This is the sequel to No Gods, No Monsters and the second book in Cadwell Turnbull’s Convergence Saga. My book club read the first two years ago and decided to read the sequel in October.
The story picks up about a year after the climactic events of the first novel. Monsters continue to seek recognition and equal rights from their human neighbors. Naturally, a group rises to oppose this, othering monsters as inherently dangerous. The story climaxes in a similar devastating event as the first novel.
This just felt like more of the same without adding much. The writing is engaging and the subject matter is a telling metaphor for LGBTQ+ rights. But the storytelling is still disjointed. It jumps around and left me feeling confused and a bit disoriented. Worst of all for me was that the author did little to nothing to help catch up those who read the first book in the series. Often authors will seamlessly add little reminders of what happened previously. There was little to none of that here. I recommend reading this one immediately after the first. And if you plan to read the whole series, wait until the last one comes out so you can read them one after the other. Despite all these shortcomings, I still enjoyed the novel.
My rating: 3/5