Oh my god the worldbuilding in this novel is such chef kiss. I loved the ride even when I was lost. And boy did I get lost. With all the changes in POV and time line, the story could get a bit hard to follow. But that wasn't enough to keep me for loving every word Cadwell writes.

I really, really enjoyed this Caribbean-inspired fantasy. Brilliant prose and an incredible combination of the fantastical and very sharp social commentary.

This book was a DNF unfortunately. I had trouble getting into the story and the pacing felt off. I do think it was well written otherwise but it was just not for me at this time.

Brilliant, challenging, not an easy read but an enthralling one. Turnbull is reaching for something ambitious here and succeeds. All the "monsters" that we want to believe are only figments of imagination turn out to be real. When one of them is killed by police, and his final transformation from werewolf to human is caught on a bodycam, the monsters are out of the bag. Except some power doesn't want them there. Ancient conflicts and secret societies crash into the "real world", bringing pain to families, both biological and found. The characters stretch across gender identities, races, and attractions. It's a story that swerves from person to person, point of view to point of view, and between realities.

The book defies easy category. Fantasy? Yes. With a very Adult Urban streak. The writing is beautiful, the storytelling impeccable. Here are creatures that have haunted humanities nightmares for centuries, brought into the 21st Century in a way that feels new and in our moment.

This is a story about the "others" that live among us. Not just the "monsters" but sexual identity, cultural identity and sexual preference all play a role here as well. The world is filled with "others", to someone any of us can be "other" as well. It's also about family, and what that term can mean in the modern world.

This was another book that I was uncertain about at the beginning. The POV of the storytelling moves throughout, and sometimes it took a minute for me to remember who this was. It took a little while for my brain to settle into a groove, but once I did, I couldn't wait to keep reading. If you want brilliant writing and are willing to accept the challenge, this is a book worth waiting for.

Rating - 4 stars Recommended

This has a problem that I find in a lot of modern fantasy. It is well written but poorly paced, making it difficult to keep up with what is happening as you’re reading. I found myself losing track of what was happening, having to back track a few pages to pick up on what I had lost. It’s jumbled in a way that I think does take away from what I want in a fantasy novel—the full immersive experience of being in a world within the text.

I must admit I was confused at several points throughout, not the least due to the staggering number of characters we follow throughout the narrative. While I'm still not sure I entirely absorbed this story, I plan to continue with the series.

This story started off with a bang! A dead body! This immediately had me interested and I felt for Laina, it was her brother that was killed by a monster. I don't usually read much urban fantasy but I did really enjoy this. It was fun and fast paced. I do think more background information and character development would have been nice but this kept me hooked and I read this really quickly.

Thank netgalley.

After a quick review, the story felt a bit scattered. Not sure our patrons will enjoy. The premise was fascinating, though! 3-4 stars for the target audience.

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone for the ARC.

Thank you to Blackstone Publishing and Netgalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Overall, this was a 2.5 star read for me.
I will preface this by saying that this is not usually the type of fiction/fantasy that I would normally go for, but the premise & summary of the novel sounded so great, I had to request it.

Unfortunately for me, the novel and timeline of events/plots was confusing. It’s written in a series of “scenes” or vignettes as some have called it, following a cohort of different characters/communities in each. I wasn’t sure of the exact timelines, to the point that I had to look up how to read the novel and then finally got a bit of clarity of what was being described.

The writing was beautiful, and though I enjoyed each scene, it was very hard for me to follow what was going on. I also enjoyed that it was set in Boston, since that is where I currently live, and could recognize all the different neighborhoods and landmarks.

I do think perhaps the writer was trying to accomplish much with this novel, as it also felt like a political and cultural statement within a fantasy metaphor.

This seems like the type of novel that would do well for readers that like to read and re-read and pick up on more themes within a book the more times they’re able to go over it, it is layered and complex. However, very hard to follow on the first try for me.

I originally DNF'd this book and wasn't going to give feedback. I just couldn't get into it.
I'm glad I decided to try again.
For a story about monsters, this book was surprisingly human. It switches between POVs about every five chapters. You get a taste of what's happening before it changes to another character. At times this can be frustrating, but in a good way because it helps drive the story forward.
The world building is interesting and I look forward to reading the next installment.

I couldn't get through this title. It ended up not being for me, but I hope it finds a hope with other readers.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Okay, soooooo I really like the concept of this and I think it did some pretty cool stuff towards the end, BUT... I did not enjoy the first 90%, or whatever, of the book. It felt like there where too many people, things were too random and vague and I wasn't getting as much of the monster parts as I was thinking I would.

There was some nice commentary but it was lost in the monotony of the everyday moments that we were experiencing with characters that I just did not connect with. Now I don't think the book did anything wrong per-se, I know this would be interesting for some people, but it wasn't for me and if I wasn't trying to finish the book so I could provide feedback over on netgalley.. well.. I would have DNF'd this book pretty early on.

I will admit that the ending was interesting but it just wasn't worth the rest of the book. I assume that we were supposed to be building connections with the characters while it laid the foundation so that we would be emotionally impacted by all the stuff that happened in the later half of the book but I just didn't care about anyone. I guess I wanted more from the book, and I'm assuming the writing or whatever just isn't for me. Which is a bummer. Really like the idea wish I liked the book..

Thank for the review copy of this book. Unfortunately it just wasn’t for me, however I recommended it to my manger who read it and enjoyed it. The strange back and forth POVs were interesting at first but I just found them confusing after a while and it affected the way I read it.

I am so sorry, but this was a DNF for me. I couldn't get into it. This was probably my fault, but it was much too literary and the story seemed to jump all over the place.

When Laina hears that her brother has been shot by police, she assumes it's another case of police brutality against a black man. But when she gets a hold of the bodycam video, she learns that it's much more complex than that: Laina's brother was a werewolf, or something of the sort, and in monster form when he was gunned down. When Laina leaks the footage online, there's a visceral response across the country — but then the footage gets mysteriously edited to remove any proof of monsters, and the world has a collective moment of "did that actually happen? Nah..." and goes about its business. Well, except for the conspiracy theorists and the actual monsters that is.

With this novel, Turnbull has created a fantasy world full of monsters living among us, and as the story develops, it's hard to tell whether the monsters are really the ones who can shift bodies and breathe fire and manipulate technology and become invisible...or if they're the "regular everyday people" who lash out based on their fears and assumptions. It perfectly captures the zeitgeist of today's political situation and culture wars, and I cannot wait to see what Turnbull has up his sleeve for the next book in this series.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me a free eARC of this book to read in exchange for my review!

This book has an interesting premise and I felt it had potential. There aren't many monster stories anymore. But I found it confusing and I just didn't get it. Based on reviews, I can see this is a common theme. It's categorized as sci-fi, which I didn't realize when I started reading it. Based on the title, I thought it would be a horror book. I found it reads more like literary fiction. Not necessarily for those who prefer fast paced or action packed novels.

Thanks to Blackstone Publishing for the opportunity to review this book.

I seriously enjoyed this book. I went into this book not knowing what I was expecting and yet it completely blew away all my expectations. Excellent read!!!

Thank you to Netgalley and the published for giving me an advanced copy of this book to read and review.

I love urban fantasy, but recently, they've felt too similar. "No Gods, No Monster" broke the mold for me and kept me turning the pages. I enjoyed the world building and reading to learn more. I would recommend this book to other urban fantasy fans that need something fresh and interesting to read.