Vampires of El Norte

Cañas borrows from several genres in Vampires of El Norte, including romance, horror, historical fiction, and magical realism. The story takes place in a specific moment in history, at the start of the Mexican-American War in 1846, borrowing geography, conflict, and some plot from this historical event. The setting and budding conflict are directly tied to the history of the land. Cañas’s characters at different times throughout the book are star-crossed lovers, enemies, friends, and forced companions, all tropes frequently found in romance novels. The lovers have tragic miscommunications that mirror classic romance stories like Romeo and Juliet, particularly when Néstor believes Nena to be dead when she is not.

The author borrows from magical realism by incorporating vampires into an otherwise realistic historical setting. By having the “Anglos” use mythical monsters as a weapon against the Mexicans, she emphasizes the horror that American colonization inflicted on Mexican people to expand their borders. Vampires are a source of terror only until their role is subverted and they choose not to hurt Nena as she frees them. Creating a mythical monster only to reveal that the source of their evil is the historical evil of colonization fits with the techniques and goals of magical realism, which uses fantastical elements to develop themes grounded in real-world issues.