Book Review: Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas

This page-turner of a Weird Western had me completely enthralled from beginning to end, not only because of the monsters lurking on the fringes of war, but because of the romance that was as star-crossed as it was surprisingly rooted in self-reflection.

Néstor and Nena have been sweethearts from even before they knew what the word meant. Growing up together in Rancho Los Ojuelos, the two are virtually inseparable, never mind that she’s the ranchero’s eldest daughter while he is merely a vaquero in training. The year that the children both turn thirteen, Nena’s parents begin to insist that they stop spending time together. Her reputation, after all, must be above reproach while they scheme to marry her off to the most politically advantageous hacendado they can find. In the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution, with more war looming against the United States of America on the horizon, stability is most reliably found in having enough martial force to fend off the encroachment of grasping Anglos.

In hopes of finding enough fabled treasure to just hire more vaqueros instead of relying on marriage to lend the rancho arms, young Néstor and Nena sneak out one night in search of Spanish silver. What they find, however, is less magical than monstrous:

Néstor stepped forward.

 

Nena hesitated.

 

She had believed Néstor when he told her the carreteros’ version of the legend, the lights in the night that marked the place where treasure had been buried. But she had not anticipated feeling so uneasy when they found it. The world felt twisted in the way of dreaming; needles skittered up her arms and down the back of her neck.

 

She wanted to tell him to stop. The air hummed with the prickling tension of a gathering storm, and like facing down a storm, she felt a powerful, overwhelming need to find shelter. To hide.

Her instincts are correct, as a figure out of a nightmare pounces on the hapless children. In the aftermath of the terrifying attack, Nena is proclaimed dead. But Néstor’s abuela is a talented healer, who manages to bring Nena back from death’s door. Too late for Néstor, though, whose grief and guilt have already driven him to embark on a nine-year odyssey of self-imposed exile. Believing that Nena has been lost to him entirely, he throws himself into his work as a wandering vaquero for hire.

When preparations for war summon Néstor back to his family and Rancho Los Ojuelos, he’s stunned to find that not only is Nena still alive, but that she’s grown to become a beautiful, accomplished young woman. Unfortunately for him, she’s still filled with rage at what she sees as his abandonment of her. Worse, this feeling has caused her to cling even more tightly to what she already knows. Since his desertion, she’s channeled her emotions into attempting to prove to her parents that she’s invaluable to the rancho, and mustn’t be sent away against her will:

Every morning, she rose early and spoke to Papá’s peons, soothing their colicky babies and upset stomachs and headaches and monthly pains. She shadowed Abuela’s visits to pregnant women and was an extra pair of blood-soaked hands at births. She mended dislocated shoulders and applied poultices to injuries sustained by bull or beast in the chaparral.

 

Then why, after so many years, couldn’t her parents see that she benefitted the rancho already? That she was worth more than a means to an end?

At least her skills as a curandera have persuaded Papá to allow her to accompany the men traveling north in defense of their land against the Anglos attempting to annex it. This freedom comes at a price, though: her father will let her go only if she consents to marry a hacendado of his choice upon their return. Hoping her battlefield skills will make him change his mind, she agrees. But then Néstor returns and, worse, is assigned as one of her escorts.

Their reunion is anything but pleasant. Any differences, however, soon diminish in the face of the brutality of war. The battle goes poorly for their side, and Nena and Néstor are forced to flee. Their flight is haunted both by the threat of roaming Anglo soldiers and by worries of being considered deserters by their own side. And what are those shadowy creatures stalking the periphery of the fighting, that seem to be tracking our once-sweethearts as they strive to make their way home? 

I enjoyed Isabel Cañas’ debut, The Hacienda, well enough, but she’s absolutely knocked it out of the park with this terrific sophomore effort. Vampires of El Norte is a highly satisfying tale of monsters and mayhem based on both the vampire bats native to Mexico as well as the actual history of that tumultuous region. It certainly taught me, in a most wildly entertaining fashion, a lot more about that chapter of world history than I’d known previously. The romance is also really well-done, with each characters’ motivations and fears made clear via their alternating viewpoint chapters. The pacing is brisk, making the book difficult to put down, and the pleasing symmetry of the tale’s construction adds an extra layer of sophistication to an already excellent novel.