Reviews with content warning for Grief - No Gods, No Monsters

Reviews tagging 'Grief'

No Gods, No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull

18 reviews

vermithraxrose's review against another edition

dark tense 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? N/A

3.0

This book is quite a trip, some interesting concepts in it but I feel those concepts are never fully explained. Like stuff happens but you're not given much insight into how everything works. There's a lot of characters and so a lot of shifting points of view which can be hard to follow and connect at times, I felt that I had to sometimes go back and try to remember which character was who and there's kind of a mysterious narrator watching it all which made it a little more confusing. I think there's something philosophical in this book so if you're into existential questions, this might be a good book for you. The book does get quite dark towards the end, not my cup of tea but there is something very real and very raw in it.

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samchase112's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.75

Is it possible to rate a book like this?

Man, am I grateful the second book is already out and available for me to just jump straight into.

Read for a BookBub book club.

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psychnp's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

2.0

Heavy and feels incomplete

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aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition

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medium-paced

3.25

Parts of this was really intriguing other parts not so much. Didn't know this was a series but it is interesting enough that I would be down to read the next one if I can get the audio from my library.
There are A LOT of characters and their own back stories along with the current roles in the main plot. It can get kind of confusing trying to remember who is who /what their life has been so far.
There are some content/trigger warnings so make sure to check them all if you are sensitive to a variety of topics.

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leweylibrary's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

1.5

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 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)