Book Review: “Vampires of El Norte” by Isabel Cañas

Dec 26

Håfa adai and welcome to spooky season, my favorite month of the year! Throughout October 2025, I will publish reviews for works of horror, suspense, and the supernatural. The first two weeks of October also overlap with Hispanic Heritage Month in the United States! So, in these first two weeks of October, I will post reviews for works of horror written by Hispanic authors. My third pick for Hispanic Heritage Month and first pick for spooky season is Vampires of El Norte, by Isabel Cañas.

This book review consists of two parts: a spoiler-free plot summary and my thoughts on the story. In the second part, I give my personal rating and break down the setting and worldbuilding, storytelling, cast of characters, and themes. There may be some lightweight spoilers—such as how characters interact with each other and the world around them—but I will not give away any major plot twists or endings. I want to share my opinions of the book and maybe encourage you to purchase a copy of your own.

Click on the tags at the bottom of this post to see all reviews with the same tags in the Horror bookshelf.

Spoiler-Free Plot Summary

Nena, the daughter of a patron, was thirteen years old when she snuck away from her family’s ranch of Los Ojuelos one night to go hunting for Spanish silver with her best friend, the son of a vaquero. What was supposed to be a moonlight adventure quickly turns to a nightmare when a strange creature rushes from the shadows to attack her. Years would pass before she would see Néstor again. The young woman, now training as a curandera, no longer views the man who returns to her as the boy who left that night.

Néstor has lived the life of a scoundrel after that night the parents of his best friend—and only love—told him that she had died because of him. Working as a vaquero, he moves from ranch and ranch. Refusing to give his heart to anyone else, he hops from woman to woman. But everything he thought to be true, that he was choosing to run from, is shattered when he returns to Los Ojuelos. The young man, now a soldier defending his home from advancing settlers, grapples with two realities that cannot exist at the same time.

When the United States declares war with Mexico in 1846, Nena and Néstor are forced to face that the present no longer mirrors the past. And in the aftermath of the Battle of Palo Alto, something far more sinister and unexplainable than a conflict between nations and the unanswered questions about what they could to be each other follows them from a too-close distance. Nena and Néstor must work together and survive, or separate again and possibly lose everything.

My Thoughts on Vampires of El Norte: 5 stars!

Set in Texas amidst the years leading up to, during, and after the Mexican-American War of 1846 to 1848, Vampires of El Norte takes the reader on an emotional journey of pride in land and tradition, social prejudice, and a love that will not be defined or constricted by arbitrary rules. Vampires of El Norte follows the experiences of Nena and Néstor from chapter to chapter with a third-person limited narrator.

Isabel Cañas’ incredible skill as a storyteller is exemplified in the critiques and themes she explores in her work. Four incredible themes stood out to me as I experienced Vampires of El Norte: (1) pride in land and tradition; (2) prejudice informed by societal rules; (3) the poison of misbelief; and (4) the power of standing up to generational trauma and domestic violence. I fully intend on revisiting this story in the future, so there will most likely be more themes that stand out to me later. But, for now, I want to focus on these four. I will be intentionally vague in detailing these themes to avoid giving away any major spoilers.

First, almost every aspect of Nena’s worldview is informed by her and her family’s pride in their land (Los Ojuelos) and the traditions she believes they are tasked with upholding. Pride in land and tradition are not inherently bad things. But, for Nena as a young woman coming of age in the 1840s, it means that her view of herself in the high society world she inhabits is that she is an object that can be traded, even if her personality contradicts that view. Second, Néstor is deemed “unworthy” of Nena not because he is a bad person, but because the societal prejudices of the time and place they live have determined that the son of a vaquero is not “good enough” for the daughter of a patron.

Third, so much of what Nena and Néstor experience when they are reunited is poisoned by misbelief. Nena holds on to a misbelief about why Néstor left. Néstor misbelieves that the girl he knew 9 years ago is (or should be) the same person as the young woman he sees when he returns to Los Ojuelos. It is not until they stop drinking these poisons that they are able to mend things between them. And fourth, it is not until Nena and Néstor acknowledge the pride, prejudice, and poison they are partaking in that they are able to address their generational trauma and confront the forms of domestic violence they each experience under the patron. The power they achieve through this process is how they are able to work towards the future.

My overall rating for Isabel Cañas’ Vampires of El Norte is 5 out of 5 stars! This story took me by surprise! Isabel Cañas uses visceral prose and vivid imagery to weave a heartbreaking tale of love challenged by long-held misinformation and strict societal norms. The story consists of many complex layers. The characters are wonderfully nuanced. And the themes explored can speak to many who have doubted their right to occupy space and experience love in a given community. I highly recommend Vampires of El Norte to fans of horror (especially of the cryptid variety), historical fiction, and romance that rises to the challenges of its time.

Dångkulo' na' saina ma'åse'! Thank you so much for reading my review of Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas.

Rating Cheat Sheet

4.75 - 5.00 stars: Everyone should read this book! (If you’re into that sort of thing.)
4.00 - 4.50 stars: I appreciated many aspects of this book. I recommend it!
3.00 - 3.75 stars: I liked some aspects of this book. I won’t revisit it, but someone else might really like it.
2.00 - 2.75 stars: There were some things I appreciated about this book, but I do not recommend it.
0.25 - 1.75 stars: I do not recommend this book. I did not enjoy or appreciate the experience of it.

Post Date: 15 October 2025