Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

No Gods, No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull

8 reviews

plesiosaurys's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

niceonehros's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-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? No

4.5

Read this in a single day. The perfect intersection of queer activism in a world too much like our own, found family, cosmic horror, and grassroots anarchism praxis. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Animal death, Grief, Transphobia, Mass/school shootings, Gun violence, and Police brutality

kryskross's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Gore, Gun violence, Drug abuse, and Addiction

Minor: Kidnapping

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

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

spookieboogie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Gun violence, and Death

Minor: Confinement, Police brutality, Addiction, and Kidnapping

leighwilliams's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Cannibalism, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Violence, Kidnapping, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, and Mass/school shootings

Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Police brutality, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Suicide attempt

entazis's review against another edition

challenging informative mysterious reflective slow-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

3.75

No Gods, No Monsters is an urban fantasy written as a series of vignettes. We follow a group of characters dealing with the aftermath of the world finding out that supernatural monsters exist. Gradually, we glimpse the character's stories, learn how interconnected they all are, which roles they have in the narrative, and so on. The narration is fragmented, the story split into these small impressions of the character's lives, which we gradualy learn about.

That can be a bit difficult to read, but it's also what makes this book interesting and different. The narration and narrator played a big role in my enjoyment but I'm a sucker for meta narration. However I also had some troubles because I forgot names of characters so I'm sure I missed some stuff.
The pacing is slow and the story is character-based rather than plot. It's all about who are the real monsters, about drug abuse, dysfunctional families, police brutality, grief, and regret. There are a lot of chilling moments, dread-filling situations, and deep seethed terror.
This book is a bit sad, a bit scary, and a bit depressing. But if you like stories that focus on characters, with a great queer and poly rep, monsters in urban setting, and narrator that will mess with your perception of narration, you should check this out. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Kidnapping, Hate crime, Gun violence, Grief, Gore, and Drug use

Moderate: Deadnaming