Silver Nitrate

Set in 1990's Mexico City, Silivia Moreno Garcia's new book Silver Nitrate brings me retro/vintage vibes perfect for those who love the mysteries behind “cursed films” and occultism. Silvia Moreno Garcia blends together Nazis, film culture, tragedy, secrets and mysticism. It's so hard to put into words how ‘atmospheric” this book is. Her writing literally pulls you into the story. I found myself invested in the characters, and even more invested in the layers of mystery surrounding the cursed film.

From unique, intriguing characters to mysterious plot twists, this book had me hooked for days, recalling all the details before bed, almost as if I was part of the story. I love when writing is able to pull my attention in this way, blocking out the world fully immersed in an alternate life. There's something eerie about old films that gives me the spooks and I live for it. Easily one of my top reads. of the year.

I'm not much of a horror girlie, so when I got an ALC of this book, I wasn't sure if I would like it. I decided to read it for the fall in the lead-up to Halloween. It's a mix of Lovecraftian-style horror, film, and Mexican history, which is a great starter horror for people who are scaredy cats lol. Moreno-Garcia touches on a magic system that touches on Nazism, racism, and classism and proves that magic is not just for white elites. The concept that Ewers, the main villain, was a thief who stole magic practices from other practitioners is similar to the way that colonizers have appropriated facets of indigenous cultures and twisted them for their own purposes. Montserrat and Tristán's battle against the forces they awaken with Abel is intriguing and kept my attention. I am a horrible audiobook reader, so it took me over a month to finish, but that's because I get distracted easily, so I listened in small chunks until I finished.

The book is slow to start, and the first 25% is very character-driven and focused on Montserrat and Tristán, which is why it took some time to slog through that portion of the book. Once they meet Abel Urueta, the action really picks up. The complexity of the characters got me hooked, and throughout the book, they work together seamlessly. It was refreshing to have Montserrat as a heroine who knew her shit and didn't take shit from anyone. The dynamic between her and Tristán was intriguing and a little codependent on Tristán's side.

If you are looking for a refreshing horror novel that is easy for beginning horror readers, check this out. This isn't a fast, breezy, and gory read, which I appreciated, but if that's your jam, this book is not for you. I have physical copies of Mexican Gothic and Certain Dark Things, and this is leading me to push them up my TBR.

Thank you to Libro.fm for the ALC, and this is my honest review.

Cool premise: filmmaking and horror/occult from the writer of Mexican Gothic. She seems to have researched the films and filmmaking elements very well. I also liked that it was set in Mexico City, an urban area with different cultural and pop culture references than my own. The story itself had some potential, could make a fun movie perhaps. It is similar to a Friday the 13th (television series about the antique shop, not the films) episode.

Despite the potential, it didn't hold my interest. It's a short book but there is so much telling rather than showing and repeating information. The author gave us the main character's specific thoughts and feelings all the time instead of letting the reader figure out what the characters are experiencing based on behavior. This tends to flatten out rather than add depth to characters.

Without the repeated information, the reader could piece things together from what they read. She either doesn't trust the reader to figure things out or is in need of an editor. I got impatient and skimmed a lot while reading.

The chapters where the conflict starts to heat up were more entertaining. Ye1, it is difficult to have a menacing villain when he's already dead. Yes, I know, Voldemort, but in Silver Nitrate, it is not as effective. His two grande dame co-conspirators were slightly scarier. I did like the inky dogs.

Thus begins my horror novel marathon for 2023. I hope they get better.

I didn't care for the pacing in this one (as I usually do with things that are rather slow and not featuring an extremely stylized prose), I kept finding myself wanting it to just move along already and the ending after the climax of the story just wasn't it for me. That being said, I really liked Montsserat as well as Jose as characters so it was still a pretty enjoyable reading experience.

more of a 3.25 than a 3.

There's always that sense of excitement when Silvia Moreno-Garcia has a new book coming out. In part, it's because you know you're in for something that has her signature style, but will not be retreading on territory covered in previous books. For the most part.

Silver Nitrate is a marvelous supernatural book set in Mexico in the 80s, focusing on their film and television industry. We follow Montserrat, an audio editor for a local film house, and Tristan, a disgraced telenovela star who's scarred up face has him doing voiceover work instead of being the leading man he was. Their shared love of campy horror flicks and a chance encounter with a retired local horror director, Abel, leads them down a dark path of helping him complete one of his lost films that's kept on rare (and volatile) silver nitrate stock.

Of course, Abel was working on the film with a former Nazi occultist who'd embedded spells in the film, and his untimely death left the spell chain broken, which Abel felt led to the end of his career and a string of bad luck. When Montserrat and Tristan promise to help finish by providing voiceover for the film and help complete the spells, their luck changes for a brief period before, well... as one of Abel's former friends Jose puts it, they set off a magical nuclear bomb and played right into that Nazi's hands of looking for immortality.

There's a lot of love put into this novel, with a focus on old horror flicks and Mexico's film scene and tons of occult stuff. Lots of research went into making sure everything felt right, and it shows. Much like Velvet Was the Night, this book is dripping with style, tension and is a joy to read. I found myself not reading too much at a time for the explicit purpose of not wanting to finish it too quickly, which is always a good sign.

Moreno-Garcia has a rare talent for making immensely readable books that still pack deep thematic elements for those willing to look beyond the well-crafted plots.

Thanks to NetGalley for the review copy.

I love everything Silvia Moreno-Garcia writes and she will never disappoint me. This being one of my most anticipated books, just because I love the author (it has nothing to do with the plot), I was excited to dive into another well crafted historical horror that has well flushed out characters. I'm not a huge movie buff but the film aspects of this novel were one of my favorite parts. It was interesting to learn about the history of movie making and the different aspects and planning that need to go into creating film. I had heard of Silver Nitrate film before going into this, and I have learned so much about it's creation, use, and it's overall exsisitence. I just wish that this book was just a little longer so we could see the true aftermaths of the witchcraft that was done throughout the novel. This was just another hit for Silvia Moreno-Garcia and I'm excited to read whatever she write.






Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey, and NetGalley for providing me with an eBook copy to review

The central plot is interesting and I liked the characters, but this could have been edited down a lot and little would have been lost. Parts of it almost read like it is the script for a movie itself, with a lot of explanation instead of action. Also while I found parts of Mexican Gothic to be genuinely creepy, the horrors here don’t quite hit the same level of intensity.

I picked up this novel because I was fortunate enough to hear the author speak (for free) at my local, public library. She talked mostly about three areas of her curiosity which led to her extensive research and then resulted in the story in this novel. These three are: First - the history of former Nazis and their interest in the occult both during WWII and then afterwards – often while they were in hiding/exile in the Americas. Second, the arc of a “haunted house story” especially as described by Henry James and other great writers. And third – which is the setting of the story – the Mexican film-making industry in the 1980’s and 1990’s as what had been a vibrant business was dying.

Hearing these story components helped me appreciate the novel much more than I would have without these insights. In fact, after the rather slow start of the story, I would have likely given up and put it into my DNF category. But, knowing that there was an occult-focused, “haunted house” story in the midst of so much (to me) uninteresting Mexican film industry setting, kept me going until the end.

And I’m glad I did as the story became more engaging around the middle. The relationship between the two characters began to pay off and the creepy occult aspects moved forward. And – no spoilers here – these together led to one of the coolest, wildest, and most enjoyable climatic scenes and final resolutions that I’ve read in a lite-horror novel in a long time! So, stay with it – you’ll be glad that you did!

I really enjoyed reading this book because it had strong characters, an interesting plot, and believable character development. I appreciated the cultural diversity it offered as I prefer reading books that explore different cultures over the typical European history and narratives written by white authors. Monserrat, the main character, was a strong character who stood up for herself and her beliefs, while also being relatable because of her feelings for the boy next door. The subplot between Monserrat and Tristan was predictable but still enjoyable. The final scene, from the burning down of the location to Tristan's confession, was my favorite part of the book. The author did an excellent job of describing the settings and the dialogues throughout the story. However, I felt that the book lacked the horror element that a horror book should have, and it felt more like a psychological thriller. The pacing in the beginning was also slow, which made it challenging to get into the story.

Silver Nitrate might be my favorite book by Silvia Moreno-Garcia yet! Combining film, the occult, history, cursed media, and even a will-it-or-won't-it friends-to-lovers arc, Silver Nitrate has a lot going on, and it's all awesome. Monserrat, a México City audio editor, and her best friend actor Tristan find themselves increasingly sucked in to a world of magic. Yet an old silver nitrate film may end up being more than they bargained for. This book combines elements of cursed media horror with a lot of fascinating information and presents a pair of compelling protagonists. While a few elements of the story didn't feel 100% paid off in this first read, I nevertheless enjoyed the book enough to call it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I love this author so much. Every book I have read so far, I have really enjoyed. Silver Nitrate is another to add to the love list.

The thing I love most about this author's writing is the atmosphere the stories set when reading. I get so wrapped in the story that it's like waking up when I stop.

I absolutely love the dynamic between Tristan and Momo. I've had a friend like this before so I could relate. The magical realism was also a fun part for me. The darker parts...whew...it was eerie.

This one would actually be perfect for Spooktober and I wish I had gotten to it sooner. If you have this on your watchlist or just enjoy this author in general...grab this and give it a read.

I sincerely appreciate the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

Burnt offerings for an invisible god, that's what nitrate was.

The plot of Silver Nitrate is a slow build that, just like its magic system, burns brighter with every page. Each puzzle piece of the mystery is revealed painstakingly slowly through long dialogue and endless research — but this pacing reflects the journeys of our characters. Their apprehension and disbelief is transformed with each close encounter with the supernatural, and their fear feeds into an ever-growing web of magic.

The first act is a bit of a slog if you're looking for a tension filled fright-fest. I went into this book expecting horror and found more of a paranormal mystery. The “horror” elements were more visual in nature than a horrifying scenario, so the scare-factor relied on the reader's imagination to conjure up images of bleeding ghosts and decaying corpses.

I predicted many of the plot points and I'm not sure how to feel about it. For me, the best part of the horror/thriller genre is that shocking moment where everything falls into place. You see the chess pieces moving across the board, but you don't recognize the strategy until your queen is already in check. But is predictability a bad thing? Maybe it means the author set up the magic system and the flow of the story well enough to be predicted.

Most of the tension in the first half of the book comes from Montserrat and Tristán's friendship — Tristán's reckless, disaster-bi personality versus Montserrat's closed off, protective nature. Tristán's grief and guilt over his late girlfriend versus Montserrat's unrequited love for Tristán.

When they watched horror movies, it was the sight of the monster, the Other, that terrified Tristán and the idea of becoming the hero that seduced him. Montserrat saw herself in the faces of monsters and did not wince.

Montserrat transforms through bravery and determination, and Tristan transforms through acceptance and selflessness

He was attuned to Montserrat's phases, like memorizing an almanac and knowing if it was a gibbous or waxing moon without having to glance at the sky.

it felt a little shoehorned in, but I can also see that their relationship progresses not because Tristán suddenly falls in love with Montserrat, but rather because Montserrat's love is something he's been trying to deny for decades. It's not a realization, it's an acceptance, which aligns with his larger character arc. That being said, I don't think the story needed the romance to bring the character arcs full circle, and it wasn't awfully romantic either.

Silver Nitrate