Book Review, Literary Fiction, Urban Fantasy

No Gods, No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull

This review is on the advance copy of an unpublished work I received through NetGalley. No Gods, No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull is due for release September 7th, 2021.

The title of this novel is so very appropriate, on multiple levels. It is a pun on the anarchist/activist slogan. However, when taken literally, it reads as a denial of gods and monsters. Yet we find both within the pages of this book. There is a lot going on and readers will perhaps, if not most definitely, need to read it at least twice to understand its nuances!

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Book Review, Sci-Fi

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

Hmmm… well, this one didn’t turn out to be a favourite.

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell is about a recently-returned Jesuit priest, Emilio Sandoz, the only survivor of a first-contact mission to meet sentient alien life. There is a lot of controversy about the mission, which was apparently launched in secret and funded by the church. Communications between Earth and the alien planet Rakhat have been spotty: each transmission from Rakhat takes around 17 years to get back to Earth. So after a rescue mission picks up Emilio and sends him back, the infamous story of his becoming a prostitute and murdering a child has already preceded him.

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