A review by ohmage_resistance
No Gods, No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull

challenging emotional
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
Yeah, this is probably the most interesting take on "people with magical powers are oppressed" and "hidden urban fantasy parts of the world is exposed" that I've read so far. As far as the "people with magical powers are oppressed", it was nice that the author didn't just make them a blatant metaphor for real marginalized groups—mostly because many characters were already queer or POC. Instead, the question is more about what forces might have caused the monsters to be hidden for so long and  how would people react to learning about monsters existing among them (especially considering how monsters have the real potential to put them in danger). That being said, I do think that these ideas weren't necessarily fully explored here (this book is very much an incomplete thought by itself), which does make sense considering this is the first book in a series. I am interested in reading more in this series though. 

Format wise—I knew going in it would be a bit more on the experimental side. It actually was more normal than I thought it would be/more on the tame side. There's a lot of POV characters (I think Cadwell wanted to present more of an idea of how a web of characters are impacted by each other), but they weren't that difficult to keep track of. It's also not really going for super conventional pacing, it's more almost anthology like, although it doesn't really commit as far as something like Rakesfall does. 

As far as other stuff goes, it's cool to see that part of the book is set in the US Virgin Islands (where the author was raised), that's a part of the world I haven't read about before. 
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