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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.
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.
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
melaniereadsbooks's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
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
4.25
Thank you to Netgalley and Blackstone Publishing for an ALC of this book
A diverse cast of characters come together when Monsters are publicly revealed to be real, and a power struggle between those who want equal rights for Monsters and those who want them swept under the rug begins.
Firstly, I want to say that I would love to reread this book with a physical copy in my hands, because there were so many characters that I was getting a little lost with just the audiobook. That being said--I don't think it was the audio's fault at all, and I loved loved loved the narration by Dion Graham .
There were so many amazing characters with diverse identities that I loved! This was dark and tempting and I loved reading/listening to it! I thought it was so interesting and I love that this was just the start of a series! Can't wait to read more!
Pub Date: Sept 7, 2021
A diverse cast of characters come together when Monsters are publicly revealed to be real, and a power struggle between those who want equal rights for Monsters and those who want them swept under the rug begins.
Firstly, I want to say that I would love to reread this book with a physical copy in my hands, because there were so many characters that I was getting a little lost with just the audiobook. That being said--I don't think it was the audio's fault at all, and I loved loved loved the narration by Dion Graham .
There were so many amazing characters with diverse identities that I loved! This was dark and tempting and I loved reading/listening to it! I thought it was so interesting and I love that this was just the start of a series! Can't wait to read more!
Pub Date: Sept 7, 2021
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Racism, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, and Mass/school shootings
Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, and Gore
Minor: Child abuse, Drug abuse, and Suicide attempt
ceilidhwilliams's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, and Cannibalism
Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Drug use, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
gideonrose's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Wildly complex and interesting. I loved the characters, and the queer diversity among them. The end was a bit abrupt, and I wanted more from it, especially with the development of <the secret societies.>
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Police brutality, and Murder
emilyrainsford's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Where on earth to start with this book??
In the M. Night Shyamalan movie "Signs", there is a scene that creeped out a generation. The footage is a shaky, handheld style rendering of a kids' birthday party. Everyone is running to the window. The footage looks out the window and you're looking at an ordinary yard and then BOOM a weird grey alien appears in an alleyway, looks directly at you, then runs away, and everyone starts screaming. It's not big flashy Hollywood CGI - we're talking a 2002 film here. But that's precisely what makes it so creepy - it feels REAL. It feels like it could really be some dad's handycam footage from an average lounge room. It makes you think - omg imagine if that were real?? - in a way that smooth shiny footage wouldn't.
That's what reading this book felt like to me. I would not consider this fantasy, not even urban fantasy. It's more like a kind of speculative near-future realist dystopia that just happens to feature werewolves and a dragon. It's not fantastical. It's CREEPY. I admit I almost put it down fairly early on - the disembodied voice, a child eating hands... it was almost too creepy for me to handle. And yet there was a curiosity I couldn't shake, so I kept going.
The way the book is told feels more like a series of somewhat interconnected vignettes than a truly cohesive narrative. Just as you're getting to know one character, it switches drastically to a different person and story. It requires quite a lot of patience. It's... fractured.
It's so fractured that it's hard to even pin down a short synopsis. Essentially, a video emerges one day in the near future of werewolves shifting back into humans. Suddenly the world is alerted to the existence of things that have lived in the shadows. But then the end of that video disappears from every copy of it worldwide. All evidence of the shifting is gone. Those who didn't see it on live TV think that people let their imaginations run wild. Those who did see it start to question their own memory. But there are shifts happening beneath the surface of things, monsters are being pushed into the light. By whom? And why?
The emergence of that video is known as - The Fracture.
There is a strong thread of social commentary that runs through this novel. Because I'm woefully uneducated on such things, I had no idea that the title was a play on an anarchist slogan - "no gods, no masters", meaning that no human should be held above another. Once you realise that, you see how incredibly clever the title of this book is - "no gods, no monsters", a call to equality, that no one should be held either above or below another. There is an open relationship, characters of varying gender identities and sexualities and races, a few discussions and representations of cooperatives and socialist-anarchist type communities. This book is the very antithesis of a heteronormative, default-white novel and it feels very authentic.
This is a novel that pushes the boundaries of the way things have always been done, and so the structure of it is only fitting, in my opinion. It's not a standard novel because it doesn't WANT to be a standard novel - that, in fact, is the whole point. It's subversive - it wants to challenge you and the way you think things "should" be done, just because they've always been done that way.
There is an omniscient third person narrator who increasingly becomes part of the story. It is quite disconcerting at first. Imagine you're just reading along a seemly standard third person narration, when suddenly one of the characters starts addressing the narrator, a non-physical presence. It's jarring, although it does come together a bit more towards the end.
Speaking of the end, it finishes somewhat abruptly. The whole book is a very slow build up, to a kind of climactic scene, but then it finishes in a way that is still very unresolved. Goodreads suggests this is part one of a "Saga", so I guess there's more to come. Still, it was an unsatisfying ending after such a long, slow book - especially if you're unsure if you can stomach another whole book of this weirdness.
I saw a review that invoked Gaiman's American Gods and that definitely feels like an apt comparison to me, in vibe if not content. There's an eeriness to it all, a sense of mild horror. Have you ever looked up into the night sky and imagined what it would be like if suddenly gravity stopped working and everyone fell off the earth and was burned up in the stratosphere?? The absolute horror of it, the helplessness, the vastness of a universe that doesn't really give a crap? It probably is a little weird that I have, but that's exactly the feeling this book gave me.
I would not recommend you pick this up if you're expecting standard fantasy. This is not it. If you want to read absolutely different from anything you've ever read before, something a little weird and experimental, give it a try. And don't say I didn't warn you :-P.
Trigger warnings include sexual abuse of a minor, domestic abuse, mild body horror, police shooting of a Black man, an active shooter scene.
In the M. Night Shyamalan movie "Signs", there is a scene that creeped out a generation. The footage is a shaky, handheld style rendering of a kids' birthday party. Everyone is running to the window. The footage looks out the window and you're looking at an ordinary yard and then BOOM a weird grey alien appears in an alleyway, looks directly at you, then runs away, and everyone starts screaming. It's not big flashy Hollywood CGI - we're talking a 2002 film here. But that's precisely what makes it so creepy - it feels REAL. It feels like it could really be some dad's handycam footage from an average lounge room. It makes you think - omg imagine if that were real?? - in a way that smooth shiny footage wouldn't.
That's what reading this book felt like to me. I would not consider this fantasy, not even urban fantasy. It's more like a kind of speculative near-future realist dystopia that just happens to feature werewolves and a dragon. It's not fantastical. It's CREEPY. I admit I almost put it down fairly early on - the disembodied voice, a child eating hands... it was almost too creepy for me to handle. And yet there was a curiosity I couldn't shake, so I kept going.
The way the book is told feels more like a series of somewhat interconnected vignettes than a truly cohesive narrative. Just as you're getting to know one character, it switches drastically to a different person and story. It requires quite a lot of patience. It's... fractured.
It's so fractured that it's hard to even pin down a short synopsis. Essentially, a video emerges one day in the near future of werewolves shifting back into humans. Suddenly the world is alerted to the existence of things that have lived in the shadows. But then the end of that video disappears from every copy of it worldwide. All evidence of the shifting is gone. Those who didn't see it on live TV think that people let their imaginations run wild. Those who did see it start to question their own memory. But there are shifts happening beneath the surface of things, monsters are being pushed into the light. By whom? And why?
The emergence of that video is known as - The Fracture.
There is a strong thread of social commentary that runs through this novel. Because I'm woefully uneducated on such things, I had no idea that the title was a play on an anarchist slogan - "no gods, no masters", meaning that no human should be held above another. Once you realise that, you see how incredibly clever the title of this book is - "no gods, no monsters", a call to equality, that no one should be held either above or below another. There is an open relationship, characters of varying gender identities and sexualities and races, a few discussions and representations of cooperatives and socialist-anarchist type communities. This book is the very antithesis of a heteronormative, default-white novel and it feels very authentic.
This is a novel that pushes the boundaries of the way things have always been done, and so the structure of it is only fitting, in my opinion. It's not a standard novel because it doesn't WANT to be a standard novel - that, in fact, is the whole point. It's subversive - it wants to challenge you and the way you think things "should" be done, just because they've always been done that way.
There is an omniscient third person narrator who increasingly becomes part of the story. It is quite disconcerting at first. Imagine you're just reading along a seemly standard third person narration, when suddenly one of the characters starts addressing the narrator, a non-physical presence. It's jarring, although it does come together a bit more towards the end.
Speaking of the end, it finishes somewhat abruptly. The whole book is a very slow build up, to a kind of climactic scene, but then it finishes in a way that is still very unresolved. Goodreads suggests this is part one of a "Saga", so I guess there's more to come. Still, it was an unsatisfying ending after such a long, slow book - especially if you're unsure if you can stomach another whole book of this weirdness.
I saw a review that invoked Gaiman's American Gods and that definitely feels like an apt comparison to me, in vibe if not content. There's an eeriness to it all, a sense of mild horror. Have you ever looked up into the night sky and imagined what it would be like if suddenly gravity stopped working and everyone fell off the earth and was burned up in the stratosphere?? The absolute horror of it, the helplessness, the vastness of a universe that doesn't really give a crap? It probably is a little weird that I have, but that's exactly the feeling this book gave me.
I would not recommend you pick this up if you're expecting standard fantasy. This is not it. If you want to read absolutely different from anything you've ever read before, something a little weird and experimental, give it a try. And don't say I didn't warn you :-P.
Trigger warnings include sexual abuse of a minor, domestic abuse, mild body horror, police shooting of a Black man, an active shooter scene.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence and Mass/school shootings
Moderate: Body horror and Gore
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Police brutality, and Suicide attempt
entazis's review against another edition
challenging
informative
mysterious
reflective
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
3.75
No Gods, No Monsters is an urban fantasy written as a series of vignettes. We follow a group of characters dealing with the aftermath of the world finding out that supernatural monsters exist. Gradually, we glimpse the character's stories, learn how interconnected they all are, which roles they have in the narrative, and so on. The narration is fragmented, the story split into these small impressions of the character's lives, which we gradualy learn about.
That can be a bit difficult to read, but it's also what makes this book interesting and different. The narration and narrator played a big role in my enjoyment but I'm a sucker for meta narration. However I also had some troubles because I forgot names of characters so I'm sure I missed some stuff.
The pacing is slow and the story is character-based rather than plot. It's all about who are the real monsters, about drug abuse, dysfunctional families, police brutality, grief, and regret. There are a lot of chilling moments, dread-filling situations, and deep seethed terror.
This book is a bit sad, a bit scary, and a bit depressing. But if you like stories that focus on characters, with a great queer and poly rep, monsters in urban setting, and narrator that will mess with your perception of narration, you should check this out.
That can be a bit difficult to read, but it's also what makes this book interesting and different. The narration and narrator played a big role in my enjoyment but I'm a sucker for meta narration. However I also had some troubles because I forgot names of characters so I'm sure I missed some stuff.
The pacing is slow and the story is character-based rather than plot. It's all about who are the real monsters, about drug abuse, dysfunctional families, police brutality, grief, and regret. There are a lot of chilling moments, dread-filling situations, and deep seethed terror.
This book is a bit sad, a bit scary, and a bit depressing. But if you like stories that focus on characters, with a great queer and poly rep, monsters in urban setting, and narrator that will mess with your perception of narration, you should check this out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Police brutality, Kidnapping, and Grief
Moderate: Deadnaming