros. 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.

And unless Nena and Néstor work through their past and face the future together, neither will survive to see the dawn.

MY RATING: 4.4

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Isabel Cañas is a Mexican-American speculative fiction writer. After having lived in Mexico, Scotland, Egypt, Turkey, and New York City, among other places, she has settled in the Pacific Northwest. She holds a doctorate in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations and writes fiction inspired by her research and her heritage

Bibliography:

• The Possession of Alba Diaz: a Novel
• La Hacienda
• Vampires of El Norte
• The House of Gardenias