Again, Turnbull delivers a story that both looks at bonds of family and the paranormal. He uses complex structures to engage his readers and keep them guessing. There is a undertone of darkness that permeates the atmosphere and as more is revealed, the reader faces the choice of realizing that there is always more to every origin and every story.

3.5 stars.
This story picks up after the horrific ending in "No Gods, No Monsters", and continues with the darkness, love, desperation, violence and almost hopelessness described in book one. For anyone who has not read book one, do not start here.

This book is well written, and author Cadwell Turnbull dives deeper into some of his characters, expanding their experiences and responses to the existential crisis they're faced with as shapeshifters in a world that in some cases hates them enough to kill them, and in others, is debating how to integrate the shifters into society.

Some of the shifters are working to build their safety through activism, even while the monster haters, some organized into a pro-human group called the Black Hand, face off repeatedly. This action is cover for two ancient orders who have different aims and secrets and information about the gods and magic that have overtaken life.

Where I enjoyed book one unreservedly, I had a tough time getting through this book. I'm not entirely sure what did not work for me this time, as Turnbull writes wonderfully, and does interesting things with his characters. I particularly liked his exploration of characters, and how they are coping with the upending of their world, whether because of their new powers, or because of their fear over the changes to those they knew, or their assumptions about their world. The book is wonderfully dark with big stakes, and I just wish I had enjoyed it more than I did.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Blackstone Publishing for this ARC in exchange for my review.

Count on Turnbull to deliver a sequel that is equally expansive and genre-defying as No Gods, No Monsters. Now that the monsters are out of hiding, the plans from unfathomable cosmic powers, old secret societies, and monsters fighting for social justice are bursting at the seams, keeping the momentum of this multiverse saga going strong.

This is an exciting series about being a monster and having to know that you will have to fight for your rights. The characters are excellently crafted. They are diverse in who they are and their background, yet you understand each one.

As intriguing as this series is, I wish there were more answers to the conspiracy theories. I feel as if Cadwell Turnbull is holding back the world-building from us. I want to feel the world as much as the characters.

This review is based on an advanced reader copy provided through Netgalley for an honest review.

As I was thinking how to start this review of Cadwell Turnbull’s We Are the Crisis, planning on noting how it slots into the category of “one of those books I admired but didn’t fully fall into,” I thought I’d refresh my memory of my thoughts on its predecessor, No Gods, No Monsters. And darn if I didn’t open that review with “the book had me admiring it more than enjoying it.” So I guess we’re both pretty consistent, huh?

And indeed, We Are the Crisis has all the same strengths I praised No Gods, No Monsters for: a complex structure, wonderfully crafted sentences, a strong sense of timeliness, a diverse cast of characters, a richly layered exploration of multiple weighty themes. They’re all here again as the novel picks up a few years after the events of book one (some spoilers for that book to follow).

Ever since the “monsters” have been revealed to the world (or one of the worlds—more on that later), it seems to be heading down a path toward inevitable conflict, despite attempts by some to avoid war (and attempts by others to encourage it). Some monsters are disappearing, perhaps going into hiding, perhaps being kidnapped, perhaps being killed. Some monsters are forming activist groups, revealing themselves to select groups, and seeking out human allies. On the other side, human supremacist groups (particularly one known as the Black Hand) are becoming more public and more active, with if not active support from law enforcement at least a willing oblivious eye or a suspiciously slow response to attacks on monsters. Bills are being debated over legal protection for monsters. And behind it all, two ancient Orders or cults of monster continue their age-old battle even as one deals with its own schism. And, as noted earlier, key events are occurring on more than one world, as amongst all the other things Turnbull’s trilogy is, it’s also a tale of the multiverse, which allows for a semi-omniscient narrator “dreaming” his way across the universe (s) as well as (and this is all I’ll say about this), one hell of an ending.

We met that narrator in book one, along with most of the main characters driving events (or reacting to them) here, including but not limited to:
• A trio of werewolves: Ridley and Laina (husband and wife) and Rebecca
• “Dragon”: a young monster who recently escaped long imprisonment and manipulation
• Alex, a former CIA agent, spying one of the monster activist groups (though she may not fully know who for or why)
• Sondra: a senator from St. Thomas who is also a were-dog
• Aleister Crowley: yes, that one
Violence is prevalent throughout the book as the world (s) seemingly careens toward war between humans and monsters. Lynch mobs are mentioned, “disappeared” monsters, and the book starts off with a bang, in a classic werewolves vs. vampires fight scene. Several other such scenes follow, along with one more wide-scale conflict that Turnbull nicely builds up to with increasing tension in the moments beforehand. But amongst all the actual violence, off-stage violence, and predicted violence, characters, often at great risk to themselves, still try to find a way through to a new world where humans and monsters can peacefully co-exist. A better world overall — more open, more just, more equitable; a world less driven by competition and capitalism. Whether that’s a fool’s dream has yet to be seen.

In that vein, Turnbull is working in some well-established terrain. The monsters can clearly be read, a la the X-Men, as a stand-in for any marginalized group, and it doesn’t take much imaginative work (really, none at all) on the reader’s part to replace “monster” at various points in the text with any such group (“queer”, “Black”, “refugee”, “migrant”, etc.) and have the rephrased sentence mean exactly what it means in the universe of the novel. Equally familiar is the question of “Just who really are the monsters here?”, though to his credit Turnbull doesn’t present a simple, pat answer to that by painting all monsters as good/victims and all humans as bad/predators. Keeping to his deeply realistic despite the fantasy trapping style, Turnbull present it as the complicated mess life usually is. Finally, we’re also dealing with a recognizable “found family” theme, though I’d say less prevalently than in book one (mostly because the families have already been found), as well as the usual messiness of actual families.

Familiar as the metaphors and themes might be, there’s no doubt Turnbull executes those themes exceedingly well. Just as he handles any of the technical craft. Characters are sharply drawn; for the most part the dialogue is realistic and natural, with a few speechifying moments outside of the actual speeches; the structure requires readerly attention as it moves backwards and forward in time and space and across multiple worlds, but those shifts are handled smoothly and clearly and I have no complaint about an author requiring a reader to pay attention; and as noted above, Turnbull shows a deft hand at creating tension.

My only issue, and not much one honestly, is that as with No Gods, No Monsters, I felt curiously distant from the book’s events and characters. I admired what Turnbull was doing on a craft level, his ambition on a thematic and structural level, found myself nodding my head in agreement with some of the characters’ thinking, felt at least somewhat anxious at all the appropriate moments, but never felt fully immersed in the story, never felt like I was fully inhabiting the story or its characters. It impressed me, it stimulated me, it provoked me, but it didn’t move me. But that simply prevented me from giving it a 5 out of 5; otherwise, it’s a book and a series I’m happily recommending.

I think this series of novels that discuss the sources of Otherness and the artificiality of the idea of a permanent identity deserves all the praise I can heap on it. Using modern culture's delight in cryptids and monsters as real entities, Author Turnbull offers a wise and inclusive look at how identity can be imposed from outside and then used to oppress and persecute the recipient of that imposed "self". Horror fiction is supposed to scare us with the monsters, not FOR them. This subversion of the literary status quo is ideally suited to slide in under the resistant person's radar and make them think again about what a monster is, and who decides what that identity means. This is something that has needed doing since the days of myth...Beowulf is, at the end of the day, about a mother seeking vengeance for the harm done to her child...and what could be more subversive than that?

The very concept of debating rights is absurd on its face. You don't grant rights. Rights are, then they get denied by the controlling elites to serve their own purposes. Granting rights is best framed as removing impediments unjustly placed in the path of those attempting to exercise their natural rights. When that fact comes dangerously close to becoming part of the great mass of people's consciousness, a crisis must be manufactured to distract and re-Other the group that is deemed undesirable by the controlling elites.

The existence of Others is necessary for the forces of control to make the eternally useful and rouinely succesful lie of Us-vs-Them work to absorb the mass of humanity in fighting against those who have the most in common with them so the controlling elites don't have to worry about how they can keep their power, privilege, and prestige intact against the outrage and hatred of those they oppress to serve them, not their own needs.

Political fiction done so well that, unless you already knew it was political, you wouldn't know. For that reason, I encourage you to gift it to your videogame addicted teen boy. Anything we can do to wedge his mind open a wee tiny bit for non-authoritarian thoughts to enter is good.

I really love the way Turnbull blends gods, monsters, and the occult into one gripping saga. It's unlike anything I've read before. And while there are a lot of different storylines happening at once, every character has so much depth and complexity that I'm completely engrossed no matter who's POV the chapter is focused on.

Upon finishing this book -- the second book in the Convergence Saga -- I was only slightly less confused than when I started it. There are multiple layers and many characters moving toward convergence. These characters are monsters or otherwise otherly gifted. They're in Boston and the British Virgin Islands, and most definitely in the multiverse: "The heart of the question is the fear of infinite unknowns, descending forever, turtles all the way down. Places to hide and places hidden. The universe has legs." This book felt like a bridge between Book 1 and Book 3 in the saga. I'm still on board, wondering where those legs will walk.

[Thanks to Blackstone Publishing and NetGalley for an opportunity to read an advanced reader copy and share my opinion of this book.]

While I did receive an eARC, I also have to admit that I loved No Gods, No Monsters so much that I periodically checked for this book’s release and preordered both a physical and audio version as soon they were listed and will be doing the same for the third and final installment.

We Are the Crisis takes place 3 years after the events of No Gods, No Monsters and builds of of it beautifully. I highly recommend a refresh of No Gods before jumping in to this though because Turnbull jumps right back into the story despite the time jump and there are so many points of view that it can be hard to keep the plot/characters straight. Turnbull has said that his protagonist is community and that is abundantly clear as the story jumps from perspective to perspective.

He’s also said that this trilogy will be structured so that Book 1 focuses on the people, Book 2 the monsters, and Book 3 the gods, and thematically they will be Revelation, Reckoning, Reconciliation. As such, We Are the Crisis follows the backlash of the reveal of monsters in No Gods. In my opinion, this is contemporary fantasy and speculative fiction at its best. It’s full of emotion and life and makes the reader think while remaining an engaging story. I cannot wait to see how the series wraps up!

If that sounds at all interesting, I recommend checking out A (SORT OF) GUIDE TO READING NO GODS, NO MONSTERS to see if this series might be for you! Dion Graham narrates the story beautifully, though I recommend also having a physical or ebook version to help reference.

This continues to be an interesting series, but it also continues to be confusing and hard to follow. There are so many characters and while they are all dealing with some of the same issues, I found it difficult to find a through-line that would tie it all together. I'm not sure if I'm up for the finale.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

In this second installment of the convergence saga, we start off with action. Ridley, Laina and Rebecca are on the road when they encounter a wolf who can’t change back into its human form. It is believed that those who hunt "monsters” are now becoming monsters themselves. There is a secret society that is trying to keep the balance of things.

Overall I rate this 3.5 out of 5, lower than no gods no monsters because at times it was very disjointed. I found myself lost in the many things going on in this one. I feel like it had a lot of promise but from 25% to about 56% I was ready for the story to develop more. Can’t wait to see what will happen in book 3.

Thank you Hear Our Voices Tours, Blackstone Publishing and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I don’t really know what to say about this book. It does provoke thought but has so much going on you can get lost if your not paying attention.

As the monsters slowly emerge from hiding to live among everyone else, they will face violence and hatred from those who would keep the monsters living in the dark. This is the second book in the trilogy and it is much better if you read the first book. The world and character building excellence that started in the first book continues as we meet and learn to understand each species and their lives among us.

The first book in this series was good, but the second book is better. This book takes place in the near future where monsters usually stay hidden in solitude for their own safety. However, a small group of monsters has come together to try to change the laws to protect monsters from discrimination and violence. There are many different types of monsters such as witches, werewolves, vampires, etc. I loved the world building in this book, it was incredible. For the most part, the book is fast paced. This book does a great job about talking about how marginalized communities experience hatred and discrimination in the real world. Even though this is a fictional book with fantasy elements, it heavily discusses real world issues that we are facing today.

We Are the Crisis is the second book in the Convergence Saga Trilogy. I liked this as much as No Gods, No Monsters.

We have monsters in the form of wolves, vampires, witches, and other entities trying to survive and thrive in a world that would rather pretend they don’t exist, or extinguish their existence. Conspiracy theorists and misinformation is rampant, and secretive cults holding the true power driving collective ideologies on all sides of the spectrum. Caldwell continues to build on real-world struggles faced by marginalized populations in a nonlinear manner.

I do recommend reviewing No Gods, No Monsters prior to jumping into this. Despite reading No Gods, No Monsters earlier this year, I needed to go back and read parts of it again since We Are the Crisis takes off without any quick reference to the first book. It was more challenging with the many different POV’s, and I found myself getting confused quite often. Despite this, I like the series and look forward to the conclusion.

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

I was provided an ARC of this book via Netgalley, however I listened to the audiobook as I did with book 1. As with all of my reviews, all opinions are my own.

This picks up a few years after No Gods, No Monsters with the world still reeling after the revelation that the supernatural monsters from myth do exist in the real world. Activist groups form for and against monsters living within society and the politics parallel what we see today regarding various minority groups. The author does a great job using the supernatural and horror elements in this series as allegory to discuss very real social commentary issues. The world building is very well done.

This is told in a non-linear fashion as the story unfolds and isn't always told in the same dimension as the author uses the concept of the multiverse to tell the story. I'm not sure if there is another book, I hope there is because I have alot of unanswered questions. You absolutely need to read the first book before diving into this book, as the world and way the story is told is complex. There is also a large cast of characters to keep track of so wouldn't start in the middle. I had a harder time keeping track of what was going on in this second installment as I did in the first book. The storyline keeps getting more and more complex. The ending is a bit open ended for my tastes, but I do believe this is a trilogy so I will patiently wait to find out how things play out. Turnbull is a masterful writer who uses fantasy and horror in a unique away to tell a powerful story.

I love the idea of the fantasy world that Turnbull creates where humans and monsters collide. The conspiracy and fast pace sucks you into the world but the over side of that is at times overwhelming to follow as there is a lot going. Will continue reading the series to see what's next.

No Gods, No Monsters was fantasy, this is speculative fiction as there's a lot of food for thought and some parts are quite political.
It's a series of vignette, a fascinating description of what happened after and how prejudice and fear always play a relevant role
Well plotted even if a bit slow at times
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

BOOK: WE ARE THE CRISIS
AUTHOR: CALDWELL TRUNBULL
PUB DATE: 07 NOVEMBER 2023
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REVIEW
Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for this ARC. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”
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I'm very sorry to say, but this book was a waste of time. The writing was good, but the storyline was meh. I know it's the second in the series, but there was no indication of what happened in the previous book. There were a lot of characters with no connection, different places, and different years. It was really annoying and confusing. After reading, I can't even say what the point of the book was. The book just went round in circles with no point or destination.
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This book was a big no for me with a lot of confusing factors

The monsters and magical beings have been revealed to humanity, and much of humanity is none too happy about it. “We Are The Crisis” continues the saga from “No Gods, No Monsters”, picking up the story a few years after the events of the first book, “We Are The Crisis” explores the aftermath a few years after the reveal. Both characters introduced in the first book as well as new characters with their own perspectives have their stories and justifications presented to the reader.

Society’s response post the “Monster Massacre” in the first book is depressingly familiar, showing prejudice leading to violence, but also, activism and a the beginnings of reaching out across societal divides.

The vignettes that comprise the story are presented in a nonlinear fashion and with many perspectives. As the story moves forward, these vignettes first start to be parallel and crossover into each other’s storyline, ultimately and powerfully coming together. If you’re expecting all the storylines to be wrapped up you’ll have to wait for the next book. At times, the structure of “We Are The Crisis” resembles the classic “journey” trope you see in classical fantasy. However, the journey is both individual and societal, providing a direction for the final installment of the trilogy.

Highly recommended four and one half stars: