Reviews tagging 'Mass/school shootings'

No Gods, No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull

37 reviews

caseythereader's review against another edition

challenging 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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

plesiosaurys's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

gracecrandall's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Moderate: Antisemitism

niceonehros's review against another edition

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? No

4.5

Read this in a single day. The perfect intersection of queer activism in a world too much like our own, found family, cosmic horror, and grassroots anarchism praxis. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gun violence, Transphobia, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, and Mass/school shootings

cait_readsandspins's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-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? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings

mossybean's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.5

As much as I loved some of the characters and the magic, I just came out of this book thinking: so what does that all mean? I feel like I was left out of the loop, I wasn’t told enough about the important parts, so I didn’t care about them, and the less important parts just got thrown by the wayside towards the end. I wanted it all to come together but it didn’t. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Cannibalism, and Murder

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Police brutality

elle_e_d_light's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-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? No

3.0

The writing was great, but the book as a whole left me confused. I started confused. I continued to get more confused. I ended confused. So, the 3 stars are mostly for the writing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Violence, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Domestic abuse

mandkips's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, and Gore

Minor: Child abuse, Police brutality, and Suicide attempt

melialy1's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

Based on the summary I was really excited to read this book. But instead I found it confusing and difficult to follow. There are too many characters, too much switching of points of view from chapter to chapter and even from paragraph to paragraph. The first-person narrator’s situation is never adequately explained. Most of the plot, in fact, is never adequately explained.

I powered through this book because I wanted to finish it before the end of the year. If it wasn’t for the timing, I definitely would have DNF’d it. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mass/school shootings

azrah786's review against another edition

4.25

 **I received an ARC from Titan Books in exchange for an honest review**

CW: violence, gun violence/mass shootings, blood, gore, body horror, injury, death, death of parent/loved one, animal death, murder, suicide, police brutality, hate crime, drug abuse/addiction, alcohol, confinement, cannibalism, child abuse, domestic abuse, emotional abuse, grief, transphobia, racism, xenophobia
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No Gods, No Monsters is the addictive beginning to a new supernatural/paranormal urban fantasy series. In this story filled with both magic and science, an event denoted as The Fracture sees monsters and creatures from myths and legends being chased out of the shadows and living openly amongst humans as a means of protection from some “other” threat.

Turnbull deftly blends the genres of science fiction, fantasy, horror and thriller together, and his prose perfectly encapsulates the eerie and dark vibe of the story throughout.
The combination of short chapters and a storyline laced with mystery makes this such a page turner. There are secret organisations and seers, shifters and gods but the sharp, underlying commentary on marginalised communities, human nature and the disbelief and blind ignorance people chase during times of change make this so much more than fiction.

There is an extensive cast of diverse and intriguing characters to follow which at times gets a little confusing. However, the multi pov narration also makes the book feel like an anthology of stories that are all subtly interconnected, with a greater overarching storyline connecting them all more fully happening in the background.
We also have a unnamed narrator to follow that pops up within these individual stories and honestly just wanting to figure out who this mysterious figure observing all of the character is, is just one of the unputdownable elements of the book.

A perfect read for spooky season but also one that can be enjoyed all year round.
Final Rating – 4.25/5 Stars 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, Cannibalism, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Racism, Transphobia, Xenophobia, and Death of parent