No Gods, No Monsters
No Gods, No Monsters by Cadwell Turner is a unique, monster fantasy. Following several points of view, a war is brewing and changing the world as we know it.
All quotes are from an advanced reader copy, and may or may not reflect the published edition.
From Goodreads:
One October morning, Laina gets the news that her brother was 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.
As creatures from myth and legend come out of the shadows, seeking safety through visibility, their emergence sets off a chain of seemingly unrelated events. Members of a local werewolf pack are threatened into silence. A professor follows a missing friend’s trail of bread crumbs to a mysterious secret society. And a young boy with unique abilities seeks refuge in a pro-monster organization with secrets of its own. Meanwhile, more people start disappearing, suicides and hate crimes increase, and protests erupt globally, both for and against the monsters.
At the center is a mystery no one thinks to ask: Why now? What has frightened the monsters out of the dark?
The world will soon find out.
“Because trauma is an open door. We all have to make amends to all the people we let it.”
This book was interesting, and the writing style of the points of view makes it difficult for me to review it. We follow several storylines and characters, with different second and third-person writing styles. The layout of these viewpoints made it difficult to follow, however. I found myself often forgetting characters and their plotlines, especially when they would intertwine. This made it feel frustrating at times, and while I take notes when I read, having to reference them constantly was not my favorite.
“We now know there are shadows deep enough to hide in, to keep things hidden. And now they are coming out. Not unreasonable to think there’s more to this.”
The style of this book is best described as chaotic. This is appealing to me, most of the time. I enjoy books that take a little extra brainpower to know what’s going on. However, the storytelling, in the end, didn’t all come together. The pieces still feel disjointed, and most of my questions were not answered. I understand this is the first book in a series. Yet, I don’t necessarily feel a desire to find out what happens. The representation is fantastic, and the overarching plot intriguing. But the execution has left me feeling like I didn’t read anything at all.
“There is no armor strong enough to save you,” Melku says. “Nowhere. Ever.”
The body horror and gore in this book were well written, and fun to read (if you’re into that kind of thing). As individual stories, this book was incredibly interesting. If you like speculative horror, and urban fantasy with modern monsters, this book would be the one for you. I just wish the ending was a bit more satisfying.
“This is where I return: to my piece of heaven and hell, my always-open wound, my little snatch of infinity.”
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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