Reviews tagging 'Blood'

No Gods, No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull

17 reviews

gilnean's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Deadnaming, Eating disorder, Transphobia, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Minor: Pedophilia, Sexual content, and Excrement

vaguely_pink's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Cannibalism, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Gore, Transphobia, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Medical content, Kidnapping, Stalking, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Fire/Fire injury

meaghanelizabook's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Violence, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Racism, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cancer, Mental illness, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Forced institutionalization

booksargram's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

tw: drug use, animal death, death, suicide, medical trauma, child abuse, suspected police brutality, active shooter situation, possible transphobia, prejudice, murder

cool facts: urban fantasy, first of a series, mostly third person and multiple viewpoints + timelines, lgbt+ (including an ace character!), BIPOC author, my first book by him, no steam (level 1), short chapters 

tldr summary: what if monsters were real? would we accept them if they revealed themselves? feat. werewolves, vampires, witches, seers.

vibes: mysterious, tense, confusing, a little creepy, dark. excellent writing. a few head scratching moments about science-y stuff like the separation of atoms and alternate timelines. i’m very curious to see where this story goes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Transphobia and Police brutality

obscurepages's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

Wow wow wow. This took me on quite a ride and made me question what we know about the world.

It dove into the paranormal/supernatural, the secret organizations, the magic and the scientific theories that surround us, the reality that we know, the hardships that people go through, the society and the system we live in.

Another thing that really impressed me is the writing style and the prose. It was dark and eerie and so captivating. And the fact that the author blended horror, fantasy, and science fiction and he did it so brilliantly. 😭👏

There are a lot of characters and it can get confusing/hard to keep up. However, the way these different characters and their perspectives intertwine was so cool and impressive. (And hello??? That unnamed narrator?!) Kudos to the author for creating such an intricate yet satisfying network of point of views.

I really enjoyed reading this y'all. This one surprised me and I loved it!

E-arc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Full review soon! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, and Murder

allisonwonderlandreads's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

There is some serious world-building mindfuckery on display in this book. The writing is spare and stunning, drawing up images, emotions, and philosophical questions with apparent ease. The narration style confused me at first, not because it is poorly done but because it intends to obscure. We have a seemingly invisible observer as a first-person narrator popping in and out of third-person narration surrounding interconnected but distinct people and plots. I found this an intriguing approach, especially because each person was magnetic even as they were enigmatic. My favorite character was Ridley, an anarchist and worker-owner of a co-op bookstore, who also happens to be an ace trans man. The different characters lead us through the moments where they are pivotal actors or key witnesses in a historic shift for humanity. There is something more natural about this multifaceted approach than following in the wake of a single hero who sees and does everything herself.

I'll keep the discussion of plot brief because I don't want to ruin the experience of seeing the mysteries unfold as the author intends. The gist is this: in the near future, humanity fractures open at the revelation of monsters among us, leading to violence, hatred, and the unveiling of long-pursued secret agendas. The conflicts among many factions will sow chaos on a massive scale.

This eerie fantasy has elements of physics and monster lore spread across a vast landscape, only the first tentative venture in what will require greater exploration. It covers harsh and relevant topics of structural violence, capitalism, abuse, and drug addiction while also peering into philosophical debate about choice and meaning that will take significant time and thought to percolate.

Thanks to Blackstone and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this cleverly woven tapestry of a book, out 9/7.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Violence, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual assault, Blood, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Transphobia, Death of parent, and Acephobia/Arophobia

tiredcath's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Wow. Let me start this off and say this one is a doozy.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with this arc. These are all my own thoughts.

No Gods, No Monsters is truly a gripping story. I have to praise the writing on this one. It's beautifully written and descriptive. You can tell so much thought and time was put into the characters and their backgrounds. Everyone felt three dimensional and thought out. And they had flaws! Characters did things we didn't agree with but they were never villainized, which I absolutely loved reading. Everyone had a story and a motivation.

The mystery of the narrator was SO intriguing and well done. A nameless floating consciousness seeing into the lives of so many different people that all collide in one great ending. 

It took me a little while to get into, however. There's a lot of information and characters being thrown at you in the first one hundred pages. Often, I felt confused about what was happening- but then again, I think that's done on purpose. There are times you meet someone briefly, don't hear from them and then you're in their pov again thinking: "wait who is this?" So when reading, take your time. But once you're in the halfway mark you're completely in it.

I definitely would recommend reading this gem twice. Once you have all the information going back will have everything make a bit more sense later on. But all in all, this is a good start to a series. I'm interested to see where Turnbull takes it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, and Blood