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

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No Gods, No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull

23 reviews

dancers_and_dragons's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense slow-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

3.75

Turnbull does an excellent job of handling multiple points of view, but be warned that if you do not like books where points of view are thrown around a lot, you are not going to enjoy this book. The twists of third person to first person was well-layered, and finding out

who Calvin (the narrator) was definitely kept me curious, though I wish we had learned his name before, as it felt a bit like a self-insert framing of the book and I was quite confused for a while.

The book made me a bit rabid in my curiosity to find out what was going on, and still dragged a little with certain points of view. I did feel, as the book went on, that they made more and more sense (especially when people started getting connected to each other and I wasn't just listening to one person over here and another person over there, but actually had stories coming together). I enjoyed most of the characters, too, and found their stories and motives compelling. Still, though we see many sides and many stories around the same theme, we're kept in the dark about a lot of things as the reader. It made sense from a narrative perspective, but for me this is why I ranked it lower than 4 stars. I wanted to know why things were happening, and wish we'd gotten a better picture of the grand scheme of things a little earlier in the book, so I could put things in perspective.

Ultimately, I'm definitely looking forward to reading the rest of the books in this series, but it was a challenging read in a way I wasn't expecting. I definitely need a little mental break from confusing books for a while, though!

Content Warnings

vermithraxrose's review against another edition

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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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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.

Content Warnings

wordsareworlds's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

5.0

This book was absolutely riveting. Loved how Turnbull played with PoV and brought so many different perspectives in on community, how we work together to make it, and how growth is not a one-and-done event. The breadth of characterization and focus on culture drew me in, and wanting to see how the seemingly separate threads would come together kept me hooked.

Content Warnings

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)

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bosco29's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.0

Confusing and hard to follow.

Time jumps constantly. Character points of view jumps constantly. So many scenes have something going on in the present, past, and future and switched character viewpoints and locations. It's really hard to figure out what is going on.

I love that so many characters of LGBTQIA+, it's like every other character, but it was almost overdone and with how terrible it was to follow the story, it's like the author hoped the inclusion factor would carry the story.

It started out promising and I loved the premise of the secret world of monsters leaking to the public but the book wasn't about that very much.

I can't decide if this would have been better as several books in a longer series so you can actually invest in a single character at some point. In this book, it's basically an introduction to a billion characters in a billion different timeframes. Maybe it'll come together more in a future book? I don't see how I'll actually start to connect with a character though with how much it jumps around.

The audiobook had potential but the narrator pauses in weird places and every ime the narrator breathes in, it's loud and sounds like he's been jump scared, I know that sounds odd but it was incredibly irritating to hear this constant quick, loud intake of breath mid sentence and after every sentence. I am wondering if this is a book thats better physically read instead. Maybe it would be easier to follow too.

I was really excited about this book but it was disappointing. I don't have the Tok but it feels like another book built up by that platform for whatever reason only to be a flop. I expected more supernatural and was disappointed by how very little this book actually even mentions the "monsters"/supernatural.

TW: This book has a heavy focus on Dr*g use/addiction, mental health.

Content Warnings

caseythereader's review against another edition

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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

Content Warnings

spootilious's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.0

Read: August 16, 2023
Title: No Gods, No Monsters

Series: The Convergence Saga #1
Author: Cadwell Turnbull
Genre: Fantasy Horror
Rating: 2/5
Review:

I don’t really have a lot to say about this one. I didn’t… NOT like it, but there isn’t much I specifically liked either.

What I can say is that the writing style is beautiful. It is obvious that Turnbull is very talented. However, the storyline and the characters have this sort of vagueness that keeps anything from truly standing out.

From what I can tell, most people complain at how the story jumps around and the points of view shift so strangely. I can understand their point. I suppose I’ve read enough novels written this way that it wasn’t too bad for me. Though I will say with just a small shuffle of one or two chapters Turnbull could have kept the mystery while still making the shifts less jarring for the reader. In my opinion he didn’t quite manage what he was going for.

I will also say that physically reading the book makes it more understandable than listening to the audiobook which is what I first attempted. Dion Graham is one of the sexiest narrators I’ve come across but there was nothing he could do with this one to make it easier to understand.

Overall, not a bad book but not a great one in my opinion. Bit overhyped but love the writing style 😊

Quotes:

N/A

TW: Rape, Murder, Gore, Vore, Body Horror, Mass shooting, General Violence

Content Warnings

gracecrandall's review against another edition

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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

Content Warnings

ronan_lesh's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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