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3.6 AVERAGE
3.6 AVERAGE
I think I just was not the right audience for this book, or I was too sick to read it. The writing was good, I liked the plot, and the characters were fine. But I didn't feel invested. Maybe it was because I was sick when I listened to it? But this was marketed as horror to me and it should have just been paranormal.
I ABSOLUTELY loved this.
This was queer in the way that like, we do not meet your expectations, queer in the way of searching for our own way. This book is just. So fantastic.
I do think the writing, or storytelling, might be confusing for some. But I actually think that is a feature not a bug. The characters are confused, no one knows what is going on, and we are along on that ride.
It weaves in so much that is relevant to the situation today - I adored how the juxtaposition of monsters versus other groups was phrased.
I genuinely enjoyed the hell out of this, and am so excited for the next book in the series
This was queer in the way that like, we do not meet your expectations, queer in the way of searching for our own way. This book is just. So fantastic.
I do think the writing, or storytelling, might be confusing for some. But I actually think that is a feature not a bug. The characters are confused, no one knows what is going on, and we are along on that ride.
It weaves in so much that is relevant to the situation today - I adored how the juxtaposition of monsters versus other groups was phrased.
I genuinely enjoyed the hell out of this, and am so excited for the next book in the series
HIGHLIGHTS
~the conspiracy theorists are right (maybe)
~tech magic
~‘I have never answered that question’
~a loving open relationship
~Dragon
~anarchists have the best bookshops
~skins are sometimes optional
I read this in two sittings, and it would have been one if I didn’t have to sleep. I pushed through the first few pages, which seemed to have nothing to do with the story promised by the blurb…and then I was completely hooked. No Gods, No Monsters was a book I resented having to put down, and I expect a lot of other people are going to feel the same way when they get it in their hands.
It’s not quite like anything I’ve ever read before.
Part of that is the structure: the book is divided into multiple parts, all of which are quite short, each of which is from the perspective of a different character. As the book goes on, the connections between these characters become clearer – several of them know each other – but here’s the thing: the first part, the opening that I found so confusing? That’s written in first-person. The rest are in third.
That’s not the weird thing.
The weird thing is that the first part, the first-person part, is pretty banal. It doesn’t seem to have anything to do with anything. It’s only when we get to the second part, Laina’s part, that what seems like the story gets moving.
Laina’s brother has been shot and killed by the police. Turnbull sketches out the devastating grief, the disorientation and numbness and rage that come in the aftermath, with brutal precision. The prose is bare of ornamentation, almost bluntly so, until a shift in perspective – the perfect word, a poignant line – makes it clear that Turnbell writes as if wielding a scalpel in a surgery; precise, economical, and cutting through the meat right into the core. It’s a style that hooks you in and doesn’t let you go again, which is perfect for so many reasons, but most of all because that’s exactly what’s happening to the characters – they’re all being hooked in, dragged in, and not let go again.
Here and there within Laina’s part of the book – which is written in third-person, remember – is an occasional ‘I’ sentence. A line or two in first-person, in a voice that is clearly not Laina’s. There is no explanation for this. I was scribbling notes as I read, and surrounded in question marks were my theories invisible friend??? split personality??? something supernatural following her around???
Then Laina is approached by a voice. Not in her head, but somewhere in her dark bedroom. The voice asks if Laina wants the body-cam footage of her brother’s killing. Laina decides that she does. The voice promises to have it delivered to her.
And then the first-person occasional-narrator voice reaches out to the Other Voice. Still in Laina’s part of the book, but separate from Laina, outside of her.
What. The. Hell.
Read the rest at Every Book a Doorway!
~the conspiracy theorists are right (maybe)
~tech magic
~‘I have never answered that question’
~a loving open relationship
~Dragon
~anarchists have the best bookshops
~skins are sometimes optional
I read this in two sittings, and it would have been one if I didn’t have to sleep. I pushed through the first few pages, which seemed to have nothing to do with the story promised by the blurb…and then I was completely hooked. No Gods, No Monsters was a book I resented having to put down, and I expect a lot of other people are going to feel the same way when they get it in their hands.
It’s not quite like anything I’ve ever read before.
Part of that is the structure: the book is divided into multiple parts, all of which are quite short, each of which is from the perspective of a different character. As the book goes on, the connections between these characters become clearer – several of them know each other – but here’s the thing: the first part, the opening that I found so confusing? That’s written in first-person. The rest are in third.
That’s not the weird thing.
The weird thing is that the first part, the first-person part, is pretty banal. It doesn’t seem to have anything to do with anything. It’s only when we get to the second part, Laina’s part, that what seems like the story gets moving.
Laina’s brother has been shot and killed by the police. Turnbull sketches out the devastating grief, the disorientation and numbness and rage that come in the aftermath, with brutal precision. The prose is bare of ornamentation, almost bluntly so, until a shift in perspective – the perfect word, a poignant line – makes it clear that Turnbell writes as if wielding a scalpel in a surgery; precise, economical, and cutting through the meat right into the core. It’s a style that hooks you in and doesn’t let you go again, which is perfect for so many reasons, but most of all because that’s exactly what’s happening to the characters – they’re all being hooked in, dragged in, and not let go again.
Here and there within Laina’s part of the book – which is written in third-person, remember – is an occasional ‘I’ sentence. A line or two in first-person, in a voice that is clearly not Laina’s. There is no explanation for this. I was scribbling notes as I read, and surrounded in question marks were my theories invisible friend??? split personality??? something supernatural following her around???
Then Laina is approached by a voice. Not in her head, but somewhere in her dark bedroom. The voice asks if Laina wants the body-cam footage of her brother’s killing. Laina decides that she does. The voice promises to have it delivered to her.
And then the first-person occasional-narrator voice reaches out to the Other Voice. Still in Laina’s part of the book, but separate from Laina, outside of her.
It is here that I stop time. The world around us slows, all matter falls still, and all sound stops. There is only the voice and me. I reach out to the formless thing, trying to access its mind but finding nothing. In all my time traveling the fractal sea, this has never happened. Minds are always open to me.
“What are you?” I ask directly. “What is this?”
For a terrible moment, the voice doesn’t answer, and for the first time, I feel a sense of danger I’ve never thought to feel.
“I’ve signed a contract,” it finally says. “I am bound not to speak to you.”
“By whom?”
“The universe,” it says.
And the voice answers no more of my questions.
What. The. Hell.
Read the rest at Every Book a Doorway!
I will circle back to it. Just had too many library books to finish.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
DNF @ 24%
So this is a book of vignettes. I can like that kind of book but I'm not connecting to this one at all. I really enjoyed Laina's chapters, and her plotline was so intriguing, but I hated Harry and all the conspiracy stuff was so stupid. It's hard for me to take a book seriously when it has a cult named "Order of the Zoovox" and a portal to another world made by ants that talk. LOL I'm sorry, I know this book is supposed to be really dark and serious but I kept on laughing at these little details, which made the tone feel so off. 😭 And this is petty but it bothered me that Harry is buying newspapers in print, listening to a CD player, and chatting on message boards in the year of our lord 2023 lmao like make it make sense.
Kinda sad I bought a beautiful special edition of this though that I'll have to get rid of. Sigh.
So this is a book of vignettes. I can like that kind of book but I'm not connecting to this one at all. I really enjoyed Laina's chapters, and her plotline was so intriguing, but I hated Harry and all the conspiracy stuff was so stupid. It's hard for me to take a book seriously when it has a cult named "Order of the Zoovox" and a portal to another world made by ants that talk. LOL I'm sorry, I know this book is supposed to be really dark and serious but I kept on laughing at these little details, which made the tone feel so off. 😭 And this is petty but it bothered me that Harry is buying newspapers in print, listening to a CD player, and chatting on message boards in the year of our lord 2023 lmao like make it make sense.
Kinda sad I bought a beautiful special edition of this though that I'll have to get rid of. Sigh.
I'm struggling to get into this right now, but I would like to revisit it in the future.
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Really interesting concept but all the constant time jumps and character switches were too confusing. I was too busy trying to keep up to actually get invested