About four years ago, I read No Gods, No Monsters (2021) for the first time. I was already familiar with Cadwell Turnbull’s work after reading his debut novel, The Lesson, (2019), and I vividly remember the excitement I felt after my first readthrough of that second book—it’s the same excitement I feel every time I revisit it. It introduces a mysterious narrative about power and monsters which captivated me from the very beginning. I felt that excitement again when picking up A Ruin, Great and Free, the third book and conclusion to the Convergence Saga. A rich and complex story about freedom, community, and grief, it exceeded my expectations, and I think it’s a satisfying conclusion to the series. Minor spoilers for the series below.

In No Gods, No Monsters, the world comes to know that monsters are real, and the overarching mystery of this book revolves around why monsters have revealed themselves. Readers are introduced to various monsters and humans who are trying to unravel this mystery, while secret monster societies are on the verge of war in the background. This novel also reveals the presence of a multiverse, which adds to the mystery. We Are the Crisis (2023), the second book in the Convergence Saga, is set two years later and explores magic and delves further into the existence of monsters. It also builds on political conversations from the first book as there are frequent discussions of cooperative networks, sovereignty, and the importance of solidarity and community. As a result, We Are the Crisis pulls readers deeper into the mystery and politics of this series.

A Ruin, Great and Free brings all the series’ characters and plot threads together. Almost two years after the events of We Are the Crisis, some of the monsters have found safety in the form of a hidden monster settlement known as Moon. When their home is threatened by an anti-monster hate group, the monsters decide to take a stand and fight for their home. This is the main conflict of the novel, but it also ties into a larger, looming conflict between the secret monster societies themselves. While the previous books focused on humans and monsters, A Ruin, Great and Free focuses more heavily on the gods and the choices they have made which have led to the present story. Readers get to spend more time with characters like Abyssia, who was largely an abstract figure in the previous books, as well as powerful monsters such as Melku, Cassandra, and Smoke. The chapters about these characters offer insight into how the multiverse operates, and allow readers to fully understand how everything is connected. They also make the book feel more expansive and cosmic, while in contrast, the chapters that take place at Moon feel more grounded.

Both of these perspectives are important when considering the novel’s themes. In the previous books, many of the characters had little agency. This is reflected in characters like Dragon, who has never been able to choose his own path, as well as Ridley, who felt trapped by his circumstances. Dragon, Ridley, and the other monsters seek some form of freedom in A Ruin, Great and Free. The future is uncertain, and the warring societies are essentially trying to gain control of the multiverse to create the world they want. The monsters are caught in the middle of this war, and they’re treated like pawns. Throughout the series, they frequently wonder whether they have any agency and whether their choices actually matter. Discussions of destiny come up a lot, and I can’t help but wonder: If the future is ordained, do your choices actually matter? This is one of the most interesting themes that comes to fruition in this book, and it makes me think about how embracing destiny actually is a choice because by accepting this choice, the characters have a hand in how the future plays out. Walking away from destiny is also a choice; for these characters, walking away means accepting the way things are and thinking it can’t be changed.

The choices the monsters make in this book play into their destiny and the plans of the secret societies and gods, but I think the characters are also aware that choosing to fight and face things head on is the only path toward their freedom. The looming conflict forces the characters to make a choice that will not only impact their lives, but potentially their entire world. A desire for a better world is clear in the previous books, and a significant question they ask is how do you create change and build something better than what currently exists? The main way this series answers these questions is through community and collective action, and we see that in this final book.

Community is a crucial element of the story because a group of characters is the protagonist of these books. As Turnbull says in a YouTube video posted to his channel:

This project was writing a story where the protagonist isn’t a single person, and there is not one single person that makes the world change, but it is a collection of people and a collection of actions … That’s the project, and that project is in conversation with a history of narrative that prioritizes a single individual, a single protagonist doing a thing and saving the world. It is imagining the world where players are both great and small. And it is communities that make change.

There is no chosen one in this series, and I think it’s important to recognize this. The specific story the author is telling wouldn’t be the same without every single one of the POV characters and their individual journeys. The wolves, Dragon, and other residents of Moon all have different experiences that end up being missing pieces of the puzzle which the other characters don’t have, and none are alone able to see the bigger picture about what’s been happening to them until they put the pieces together as a collective. The act of forming community is how the overall plot ties together, and it is collective action that creates change for the monsters. The book also recognizes that multiple forms of resistance are needed to create change—advocating politically is important, and so is supporting individual monsters that have been isolated and need help. Regardless of the approach, care is part of the solution—caring for monsters in ways that will recognize their rights and help them live without fear. By making a community of characters the main protagonist in this way, Turnbull ensures that each character gets to consider how they are all a part of something bigger than themselves—not only in the way that their choices and actions impact others, but also in the way that they can create change together as a community.

I think the Convergence Saga is best experienced without knowing too much before reading it, but I will say that reading the author’s debut novel The Lesson before diving into this series—or right before A Ruin, Great and Free—will add to your reading experience in unexpected and fulfilling ways, especially when it comes to understanding its themes of grief and humanity. Grief is a motif that is present throughout these books, but it becomes more prominent in A Ruin, Great and Free. At this point in the series, everyone is grieving someone or something, and readers see the characters trying to live after loss and the impact grief has on their lives. This book offers an understanding of grief that acts as a meaningful juxtaposition to the themes of control and power that are explored in the previous books, by showing how grief is a part of life that can’t be controlled.

Gaining control over the multiverse is the main goal of the secret monster societies and gods—and yet, despite their power, there are still things they can’t control or understand. This ties into an idea I mentioned earlier. A Ruin, Great and Free also considers that there is something bigger than the characters alone in its exploration of grief. The Convergence Saga as a whole grapples with existential questions for which even the gods don’t have answers. They struggle with embracing the unknown and letting go of the things they can’t control. There’s a quote towards the end of the book that speaks to this:

The nothing that somehow becomes the something. This part, no one knows. But it is also the part that makes us. We want because we don’t understand how we can want. Because we came from unwant, or not-want. But we don’t know how or when or why. Do you understand? I ask because I do not. It breaks me. It is what breaks you too. It is all of us, and we can’t find it, so we keep searching. But it isn’t made. It is maker. And it does not exist. (p. 277)

This passage, and the existential questions posed throughout the series, reflect on humanity and the meaning of life, and they relate to an important concept introduced in the first book:

Near Ridley, a man yells, “No gods.”

“No monsters,” the crowd yells back.

The chant is an evolution of an anarchist slogan: “No gods, no masters,” the original version meaning no human above. It is meant as a call against hierarchy. Ridley assumes that this variation means no human above, no human below, or something like that. A call against hierarchy and discrimination. (No Gods, No Monsters, pp. 326-327)

With this in mind, I think that the gods experiencing grief and the unknown in this final volume helps to bring the story full circle. Recognizing the humanity of the gods breaks down this hierarchy and shows that they really aren’t that different from the monsters. Like the monsters, the gods are trying to move forward and change their world for the better. And it’s through their journey of grief and trying to know the unknowable that the gods realize that, like the monsters, they can’t change their world or solve their problems on their own. Every character, god or monster, is part of something bigger; every character in this book has a role to play in creating the future they want. Communities coming together to create change is how they get there.

Over the course of the series, Turnbull paints a vast picture of an interconnected multiverse and the humans, monsters, and gods that live within it, highlighting the power of people coming together to take action and create change. While explorations of power, solidarity, community, and survival connect the overarching story, each book feels unique and offers a different perspective of the larger narrative. A Ruin, Great and Free is a profound and cinematic conclusion, and all the intricately layered elements of the Convergence Saga come together beautifully in this book. This is a series that I will be thinking about and revisiting for many years to come.