"[An] impressive debut . . . Sayed skillfully balances the personal with the political." --Publishers Weekly

"In a powerful debut, Bobuq Sayed reveals how forces of rejection from state and family meet the alchemy of attraction, desire, and belonging. No God but Us not only expands American literature, but also Muslim, gay male, and migration writing. A new kind of novel, with vast geographies of nation and heart." --Sarah Schulman, author of The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity

"A sprawling, tender debut about queer refugees finding each other across continents. . . . Sayed weaves together geopolitics, queer history, Persian poetry, and the textures of daily life in exile, but those expecting Delbar and Mansur to ride off into the sunset together will be disappointed. The novel is too wise for such easy comforts. Their connection is real but provisional, like everything else in exile. At its core, this is that rare thing: a political novel that remembers to be a human one." -Kirkus

"Audacious, propulsive, and tender-hearted, No God but Us explores the bonds we create and destroy around love, desire, country, and community with startling honesty. Pulsing with hope, desire, and fury, Bobuq Sayed boldly interrogates the sacrifices one must make to live according to the truth of the human heart. A simply dazzling and unforgettable debut." --Patricia Engel, author of Infinite Country and The Faraway World

"I can't remember the last time I was so moved by a book. Bobuq Sayed's No God but Us asks what might happen to one's consciousness when it's mangled by the forces of empire. The deeply felt and irreverent story traces two Quixotic journeys through personal pain, faith, exile, and queer self-discovery, all the way from the Afghan refugee community in Tehran to the suburbs of Northern Virginia. At its heart, this is a novel about family--chosen and not--and I am lucky to count this story among my literary kin. This book is simply necessary, and very gorgeous." --Aria Aber, author of Good Girl

"No God but Us is a bold, tender novel about queer kinship and the fragile architectures of faith. Bobuq Sayed moves between voices and continents with rare confidence, tracing how exile and desire shape who we become. This is a story alive to contradiction--ferocious in its longing, unsparing in its honesty, and deeply attuned to the ways love and belief survive their own undoing." --Garrard Conley, author of Boy Erased and All the World Beside

"No God but Us moves beyond the family's carbon copy dedication to the state, threading a spate of overburdened needles between necessity and promise, romance and desire, and ultimately returns us, with impressive grace and compassion, to one of fiction's central concerns, our attempts to imagine formative change within and outside ourselves, always against the banal expectations of power." --Joseph Earl Thomas, author of Sink and God Bless You, Otis Spunkmeyer

"No God but Us is a polyphonic dream of a novel that spans borders, language, and time, with rich, lyrical prose that brings to life the harrowing journeys of its protagonists. Sayed captures with beauty and tremendous dignity the pains of dislocation and hierarchy, in the process gifting us a work that has been sorely missing from the queer and literary canons." --Alejandro Varela, author of Middle Spoon and The Town of Babylon

"...[an exploration of] freedom and authoritarianism from a new voice in fiction." --She Reads, "Traci Thomas' Most Anticipated Books of 2026"

"I received a PDF of this months and months ago and can't stop thinking about it. It moved me to my core. Sayed's emotional intelligence provides a strong backbone to a tender story." --Debutiful, "The Most Anticipated Debut Books of 2026, Part One"

"One of my personal most eagerly anticipated books of 2026, Bobuq Sayed's debut novel follows two gay Afghan men whose lives intertwine in a shared exile in Istanbul, and who must navigate the antagonisms of many states and oppressive forces that shape their lives. Sayed's writing is vibrant, hilarious, and sharply critical, presenting a rich and real set of characters reeling across the world. I can't wait to see this book get the readership it deserves!" --Mizna, "30 New SWANA Books to Read in 2026"

"Desire, belonging and sacrifice knot tight. Sensual, political and beautifully wrought. Controversial themes that challenge the stereotypes." --The Australian, "Most Anticipated Books of 2026"

"Impish, irreverent, deeply felt, and deadly serious, Bobuq Sayed's No God but Us is a novel that stays in the body long after its final page has turned. This is a book unafraid; Sayed gives us raucous laughs and strutting truths, intimate portraiture of queer Afghan diaspora, anti-imperial clarity, fun, and pleasure. No God but Us is a tessellation of borders and longings, love and danger--and in that sense it is like life itself, revealed to us, made a little new." --Sarah Thankam Mathews, author of All This Could Be Different

"Extraordinarily moving, astute, and often very funny, No God but Us is an exhilarating debut from a writer whose work I'll always want to read." --R. O. Kwon, author of Exhibit and The Incendiaries

"Mischievous and assured, writing across faith, exile, and desire, Sayed brings wit, nerve, and a novelist's instinct for where the sacred and the profane most fruitfully collide. A brilliantly subversive book." --Zain Khalid, author of Brother Alive

"Sayed is careful to avoid tipping the book over into political polemic; the characters in No God but Us are fully realized people with complications . . . not tragic figures acting out a morality play. . . . No God but Us vividly illuminates what life is like for the many queer refugees who live in liminal space for years, whose only home is the state of uncertainty. . . . But perhaps more than anything, it's a moving testament to the power of queer community, as imperfect as it may sometimes be." --Who Even Reads

"One of the year's buzziest LGBTQ+ novels." --Goodreads

"I'm reading this right now, and let me tell you, you should be reading it, too! It alternates perspectives between two gay men from the Afghan diaspora who eventually collide in Istanbul. It's about family, friendship, home, and the violence of borders. But it's also so, so deeply tender in its portrayals of romance and desire. It's a strong debut from a writer I cherish." --Autostraddle, "Our Most Anticipated Queer Books for May 2026"

"An important book with a fresh perspective." --The Australian, "Ten Great Books to Read in May"