P. Djèlí Clark

It’s super unusual for me to rate a novella higher than 4 stars. It’s never as fun for me when books are short. I always feel let down when they end so quickly. This was a 4 star read for the vast majority until the end hit, and it hit me so strongly that I immediately (with tears pouring out of my eyes) bumped it up to 5 stars! I can’t stop thinking about that final climactic scene.

Ring Shout is set in an alternate 1920s American South, where the members of the KKK, monsters on the show more outside as well as the inside, are hunted by a team of determined women.

This feels like a glorious, unexpected combination of a Jordan Peele film, with its blend of dark comedy and grotesque horror, and Madeleine L’Engle (The Aunties are clearly a nod to A Wrinkle in Time’s Mrs. Who, Mrs. Whatsit, and Mrs. Which)!

The book is full of some really cool elements. The sword that Maryse uses that holds all the memories! The concept of the Ku Kluxes as actual monsters. The uniqueness of the characters. The explanations of the various Shouts! And our narrator and guide through the story, Maryse. Her voice is so strong and well written.

I highly recommend Ring Shout! And I'm looking forward to reading more P. Djèlí Clark. show less

I don't often use this word to describe a story but "charming" is the term that best describes this novella set in a reality where magic returned to the world first in the Muslim world, and prompted an efflorescence of physical and social advancement, thus staving off the onslaught of European colonial conquest. That's before you get to the story in question, which involves a duo of Egyptian government officials charged with rooting out malign outbreaks of supernatural manifestations and who show more get exposed to a problem they've never seen before; highly recommended. show less

I received an advance copy via NetGalley.

The Dead Cat Tail Assassins is a brilliant dark fantasy novella. Deep world-building. Plentiful trope twists. A shocker of an ending. It really has it all.

Eveen is an assassin dubbed the Eviscerator. She's also undead, having signed away her life to a goddess, and for reasons unknown to her. She remembers nothing of her life-before-resurrection. Then she's assigned a job commissioned by an anonymous patron, and realizes the victim has her own face, show more albeit younger. Eveen breaks the commitment to the job, saving her own younger self--and risking the wrath of her bosses, peers, and even worse, her overseeing goddess.

I loved the originality of the setting, the developing relationship between Eveen and her other self, and how, even though I predicted some plot developments, I was still gobsmacked by others. It was sheer fun, all the way through. show less

This book is so much fun. I love P. Djèlí Clark's writing, it is fast paced and evocative and shot through with crackling humour. Eveen is an undead assassin, with no memory of who she was before her soul was given over to the goddess of knives, but she ends up face to face with... her own face? on what should have been a routine assignment. This triggers a hair raising time sensitive quest to find out the truth and see if it can be undone, with her fellow assassins on her tail and the show more city's magic running high.

There is blood, and death, and assassinations, and demon dogs who eat people, but the tone never becomes too grim. It is so well balanced with humor and burgeoning friendships and I highly recommend it. I need to go read the rest of the author's books right now. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for access to the eARC in exchange for an honest review show less