Synopsis
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.
Review
No Gods, No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was quite interesting. I read it for The Poisoned Pen Bookstore Sci-Fi/Fantasy Book-of-the-Month Club.
I’d recommend it for anyone who enjoys a somewhat of a nuanced read telling smaller parts of a bigger picture.
The Story
I loved the keen perspective. I felt this was the strong part of the stories. This inside look into the mind’s eye of a character’s experiences.
It started with this melancholy tone, first collective grief, followed by personal grief, then into a fantastical realm.
I wasn’t always sure if I understand the framing.
Sort of like a mime or interpretive dance.
Character play.
Told a nuanced rhetoric.
Are the characters strong or oppressed? Neither or both?
Imperial and philosophical questions.
I suppose the question that one could propose is, were or became?
Sort of stories that take you through the transitional aspects of each character’s life at points.
Sort of these folktale-like stories mixed in which I really loved.
I love the mention of pop culture, even as much as the drinks in particular, passion-fruit Cruz rum and cranberry.
Some content felt complete even if the context was less complete in my mind. Perhaps this was more from a relational or experiential aspect that I could understand and relate to.
Symbolism interpretation.
Unsettling. As they should be. Perspective was depicted well.
I would have appreciated a more origin type story, but there was a lot of ground covered nonetheless.
Then this other dimension, depicting choices in life, but wondering if everyone is doomed by choice or circumstance. And do they overcome or be successful by the same means?
The Writing
I enjoyed the style. There was a mix of setting the stage with this sort of educational experience, this narrative that was interesting, sometimes it was foreshadow, sometimes more in nuance which I liked.
I liked the short chapters. Made for a nice sense of accomplishment especially after some lulls I experienced in some parts. On that same note the collection of several stories was also intriguing in its own style. Each collection had their own theme in a very unique way yet told a bigger story, sometimes a unifying theme of certain aspects of the human experience which I quite liked.
Bonus
I loved the cover, this hologram serpent on the hardcover, and chapter introductions, super clever art.
Favorite Lines
“I did love you. But I think we left each other alone for too long. We weren’t very good at our marriage. But you were worse.”
“This is life. Don’t go rewriting the past out of pain.”
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