Isabel Cañas’s second novel, Vampires of El Norte is a blend of historical fiction, romance, and of course horror. Set amidst the backdrop of the Mexican-American War in 1837, the story focuses on the seemingly star-crossed love of Nena and Nestor. When they are teenagers out in the night, they are attacked by a vampire, which sets the course of the novel, separating them for nearly a decade.
Vampires and vaqueros face off on the Texas-Mexico border in this supernatural western from the author of The Hacienda.
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.
The plot is fairly straightforward, Magdalena (Nena to her friends and family) and Néstor are soulmates but separated by tragedy and time. Nena has grown up under the strict watchful eye of her father, honing her skills as a healer. A strange affliction (susto or fright) leaves victims incapacitated and close to death. Nena is quite familiar because nine years ago, something left her seemingly dead with Nestor to blame, causing him to flee.
Néstor, in the intervening years, has become something of a freelancer, taking farming jobs over the years building up his knowledge and money with the hopes of one day being a land owner. When The Mexican-American War gets close to the borders of Nena’s family’s ranch, Néstor returns to aid in the war against America. What he finds is shocking, he sees a living and breathing Nena. A Nena who is furious at him for disappearing.
That aforementioned affliction Nena and her clan refer to as susto is caused, as can be intimated from the title, by vampires. But Cañas’s vampires are definitely not the standard fare, or at least what modern, romantic expectations of the undead are. Frankly, it isn’t clear whether they are undead or something else entirely. They are frightening, definitely. Her vampires look human from a far, but are anything but as the creatures shorten the distance between themselves and their human prey. I won’t go into much more of the description and allow Cañas prose to reveal these creatures in their horrific glory, but damn are they a refreshing take on one of the most well-worn of horror creatures.
The plot is firmly a love story, but with a very interesting and complicated backdrop of the Mexican-American war and Vampires. Néstor and Nena spend a great deal of the novel trying to reconcile their feelings for each other. Cañas builds empathy for both characters, they are compelling, real, and come alive. There are misunderstandings galore going back to when Néstor fled thinking Nena was dead. They are both somewhat stubborn in how they hold back from each other, but understandable given their situations.
What makes this novel come alive is how strongly Cañas captures a sense of place, inserting the reader in this tense Mexican landscape. The backdrop of the war came across as very well-researched, the kind where the details and events of the world surrounding Néstor and Nena’s romance feel genuine and natural.
The romance, the looming war, and the inhuman threat of the vampires play very well together. These potent elements work in concert with each other and support each other as the three supporting plots of the novel.
Isabel Cañas is carving out a very special place for herself in the horror genre. Vampires of El Norte has wide appeal for readers who enjoy meticulously researched historical novels, novels featuring frightful creatures, or a novels featuring a pair of lovers trying to overcome the obstacles thrown at them to be with each other.
Recommended.
© 2023 Rob H. Bedford
Hardcover | 384 pages
August 2023 | Published by Berkley Publishing Group
https://www.isabelcanas.com/ | @ isabelcanas_
Excerpt available here: https://www.tor.com/2023/08/15/excerpts-vampires-of-el-norte-by-isabel-canas/
Review copy courtesy of the publisher
