plesiosaurys's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Grief, Kidnapping, Drug use, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Addiction, Body horror, Confinement, Hate crime, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Cannibalism, Gun violence, and Terminal illness
gilnean's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Animal death, Cancer, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Terminal illness, Violence, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Alcohol, Body horror, Deadnaming, Pregnancy, Transphobia, Eating disorder, and Vomit
Minor: Excrement, Sexual content, and Pedophilia
meaghanelizabook's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Death, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Gun violence, Violence, and Hate crime
Moderate: Body horror, Domestic abuse, Gore, Police brutality, Racism, Death of parent, Xenophobia, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Blood, and Drug abuse
Minor: Forced institutionalization, Cancer, Mental illness, Suicide, and Terminal illness
nini23's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Ambitious, with multiple threads of polyphonic stories, this sprawling novel defies neat categorization - urban fantasy, speculative fiction, science fiction, social commentary. We readers are dipped into the lives and stories of diverse individuals and families including:
- Puerto Rican lesbian female Rebecca also a werewolf, Laina's lover
- guy returned to his home island of St Thomas, US Virgin Islands, his brother Cory Turner died
- Ridley coop bookstore owner asexual trans biracial (half white, half black)
- Monsters: Dragon rescued by Order of Asha, Melku (also from St Thomas) - tech mage, Sonya- invisible, Cassie/Cassandra - seer, sight mage, Damsel - witch, Yuni, Sarah - werewolf
- 2 orders of monsters, rogue ones, unknown organization forcing them into open
- Sociologist Karuna Flood born in Nepal raised and adopted by Irish parents in Ireland, went missing
- Sondra, senator running again for reelection, from St Thomas, Sondra monster, sister Sonya is a souyoucant (bloodsucking supernatural being from Caribbean folklore), Sondra's parents are werewolves who adopted Sonya
- Hugh Everett quantum physicist who discovers a new wave theory, neglects his family with devastating consequences
- Henry who falls into a cult Golden Dawn from loneliness after divorce
At first, the stories seem disparate, we are dripped backstories across timelines and geography but slowly the interconnections and common themes emerge. I love that the author gives space for the stories to breathe and for readers to reach realizations. One of the refrains is "So it fucking goes" - shitty things happen, is it derived from Vonnegut's famous 'So it goes?" There's drug addictions, racial injustice, spousal physical abuse, family inability to accept LGBT members, suicide, lung cancer from second-hand smoke of smoking spouses, PTSD in military. Close family and friends wonder in regret and self-recrimination whether they could have done more to help, to reach out, made a different decision in the crossroads of fate and time. This is where the concept of multiverses and alternate outcomes, alternate selves pops up with regularity. I felt that the theory of quantum mechanics that sets up this concept a little thin and basic. Also although the stories tried to be empathetic to everyone's pain and trauma, I thought in the subset story of Cory and his ex-wife Keren, his side was given too much emphasis, over-explained vs Keren's terror, I didn't think she had anything to apologize for.
The term 'monsters' is deliberately provocative, because if we treat beings different from us monstrously, what does that turn us humans into? With the release of the video of werewolves that is subsequently altered, there is the Fracture, those who acknowledge the existence of them and those who deny it. Fear, paranoia, violence and desire for destruction of the other pervades; even those who know the 'monsters' personally hesitate to support their cause publicly for fear of their safety.
I really enjoyed the range of No Gods, No Monsters. From a peanut growing coop (and the fascinating method of plant reproduction underground geocarpy) to the flavors of St Thomas (rum, obeah, souyoucant, hurricane, struggle to gain statehood status, iguanas, working at the local Kmart, local slang pahnah) to the SF elements (teleportation, mysterious omniscient fractal sea entity with first person narration, tracker soul worms, memory wipes, particle physics) to the abilities of the different 'monsters,' it's complex and action-packed. But beyond the thriller elements are hard pointed questions of prejudice, allyship, inequality, justice.
No Gods, No Monsters will be released on September 7th, 2021 by publisher Blackstone Publishing. Will definitely be reading book 2 of the Convergence Saga when it comes out.
Thanks to Blackstone Publishing and Netgalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.
Graphic: Gun violence and Mass/school shootings
Moderate: Addiction and Gore
Minor: Suicide attempt, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Physical abuse