This novel begins with Laina. Her brother was shot by a cop in what appears to be another case of racialized police brutality but is actually something unexpected and that one moment opens up the world(s) of gods and monsters.

I really enjoyed this book, audio book actually, because it surprised me in wonderful ways. I will be honest here and say that in the beginning I was quite confused. There are a lot of characters and Turnbull wants them all to have dimension so we get a lot of information about them and, at least because I was listening, found them all hard to keep track of. At least at first. As the story went along I was able to piece together who was who. The great thing about this confusion though, for me, is that he created this world of characters that felt very real. It is a group of characters that are from various gender identities & sexual orientations, different racial backgrounds, different ages, different worlds, and they all felt real and fleshed out.

Another thing that confused me a little, and again, something I think wouldn't have been as much of an issue had I been reading a physical copy, was the jumping of timelines, storylines, and worlds. Turnbull does it with such ease that at times I didn't realize it had happened until I found myself needing to rewind a bit to figure out what was happening. It's not something that happened often but I definitely had to make sure I wasn't distracted while listening.

As you may have seen this is book #1 in a series and I honestly can't wait to read the rest. This book on its own feels complete, which nice to see when so many books that are part of a series leave you with that empty feeling of incompleteness as a way to draw you back. I feel like Turnbull has created a world (or worlds?) that you'll want to come back to but if you only read this first book, it stands on its own.

Is this urban fantasy? Yes.
Is this literary fiction? Also yes.
Will I be buying a copy of this book so I can read it again? Highly likely, and you should too. Or whatever format you enjoy your books in.


Since I mentioned having read the audio version I just want to say that Dion Graham did an incredible job. There were a lot of characters, situations, and emotions to capture and he narrated beautifully.

4/5 - Great writing, magnetic characters, baffling story.

One of the things I well and truly love about this book is the casual, natural way it weaves in the characters’ identities (queer, trans, poly, etc). They don’t feel clumsy or “token,” it’s just who they are as people.

The writing is smart, it feels prosaic and immersive, despite the numerous storylines. The changes in POV don’t feel jarring in the way that those shifts sometimes do.

With all that said, I still don’t know what this book is *about.* Don’t get me wrong, I could give you an in-depth explanation of the various storylines, but I don’t think I understand the actual crux of the story. It feels deep and important, but it has settled more in my heart than in my brain.

This is one of those books that I’m almost certain I’ll return to and understand a little more each time I read it. Ultimately I would absolutely recommend it, with the caveat that the reader may need multiple passes to “get it.”

Content Warnings: police brutality, domestic violence, child abuse, brief gore.

(Thank you to Blackstone Publishing via Netgalley for the eARC! All opinions are my own.)

3.5 — I received a copy of the audio book and thoroughly enjoyed it. I found it to be very unique and intriguing. I can’t pinpoint exactly what genre I’d classify it as, somewhere between sci-fi, horror, and general fiction. The writing is easy to consume but still thought provoking nonetheless. I’d also like to give kudos to the choice of narrator as well because that can certainly drive me away from the store if I feel like it doesn’t fit.

Thank you to NetGalley for blessing me with a fantastic audio ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This review is going to be fairly long, I have a lot of thoughts. There are A LOT of balls in the air in this book but firstly I want to praise the casual queerness, that always has my heart ❤️

It’s rich with werewolf’s and witches and parallel universes and secrecy societies, but at its core it’s about community. It’s pure social commentary: politics, marginalisation, complicit silence, the importance of unity, what it means to be human and deserve human rights.

The beginning of this book is incredibly intense. You’re thrown right in with no clue what’s happening BUT it works, because the characters have no clue what’s happening either, and that makes the panic and fear more real. The confusion feels completely purposeful and it’s masterfully done.

That being said, I don’t think this is going to be for everyone. It’s a very… different style of storytelling. Kind of Emily St John Mandel (whom I ADORE) meets Neil Gaiman: mosaic, half-character study, multiple seemingly tangential narratives continuously coming together in a “fuck I blinked and missed the point, let me go back” kind of way.

Which is to say, you have to pay attention and give it patience, but it’s worth it because the “point/s” are incredibly impactful once you get them. The writer leads you to most of them slowly (with lovely prose and metaphor) but the biggest messages are not subtle. Nor should they be, honestly.

(For those of you that have read and are moved to action, these websites are a good starting point: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/ https://sayevery.name/take-action)

It’s a slow reveal of plot. It’s erratic shifts in tone and all over the place pacing, and some things <I>are</I> tangents (as far as I can tell) but that just makes it even more disarmingly creepy. Tense is a good word for how I felt for most of the first half. You’re purposefully lulled into a false sense of mundanity time and time again, only to realise it’s been sneaking up on you slowly. Sort’ve like that analogy of the frog boiling. After a few instances of that, I was on edge waiting for the next. (Which, now that I think about it, fits with his social commentary points in and of itself 😅. Cadwell you genius.)

One thing I will say is that there are A LOT of characters. And, given it jumps between POV/time/universe and many of them interact with each other briefly or hours down the line, it can get very confusing trying to keep them all straight in your head. Even still, I <i>cared</I> about all of the characters. Even those that were minor were so complex and were moving the story along.

Also, the ending was a little... odd. Don't expect resolution, although there is a climax and you witness the fallout etc., but I'm glad it's a series. I'll be devouring the next ones as soon as humanly possible.

This novel is beautifully written but I find myself unable to finish it. I am about 30% through and asking myself, what is the point? Why do I care? Short answer is, I don't. I am a plot driven reader and there is no plot in this book. I do wish that there was some way to know if a book is plot driven or character driven BEFORE picking up a book an paying for it/requesting it because I do think this book would be wonderful for someone who is a character driven reader but it is definitely not the book for me.

oh my gawd what a wild ride. this book just jumps in & around from the get go. you're introduced to a lot of different characters & situations which can be really confusing but eventually things start to come together. i feel like i never completely knew what was going on or where anything was going but this was a case where i was okay with that. idk it's such a unique & cool story & world i enjoyed being confused lol. the writing is also really cool & pretty so many lines i am obsessed with. def interested in continuing the series

Although the narrator has a beautiful voice, it was somehow too intense for my liking, I found myself focusing more on his voice than on the story haha

The characters were great, I really loved them all. You could really feel who they were and what they were about. Every emotion was clear, this was especially emphasised by the narrator who I thought was fantastic.
Overall I thought the novel was a brilliant premise, however I found it a bit jumpy and convoluted in places.
I'm sure this is only because it is setting up the universe in which the novel takes place.

This book was a pretty good read/listen. LGBT themes were good, always nice to see good representation in books. I enjoyed it, gave it 4 stars. Would definitely recommend to a friend.

I finished this ages ago. I have been struggling to articulate my love for this book, because it’s a bit abstract. No doubt, Turnbull is a master wordsmith of creepy atmosphere, and untrustworthy characters. It’s all unsettling!

There is an underlying social comment taking root, drawing a parallel between human rights and monsters rights. It almost mirrors activism for the Black Lives Matter movement, but it’s taken such a fantastical turn, it’s growing into something so much more.

My experience of this audiobook was 4-stars, but I am re-reading the eBook because I feel like there’s something lost on me. I feel the book is saying something more than I grasped, but it need to see in text for it all to click. Then again, this is book one in a series. This book is a ride!

This was my first audiobook experience with NetGalley, and it was a pleasure. I highly recommend it, for Dion Graham’s narration alone! I’ll be seeking out more audiobooks voiced by him in the future.

Thank you very much to NetGalley & Blackstone Publishing for honoring me with an advanced copy for review.

No Gods , No Monsters reads like a literary novel, but with a fantastical setting. The story takes place in a world much like ours, but with werewolves, vampires, dragons, and witches. We follow multiple characters who are magical. Throughout the novel we hear there stories. Some are heartbreaking, some are scary, but none are ordinary. The novel offers social commentary on race and discusses the reality of monsters.

I was pulled into some of the characters stories, but either confused of apathetic to others. I would find myself confused about who’s perspective the chapter was following, and how all of the characters were related to each other. Due to this, I think that physically reading the book, instead of listening to the audiobook like me, would be better for this story.

I received this audiobook from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I really don’t know about this one…

For one, the overarching concept of monsters being revealed to the world as, well, real, is very cool. And Turnbull’s writing (though I listened to the audiobook) and character development are masterful and compelling. In particular, I loved Riley, an ace trans man very into anticapitalist cooperatives. The audiobook narrator was also excellent--he did a fabulous job differentiating characters in a novel that is especially hard to follow.

Despite all that good stuff to like, the structure of this novel was just plain difficult. It was tough to follow the many multiple POV and parse out their connections to one another and the mysteries of monsters and secret societies. I expected it to get somewhat easier to follow as the plot progressed and I became more familiar with the characters, but No Gods, No Monsters only got harder to keep track of nearing the end. Which, unfortunately, made the ending feel pretty confusing and unsatisfying for me. I went back and forth between loving and being deeply frustrated by this book. Sad to say this will probably be my last stop in this particular series, but I greatly enjoyed The Lesson and look forward to other series or standalones by Turnbull.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for giving me advance access to this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

The first in a new series, No Gods, No Monsters is a dark, gritty fantasy/horror set in contemporary times. Only in this book, monsters have declared to the world that they're real. The questions is: what scared them out of the dark? *Trigger warning: this book contains descriptions of violence, death, drug addiction, and sexual abuse. I recommend this book to fans of Call of Cthulhu and Lovecraftian horror. It is full of mysteries and hard to put down, but the entire time I was reading it I felt... unsettled? Not for the faint of heart.

Personally, this book was a DNF. As much as I recognize the quality of the mysteries and the unsettling sensation that the author was able to build, the book became too dark for me to find it enjoyable. However, it is for that exact reason that I will be enthusiastically recommending it to my patrons and friends who enjoy a good dark mystery or horror. The author's use of different perspectives throughout the chapters kept me guessing and revealed little clues along the way that kept me engaged. I only wish that I was made of sterner stuff so that I could have made it to the end!

The narrator for this audiobook, Dion Graham, did an excellent job. His voice lured me into the story and seemed an excellent fit for the cast of characters.

It's difficult to describe this book. It's almost like a quilt of interconnected characters pieced together by an unseen quilter. A professor leaves his academic job to move home to St. Thomas. A Boston woman's brother is murdered by police, a shocking video shows him in his Wolf form before death. A child escapes a secret society.

It takes a while for the connections to be made and understood, but I wouldn't say the book is slow moving. The characters are diverse and interesting. This book is the first in a series, and is revving up to be a complex, fascinating story.

The Narrator, Dion Graham does an excellent job, he definitely belongs in the narrator hall of fame!

I don't really know what to say here... Wow! It's a lot! I loved the narration,I think the narrator did a great job and I liked the many perspectives but I'm not a skilled audiobook listener,so following the plot proved really difficult for me. Just a personal thing, I think I need to read a print version of this to really understand what's going on.

Wow! This book is weird....but creepy-cool weird! I loved it!

What would happen if monsters were suddenly and completely real? Myths, legends, strange gods....all those things your parents told you weren't in your closet, under your bed or outside at night.....

It took me awhile to get into this audio book. The story switches from character to character and jumps perspectives without any warning. But that weird vibe of constantly switching directions fits with this story. Once I got into the rhythm of the tale, I was hooked!

There's more to this story than just a monster tale though. It's not hard to see through the supernatural trappings and understand what the author is really getting at.

So creative! So many facets to this book. It's definitely a story that warrants a second listen....and a third! This is the start to a series -- can't wait to find out happens next!

The audio is almost 10 hours long and narrated by Dion Graham. Excellent voice acting -- Graham did a wonderful job! Very entertaining -- and thought provoking -- listening experience!

**I voluntarily listened to a review audiobook from Blackstone Publishing. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**

This beautiful yet dense novel might be hard to follow, but it is totally worth it. A lot of characters, a lot of dimensions (literally) and a lot of metaphysical questions, about what makes us monstrous and what makes us human. Or gods?

Science and fantasy create a world difficult to access, but no more than our inner world or the world we live in. We have to accept that we can't understand everything, and we have to understand ourselves. It all comes together at the end... for better or worse.

I could barely listen to this book, the narrator was so terrible. The narrator can make or break the whole book and in this case, it broke it.

One of the best audiobooks I’ve listened to. The narrator does a fantastic job at immersing you into the world.

One October morning, Laina gets the news that her brother has been shot and killed by Boston cops. But what looks like a case of police brutality soon reveals something much stranger. Monsters are real. And they want everyone to know it.

Reading the blurb for this book I was intrigued enough to want to read it, and having a chance to listen to the audiobook was a perfect way.

Turnbull's style of writing, very poetic and descriptive, was a definite plus for me. So many books in this genre are written as if the reader was a child.

But personally, this just wasn't for me. I understood how Turnbull made the connections between today's headlines and a story about Monsters coming out, but to me, it seemed to trivialize today's issues.
Another issue, that is purely personal, is I read to escape the real-life horror of today's insensitive world. I can't say I found that escape here. I was agitated by the response to a werewolf being shot by a cop as I am when I hear of a black life lost for the same reason.

Unfortunately, I just could not find the empathy I needed for the characters. There was too much jumping from one character's story to another and I just started to feel annoyed and lost.

Dion Graham did a wonderful job as narrator.

Don't let my experience stop you though. The writing style alone is worth the read. Trumbull is a fine wordsmith and I will try another of his books in the future.

Thanks to @Netgalley, Blackstone Publishing, and Cadwell Trumbull for this audiobook in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.