Ms. Hen reviews No Gods, No Monsters

 

No Gods, No Monsters

Cadwell Turnbull

Blackstone Publishing

2021

Ms. Hen decided to read this because she read THE LESSON by the same author a couple of years ago and loved it. She was haunted by the stories of aliens landing in the Virgin Islands, and she was curious to see what the next tale by this author would bring. She was not disappointed. The combination of politics and sci-fi merges well as in the previous novel.

This novel is about monsters, in various forms, in different locations. A rift occurs when they are revealed. Laina, who lives with her husband, Ridley, discovers her brother, Lincoln, has been murdered. She receives a video that shows her brother being shot, and he turns into an animal when he dies. After this happens, Laina is visited by Rebecca, who says she was a friend of Lincoln's. The video gets sent to the news, and everyone finds out about the monsters that dwell beside us.

A man who teaches about bees searches out a secret society, and regrets it. Another man in St. Thomas possesses the ability to go to other dimensions where his brother still lives. Packs of wolves prowl the streets. A protest occurs in Boston, demanding monster rights, which goes wrong. A young boy desires to be good, to right the wrongs he has done. 

This novel is about prejudice of different types, about people who are not like us, and creatures who are not people, those who possess magic. The protest at the end of the novel is similar to the Black Lives Matter protests that occurred in Boston not long ago. Ms. Hen was near the protests when they happened, but none of them were as dangerous as this. This is an important commentary about what prejudice and racism can do to a society. If there are monsters, of course people would be afraid. If anything is different, people could be scared. But it's necessary to fight the fear of difference, and embrace those who are not like us, even magical creatures.

Ms. Hen admires this novel, but it seems like too many characters live inside these pages, and sometimes it's difficult to keep track of who's who. We jump from the Boston area, to Virginia, to St. Thomas, and places where the monsters live. Ms. Hen thinks it would be best to try to read this fast, to keep track of the characters. Ms. Hen admires the diversity of the characters, and thinks more can be said about them. She understand this novel is going to be a series of books, and she's excited to read the next one.

Ms. Hen loves Halloween, and thinks this is a wonderful Halloween book to add to her favorites. It's scary enough, with monsters and excitement and danger. She likes werewolves and people who perform magic. Halloween is special to Ms. Hen, and she tries to unearth new Halloween books every year, and this year's crop is turning up as spicy as she'd hoped...