The Dead Cat Tail Assassins

if you asked p. djeli clark to write a bad book, it would probably still turn out pretty great.

at this point, i've read master of djinn, and all its prequel short stories and novellas so i was delighted to experience his familiar lush writing that paints an even more lush world. the more i read his works, the more i'm appalled by clark’s prose's vivid quality. as such, the dead cat tail assassins had me dazed. reading this was like — forgive my poor metaphors — watching watercolors paint an artwork, one brush stroke at a time. i could sense the port of tal abisi, the shimmer, sky's initial tower, all so viscerally. it's the type of prose that can't help but read so smooth and fluid yet has you compelled to pause and savor its beauty, word per word.

the premise is hilariously fun: a zombie assassin contracted to kill someone. except that someone is herself from the past. why? because some old powerful guy's seeking vengeance on her for killing his child-murderer son who was supposed to grant him immortality. it was weird. but so fun. the dialogue contains great banter with just enough back and forth, and with a satisfying amount of times it had me chuckling.

clark's latest novella is animated not only with his lush writing, picturesque world-building, and hilarious dialogue, but especially through his distinctive characters. eveen and sky are some of the strongest (and i don't mean this in a captain marvel kind of way) female protagonists. fennis is too precious. i mean, c'mon, a bad ass zombie, a baby-faced man, a sassy time refugee, an eccentric scientist, a power-hungry politician, a delinquent sorcery nerd, and one (or two?) jamaican-sounding fiery goddesses all in one story? sounds like a recipe for a good, chaotic time.

my only critique is that a great deal of the story was packed into mere 200+ pages. it almost felt like a number of the events and plot points that transpired wouldn’t have felt rushed if the story had more air to breathe, more space to live in (especially that one chapter where three new characters were randomly introduced, two of which killed in the same chapter). i have to caveat though that this isn't a major fault; i simply believe that eveen's adventures would be appreciated and relished much more in a longer format.

throughout the entire book, my brain could not stop wondering (in the most fun way possible), "how is this happening?", and that pretty much synthesizes my reading experience. tldr: ridiculously, magical fun.

some miscellaneous thoughts:

- asheel the maniac hunter, you will always be legendary

- that ending will absolutely leave some people dissatisfied but i ate it all up (cmon, sassy heavily-accented goddess doppelgangers?)

- “yuh acolyte hav ah dutty mout. but shi talk truut—sistah.” needs to be tattooed on my forehead

It's not terrible, but ultimately I think my issue was that it seemed very simple in all aspects. This is better as YA/teen and I would recommend it for youth audiences.

The fact that this was a novella initially intrigued me, but having finished it, I wish it was a full-length novel. To me, the final third felt rushed.

I'd love to check out some of P. Djèlí Clark's other works.

I need ATLEAST 10 more books in this universe!!! This was way too short oh my god!!! 


Thank you Recorded books for the ALC! 

Thank you NetGalley and RBmedia for the advanced lister copy!

What a wild ride!

This was my first read from P. Djèlí Clark so I didn't know what tone to expect and was very pleasantly surprised by how hilarious it was.

I loved the main character Eveen and hope their will be more stories following her, or even just more stories within this world. We are given so much lore in such a short fast paced story and it would be very cool to spend more time in it.

Overall, I found this book to be very engaging and listened to the whole thing in one sitting.

Eveen is an undead assassin in service to a goddess.  When she comes face to face her latest mark, she experiences a memory, something that is not supposed to be possible. The two escape and try to figure out who has set them up, how, and why, while being chased through the city by Eveen's fellow assassins determined to force her to fulfill her contract and generally make her unlike miserable. 

This novella was a wild ride from practically start to finish, where things just went bat s—t crazy in the best way.  The plot is tight and twisty.  I thought setting the events in the middle of a big festival involving costumes and character roles was fun.  The assassins vary from eccentric, to creepy, to downright sociopathic.  Overall I had a very good time and would love to read more in this world. 

I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and Tor in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are entirely my own. 

It's a shame that this novella had to push back its publication date - I personally think everyone needs to read this and read this now.

It has everything that makes an action/adventure book. It has a fantastic setting, fantastic storytelling, and great plot twists. The only reason I gave it four stars instead of five was at the end when you are reading through a thick accent - it took a couple reads of the sentences to make out what was being said. In saying that, I wouldn't change it - I'll be the first to admit that sometimes things go over my head, and this was no different. Please let me struggle because then when I reread the book, I will have a better understanding and we be used to the way things are presented.

I would love (in a fevered dream obviously) if this became a series about different people you meet in the books; it is a fantastic standalone as well, I'm just greedy for more!