I absolutely loved this. I was thrown off at first by the narrative structure, but it quickly became a favorite aspect of the book. The book is split into many small sections each consisting of about 3-5 chapters. We're introduced to our narrator in the first section, then the same narrator takes a more omniscient view, while still writing mostly in first person POV. I was equally entranced by both the unfolding of the storyline that is everything not happening to our narrator as well as the unfolding of the magic system.

I highly recommend the audiobook version of this as well; I believe that Dion Graham's narration really enhanced the story's dreamlike and otherworldly qualities.

Read if you like:
- being confused (/pos)
- werewolves (and other creatures)
- community and collectivism
- toeing the line between sci-fi and fantasy
- large casts of characters

I had such high expectations for this title and unfortunately it fell flat. It was quite clunky to read and I found myself not caring about the characters.

There is so much going on in the book. There are several different characters all with different timelines and points of view. The author does an incredible job at bringing everyone to life and creating such a developed world. This book has all different kinds of monsters and even has a multiverse aspect. However, at times it was hard to follow along. I don’t think this book was for me, but others might like it more than I did.

I did not enjoy this book. I felt that the tone was odd, and I did not understand where the story was headed or who the characters were. I felt like there was just a whole lot of cussing and crass language without any kind of introduction or setting of a vibe it was all odd to me.

This one was a lot of fun and I enjoyed the concept.

Overall it was okay.

I recommend it to fans of YA fantasy.

Monsters are real, and they're tired of hiding themselves. An ambitious book that may or may not succeed in its larger point but also features a variety of trans, nonbinary, and queer characters

We covered Cadwell Turnbull's novel on Episdode 455 of The Skiffy and Fanty Show.

I absolutely loved this (as was clear in the podcast), and I will read literally anything Cadwell releases in the future!

In spite of a confusing start and an unforgiving immersion into a complex world with very little context, No Gods No Monsters emerges as a thoughtful, powerful look at the tension between societal change and entrenched power structures. Character-driven, it slowly reveals conspiracies and conflicts through the people affected by (or contributing to) them, laying the groundwork for future instalments of The Convergence Saga.

The shifter narratives reveal the world of ‘monsters’ – living, breathing folklore who still have to go to school and make rent. Some belong to ruthless, manipulative secret societies; some have bloodlines spanning generations; others are rogues, surviving on the fringes as best they can, preying on humanity when they must (or in the case of unusual, childlike Smoke, because they’re made to). Trust is a rare commodity – they are outnumbered by humans, as their powers are dwarfed by those of the mysterious gods.

The human perspective focuses on Laina and her (trans, ace) husband Lincoln, blissfully unaware of the supernatural until Laina’s brother is shot dead by police. Laina is drawn into the lives of a pack of angry young shifters ready to reveal themselves – and finds that there are unknown forces equally keen to suppress the message. Lincoln has no idea that his solidarity economics network is chaired by someone more than human until a meeting goes spectacularly sideways with far-reaching implications.

As supernatural forces manouevre to control escalating events, No Gods, No Monsters considers how we align with causes and what moves us to support (or oppose) them. Our protagonists must come to terms with betrayals, evaluate their beliefs and decide where their hearts lie: whether they can stand aside or must get involved and take responsibility for trying to change the world. The result is a narrative very much about idealists confronting the ruthless opposition of the status quo. For our protagonists, victory means change. I loved the focus on achieving this through co-operation – whether for social transformation or economic benefit – with Turnbull quite clear that the only way we rise is if we do so together. I’m keen to see where he takes this next - and what role will be played by the uncaring gods who stride his multiverse.

Unfortunately, I had to DNF this one. I do think many people will love this one and it was definitely well-written and had a fascinating premise. I was reading this book at the wrong time in my own life where a disjointed, confusing narrative style confused me and felt like more work than an entertaining story with an important message. I was able to give at the time. I have seen many people love this! This is just a its me not you situation for sure and I will definitely plan to come back to this one when I have more time to dedicate to this unique story delivery. I appreciate the author using fantastical elements to dive into such delicate- hard-hitting topics. The author's writing style is fantastic too.

When Laina gets the news that the Boston police shot and killed her brother, she knows something isn’t right. What looks like just another case of police brutality turns out to be something much stranger. Monsters are real and they are done hiding. As creatures from myth and legend come out of the shadows, a chain reaction of events result in a growing tension of whether humanity is ready to accept that monsters exist. People disappear, hate crimes increase, and protests erupt on all sides. Something big is coming and everyone can feel it. But why did the monsters choose now to come out of the dark?

Don’t ask for too much clarity right at the start of No Gods, No Monsters. Much of the book reads like a collection of puzzle pieces, with seemingly separate storylines and mysterious narrators. This lead to my only issue with the book; with so many characters, I found the jumps between locations and times a little jarring. I wanted to spend more time with each character to truly get to know them. Still, with Cadwell Turnbull’s beautiful and immersive writing, I did get into the flow of the book and came to appreciate each character as their own.

Turnbull successfully uses the lens of monsters to delve into themes of trauma, family, love, identity, violence and more. In another writer’s hands, the equating of how humanity treats the marginalized among us to monsters would be too simple and expected. Turnbull, however, goes deeper, and it works so well. The image of werewolves marching along a highway in protest before returning to their vulnerable human bodies was particularly striking, and it will definitely stick with me for a long time.

No Gods, No Monsters is a beautiful and compellingly human story. If you enjoy a semi-chaotic but wholly unique writing style, immersive prose and strong social commentary then you should definitely check out it out. Turnbull’s other work includes 2019’s The Lesson and a short story in the recent collection Black Panther: Tales of Wakanda.

TW: blood and gore, child abuse, death, drug use, gun violence, implied domestic abuse, implied sexual abuse, mass shooting, overdose, police brutality

No Gods, No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull
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Thanks to NetGalley @netgalley and @blackstone for letting me read a digital ARC of this book (even though I didn't actually get around to reading it until almost a year after the publication date)
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This book is urban fantasy meets literary fiction, I did find this novel a bit hard to follow - there are a lot of characters and plotlines and the world building was a bit vague. It tackles a lot of big topics and themes: police brutality, oppression, community and connection, with a monster-twist (as the title suggests). About halfway through the novel I started to feel like I had a handle on what was going on.
After reading the book I turned to online reviews of the book - curious to see that others had made of it. Interestingly, Cadwell Turnbull left a long review of goodreads on his own novel explaining how to approach the book as a reader, and towards the end he writes: "...but if you read No Gods and it feels like nothing is happening and/or makes you think, “Am I missing something?” You’re not. That’s just what this is."
So maybe I wasn't supposed to understand, just be along for the ride.
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#nogodsnomonsters #blackstonepublishing #netgalley #bookpost #bookstagram #recommendedread #bookreview #minibookreview

No one is ready when a officer shooting of a wild animal turns out to be a young Black man, or when a protest on a highway is led by gigantic wolves. That doesn’t mean that monsters aren’t among us though, and they are quite ready to announce their presence.

Some of them anyway.

This was a highbrow urban fantasy with hardcore horror elements wrapped around stories of people who are already marginalized, using fantasy to bring all sorts of things to the fore.

With a wide cast I found it a bit hard to stay connected to any specific character, and it wasn’t until the second half of the book that I started to get invested. I think the combo of multiple POV within a world filled with people, monsters, secret societies and multiple timelines just took me a bit longer to come around to.

A sharp and taut world where monsters are real, and so are the horrors that come with them. Perfect for fans of urban or paranormal fantasy with a literary bent.

This book was recommended to me by a book blogger friend because it had a lot of elements I look for in a book (horror and Black books, particularly those with spec elements). I loved it! This was exactly what I needed.

I loved Turnbull's previous novel, "The Lesson," and I probably do still prefer it to "No Gods, No Monsters," but there is a lot to appreciate about this novel in its own right. I like that it is speculative fiction on the more "surrealist" end of the spectrum, and that it therefore connects to current events in a more evocative rather than literal fashion. I finished the novel and was left not necessarily satisfied by the narrative, but still with a lasting, visceral "impression" from the writing. I still think Turnbull is a writer I'll continue to follow and I'm very glad there's a space for his writing in the landscape today! Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a review copy.

This was an interesting one. Pretty crazy, but also, pretty great. I definitely recommend this one.

No Gods, No Monsters is an urban science fiction and fantasy novel, and I am always interested when these two genres are set in urban settings. Especially when they are done well. In addition it contains a social commentary by framing a world in which Cadwell Turnbull makes comparisons between this fantasy world and the real world through the treatment of people of color and members of the LGTBQIA+ community in the novel. While we meet a lot of characters throughout the novel, it was well written and the plot was well done. This is outside of my usual scope but I enjoyed it. I will also always support a novel with LGTBQIA+ romance. Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I feel like I need to reread this one already, slower than the first time! You have to pay close attention to this book, but I was so desperate to find out what happened I sped through it. This is such a breathtakingly expansive book and I'm interested to read more in the series.

This is a clever and refreshing combination of urban fantasy and social commentary, which I always love! The portrayal of the humans/monsters political landscape was such an interesting way of picking at some buzzy and prescient cultural scabs. The role that media and new outlets play is fascinating, and the societal rift and growing unrest surrounding the emergence of these monsters is a mirror to the us-and-them walls we build between different groups in today's modern world.

I was so hooked and exhilarated for the first half of the book, but I got lost in the second half. Maybe it's meant to be a long setup for the books to follow, but I was left feeling confused and unsatisfied after the strong momentum in the beginning. Nonetheless, I'll be eager to pick up the next book to see where this new series goes!

Caldwell Turnbull’s No Gods, No Monsters (Blackstone Publishing 2021) is an absolutely unputdownable blend of science fiction and fantasy set in a dark (and queer) world where all manner of creatures live and walk.

The central plot of the novel focuses on Laina, who receives news one morning that her estranged brother has been killed by police in Boston. Although the case seems to be a devastating case of police brutality, there are hints of something more under the surface. As Laina finds out what really happened to her brother, she and the rest of the world realize that there are creatures who share their world that they’ve only heard stories about. Now, these creatures are tired of hiding; they want everyone to know that they’re here, hoping that the world’s knowledge will keep them safe from those who would capture or harm them. However, this transition from invisible to visible is far from smooth, and as the threads of this story come together, the stakes get higher and higher.

No Gods, No Monsters is perhaps one of the best books I’ve read all year. I read this with the frantic pace of a reader desperate to find out what happens. This story has a magical quality, weaving many different threads together over the course of several hundred pages. Therefore, No Gods, No Monsters required careful reading to catch the connective tissue of each section and chapter. This literary detective work, however, was delightful because the mysteries throughout the novel are dark, creepy, and compelling. This book is the perfect read for fall and Halloween.

Turnbull’s representation of queer people is various, nuanced, and refreshing. The novel features a cast of queer characters from various walks of life, and their queerness effects their individual storylines to varying degrees throughout the novel. Because of the story’s winding and twisting structure, the characters are really what hold this narrative together. My investment in their lives and stories was immediate and kept me reading constantly. Turnbull also makes an interesting connection between marginalization, queerness, and otherness. He asks, who in our world risks violence through visibility? How can we protect them? How does our world need to change?

No Gods, No Monsters is a gorgeous book and one that I highly recommend if you’re looking for a spooky, queer read this fall!

Please visit Cadwell Turnbull on Twitter and put No Gods, No Monsters on your TBR on Goodreads.

Content Warnings: Trauma, sexual abuse, drug use, gun violence.

No Gods No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull, with a title that is a play on the words of the popular labour slogan, “No Gods, No Masters” is all sorts of fabulous. I began reading it a while ago but was not too hopeful as many of the 'fantasy' books I’ve read recently have left me a bit disappointed. But Turnbull’s novel is a delight through and through. And how! The way he has so intricately weaved real-life issues in this complex fantasy is just fascinating, to say the least.

It is not a light read. Some subjects the author has discussed in the books require a trigger warning or two. But all in all the book is unputdownable, as they say. It screams for your attention the moment you pick it up and just 10 pages in you will know why.

The novel begins with Laina hearing the news of her brother’s heinous murder by the police, which triggers the launch of a number of events revolving around monsters who, after a long time of living in shadows, are revealing themselves for all to see. What happens next is a mix of ecstasy, curiosity and first-class imagery. The characters are mostly unrelated to each other but it almost feels like they are all a part of one huge story without ever knowing about it.

No Gods, No Monsters is a lovely book that speaks about societal ills such as oppression and othering, and why it is still almost impossible to escape these. This one needs to be read!