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3.6 AVERAGE
3.6 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Do you ever read a book and feel like you need one of those giant conspiracy boards with the red string?
Because that is how I felt thru out this book. So much so that I will be purchasing a copy to tear apart and create a conspiracy board. I do feel that I must wait until I can get a paperback as somehow it feels wrong to subjugate a Hard Cover to that level of use.
Turnbull's writing is incredibly gorgeous that I found myself so engrossed that it took me way to long to realize that we were seeing characters reoccur, and that I should have paid more mind to the names of the individuals in the beginning.
I'm honestly excited for the opportunity to read this again, because this book is so packed with information wrapped in gorgeous writing that I'm sure that there is so much more I will see by delving back in.
IT IS GAY! IT SLAPS. It has some good representation of polyamorous relationships.
I did learn today though, that this book is not a stand alone novel it is part of a series. (Which makes the ending make way more sense)
Because that is how I felt thru out this book. So much so that I will be purchasing a copy to tear apart and create a conspiracy board. I do feel that I must wait until I can get a paperback as somehow it feels wrong to subjugate a Hard Cover to that level of use.
Turnbull's writing is incredibly gorgeous that I found myself so engrossed that it took me way to long to realize that we were seeing characters reoccur, and that I should have paid more mind to the names of the individuals in the beginning.
I'm honestly excited for the opportunity to read this again, because this book is so packed with information wrapped in gorgeous writing that I'm sure that there is so much more I will see by delving back in.
IT IS GAY! IT SLAPS. It has some good representation of polyamorous relationships.
I did learn today though, that this book is not a stand alone novel it is part of a series. (Which makes the ending make way more sense)
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I really enjoyed this book. It was hard to follow at times due to the amount of characters, but I liked it so much I plan to get a paper copy and read it again (I tend to digest it better when I have a physical copy I can write in). I loved the diversity in the characters, and even though it is a fiction story you can tell how many facets are an allegory/experience to real life.
I didn't care about any of the characters and I couldn't stay focused on anything because the book jumped around a lot.
4.5/5 stars:
What a book. What an intriguing, confusing, compelling, and fascinating book.
From the minute I started reading No Gods, No Monsters I could tell it was going to be an interesting read. The POV confuses the reader from the beginning and it makes them want to keep reading in order to find out what's really going on, who and what they're supposed to know, and where everything's headed. The writing is also very beautiful, and it keeps the pace of the book flowing nicely even though there aren't really many things that happen during the story until you're about 100 pages from the end. The magic in this book isn't really well-explained but I think it fits the tone of the book that it's kept a little cague and mysterious.
I'm interested to keep reading the series even though I haven't been able to find anything about when the next book in it is coming out. I'm also really looking forward to reading more from the author.
What a book. What an intriguing, confusing, compelling, and fascinating book.
From the minute I started reading No Gods, No Monsters I could tell it was going to be an interesting read. The POV confuses the reader from the beginning and it makes them want to keep reading in order to find out what's really going on, who and what they're supposed to know, and where everything's headed. The writing is also very beautiful, and it keeps the pace of the book flowing nicely even though there aren't really many things that happen during the story until you're about 100 pages from the end. The magic in this book isn't really well-explained but I think it fits the tone of the book that it's kept a little cague and mysterious.
I'm interested to keep reading the series even though I haven't been able to find anything about when the next book in it is coming out. I'm also really looking forward to reading more from the author.
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
What a ride! I went into this book knowing almost nothing, and I think that was the right way to go so I shall not summarize the plot. This is the first book of a series; it's ambitious, it's weird, it's got a very large and extremely diverse cast; it is such a fresh and original take on a contemporary sci-fi in which the world realizes that monsters, gods, and magic have existed all along. I worried a little in the first third that the book maybe had too many POV characters, most of whom seemed very unconnected from each other except by geographical proximity to either Cambridge, Mass, or the island of St Thomas. However by the end almost all of the characters had been at least tenuously linked by plot events in a way that really worked for me. The book also has trans, nonbinary, asexual, queer, and poly characters whose identities are only revealed slowly, and usually after you've known the character for a while. I am very impressed by the scope of this story and definitely plan to continue with the series.
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Listen I know I've heard good things about this book and probably know people who would like it, but it was not for me. I was bored out of my mind and almost DNF'd it at least twice. I wanted to like it so badly though because the premise is so freaking cool! Ugh.
I was about 80 pages in and just nothing was really happening, it felt like build up on build up for a bunch of different characters that are starting to overlap. The time period everything is happening is confusing, and I'm still not sure I understand what the big thing that happened even is? I love the premise, but the execution was so weird in the most pretentious way. Writing confusing shit is not cute or fun if people don't understand it. Stop trying to be a big, bad, cool writer who's elevated and throwing out literary devices and shit left and write. Just write something people want to read.
At about 90 pages in, a big thing did happen, and I was like okay, now we're getting somewhere. Aaaand then it would switch characters and we'd be back to getting nowhere. It somehow felt like the ENTIRE book was a lead up to the second book and that's just insane to me. I finished the last 50 pages or so out of spite tbh.
Quotes:
I was about 80 pages in and just nothing was really happening, it felt like build up on build up for a bunch of different characters that are starting to overlap. The time period everything is happening is confusing, and I'm still not sure I understand what the big thing that happened even is? I love the premise, but the execution was so weird in the most pretentious way. Writing confusing shit is not cute or fun if people don't understand it. Stop trying to be a big, bad, cool writer who's elevated and throwing out literary devices and shit left and write. Just write something people want to read.
At about 90 pages in, a big thing did happen, and I was like okay, now we're getting somewhere. Aaaand then it would switch characters and we'd be back to getting nowhere. It somehow felt like the ENTIRE book was a lead up to the second book and that's just insane to me. I finished the last 50 pages or so out of spite tbh.
Quotes:
- (I I could break my neck, ) she remembered thinking as she flew down the stairs, her heart thumping in her chest like a wild animal attacking its cage. She remembered wanting to so badly, relishing every moment that her foot landed on the nosing of each step, the worn souls of her shoes sliding dangerously across the knife's edge of each miniature cliff. She could break her neck and she wouldn't have to burn this horror out of her. She wouldn't have to be a good daughter. She wouldn't have to be anything at all. She could be cracked stone and fine soil. She could be a bed of weeds. (133)
- "We're all blind," he says after swallowing. "Take solace in that. Choice comes first. Meaning comes later." (279)
- The chant is an evolution of an anarchist slogan: "no gods, no. Masters," the original version meaning( I know human above.( It is meant as a call against hierarchy. Ridley assumes that this variation means( i no human above, no human below,( or something like it. A call against hierarchy and discrimination. (327)
- As he walks with the crowd, he understands what he had forgotten: that a march is not just a voice against violence and trauma, but also a reminder that even in a cause that is stacked against them, no one is alone. (327)
- There's something beautiful and devastating about the sight. Ridley feels small against it: the marvels of nature and human beings, intruding on one another; massive systems that existed before he was born and will continue long after he is dead. What can anyone do against them? The voices around him provide an answer. Like ants, perhaps enough human bodies can form a critical mass, becoming a marvel capable of great things, even against obstacles calcified through years of accumulated resource and power. Maybe. More often than not, Ridley has seen this fail to provide any change. But the effort has value for those fleeting moments when success can be snatched for the side of good. (327)
- Even has things change, much stays the same, She thinks. Other tragedies are already queued up for their entrance. (334)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Racism, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, Abandonment
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated