Reviews tagging 'Torture'

No Gods, No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull

6 reviews

spootilious's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

 

Read: August 16, 2023
 Title: No Gods, No Monsters 

Series: The Convergence Saga #1
 Author: Cadwell Turnbull
 Genre: Fantasy Horror
 Rating: 2/5
 Review: 

I don’t really have a lot to say about this one. I didn’t… NOT like it, but there isn’t much I specifically liked either. 

What I can say is that the writing style is beautiful. It is obvious that Turnbull is  very talented. However, the storyline and the characters have this sort of vagueness that keeps anything from truly standing out. 

From what I can tell, most people complain at how the story jumps around and the points of view shift so strangely. I can understand their point. I suppose I’ve read enough novels written this way that it wasn’t too bad for me. Though I will say with just a small shuffle of one or two chapters Turnbull could have kept the mystery while still making the shifts less jarring for the reader. In my opinion he didn’t quite manage what he was going for. 

I will also say that physically reading the book makes it more understandable than listening to the audiobook which is what I first attempted. Dion Graham is one of the sexiest narrators I’ve come across but there was nothing he could do with this one to make it easier to understand. 

Overall, not a bad book but not a great one in my opinion. Bit overhyped but love the writing style 😊 

 Quotes: 

N/A 

 

 

TW: Rape, Murder, Gore, Vore, Body Horror, Mass shooting, General Violence 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Murder, Body horror, Cannibalism, Violence, Transphobia, Gore, Blood, Physical abuse, and Police brutality

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Suicide, Rape, and Torture

mossybean's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.5

As much as I loved some of the characters and the magic, I just came out of this book thinking: so what does that all mean? I feel like I was left out of the loop, I wasn’t told enough about the important parts, so I didn’t care about them, and the less important parts just got thrown by the wayside towards the end. I wanted it all to come together but it didn’t. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Body horror, Torture, Blood, Cannibalism, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, and Violence

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Police brutality

marcostorin's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

This book is amazing anarchist fiction. I don't know if the author considers himself an anarchist, but that is irrelevant, the themes and how they're handled speak for themselves - and that's without mentioning obvious references at anarchism, like Ursula K Le Guin and the title itself. It hit me hard and I can't wait for the next two books of the trilogy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Addiction, Death, Murder, Police brutality, and Racism

Moderate: Cancer, Grief, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Torture, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cannibalism, Classism, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, and Transphobia

gilnean's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

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

vaguely_pink's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Child abuse, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Transphobia, Violence, Abandonment, and Gore

Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Medical content, Stalking, and Torture

anna_hepworth's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

This is beautifully written, with complex world building, a plethora of viewpoint characters, and there is just too much going on -- I kept losing track of who was who, which bits went together, etc. Not helped by there being multiple time lines, and never being sure that the stories were in the same time line. Oh, and the omniscient narrator who is a complex character in their own right.

I respect that the author is doing something sweeping and large, with conspiracy theories, secret organisations trying to rule the world (or something) and great historical changes that are of the 'at best make sense afterwards' type. But it didn't work for me, and I don't think I would read more in this world. But I will look for more by this author, because they can certainly write, and I have hopes that some of their other work will be more to my level. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Torture

Moderate: Police brutality