THE DEAD CAT TAIL ASSASSINS by P Djèlí Clark (2024)
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ - oh, nothing, just one of the best, most well-written, hilarious, brilliant, original, wholesome, & bloody little fantasy novellas I’ve ever read & my new favorite P Djèlí Clark book.
““What did you do with my books?“ she asked through clenched teeth.
“I looked through them, trying to find what you see in such childish things. But all I saw was nonsense. More pictures than words. So I ripped them up. Into small. Little. Pieces.“ His hands made a motion, like throwing confetti into the air.
And it was in that moment that Eveen, without regret or remorse, chose violence. She pointed her knife. “Monster! You'll pay for your crimes!“
“I'm sure,“ he retorted. And the two charged.”
title: The Dead Cat Tail Assassins
author: P Djèlí Clark
published: 2024
publisher: Tordotcom
genre/subgenre: fantasy novella
setting: Tal Abrisi—a fantasy trading port-city vaguely reminiscent of Rio?/Venice?/Alexandria?, classism/class warfare, creepy necromancer guy, contracts & servitude, cool fight scenes, sassy dialogue & banter, original & clever fantasy worldbuilding, stories & mythologies, privilege & power, rules (their enforcers & their breakers), cosmic imagery, a fiery death goddess that speaks patois!? 😙👌🏻
main themes/subjects: undead assassin MC
representation: patois language
tropes: assassins, time travel, doppelgangers, multiverse
blurbs: “P Djèlí Clark couldn’t write a bad book if he tried.” - Victor LaValle
“There were lots of rules to being an assassin. Three were deemed unbreakable. The first was that the contract was just. Aeril was particular about her offerings. You didn't ship kids. Or women who were with child. Or anyone who could be classified as pura innocentes. Everybody else was fair game, from monks to mobsters.”
my thoughts:
Oh my goodness I am sooo glad I saw that the B2Weird bookclub was reading this book this week in preparation for an author interview with P Djèlí Clark at the end of April because yesss I need to talk about it!!! This might be my new favorite P Djèlí Clark novel. Yep, even better than Ring Shout. I know—I know! But it was incredible.
The Asheel the Maniac Hunter “Terribles”, the fact that the fiery goddesses of death spoke in patois, Eveen’s deadpan sarcasm??, Fennis the foodie, the old man, even the Necromancer was kinda dope. Ugh but also the innocence & pity of Sky contrasted with the bitterness & resignation of Eveen, the whole idea of rules & the letter of the law & where that power comes from & what real justice looks like, & the idea of humanity & how one holds onto it or loses it or chooses to let it go… what real weakness is… & the overall “fight the real enemy” vibes of the ending??!?!?!?!!!???
Nah. This book was everything. & at only 213 pages?? I mean I appreciate that P Djèlí Clark doesn’t write a book that isn’t longer than it needs to be—I mean there’s nothing worse than a book that’s too long and could’ve been 50 or even 100 pages shorter (I especially hate when there’s a lot of repetition in books like I don’t need the main character having the same thought a dozen different times throughout the story)—but if there’s ONE author whose work I could read hundreds and hundreds of pages of—it would be P 👏🏻 Djèlí 👏🏻 Clark.👏🏻 But that’s ok. I’ll just reread this one until I’ve memorized it. 😁
premise: A+
execution: A+
writing style: A+
characters: A+
story/plot: A+
worldbuilding: A+
philosophy: A+
favorite part: Ok but not Eveen saying “Trifling!” to the goddesses???? I was literally screaming at that whole godsdamned part. 🤣🤣🤣
i would recommend this book to readers who like a well-written, original, imaginative, hilarious, wholesome, & just all around bloody good little fantasy book. this book is best read somewhere you can laugh out loud.
“”Bumaye bumaya,” the goddess thrummed deep in a slender immortal throat. A murmuring tendril snaked about Eveen's middle like a canal eel, the heat of it searing. “Nuff fool man di call up mi name. Mi nyam up dem soul, an mi belly neva full.””
final note: & excuse me but H’WHERE is the movie adaptation of this fantasy novel?? We got all *gestures around* these other adaptations of the same ass boring fantasy stories when this book is *strained whisper* right thereeee. 🙌🏻😵💫🙏🏻
final final note: Ok fine but can we get at least one little Asheel the Maniac Hunter story then pleaseeee? I will accept fanfiction.
final final final note: Usually this *gestures above* is what my first draft looks like for books I loved & then I go back & edit them to make them sound less manic but I’m still not over how good this book was so y’all are getting the manic version. Plz don’t unfollow me. 😘<3
CW // death, body horror
season: Carnival
music pairing: from the Acknowledgements: “The soundtrack I had in my head as I wrote ranged from Sister Nancy's "Bam Bam" to Rihanna's "Better Have My Money." At least one fight scene played out to Run the Jewels's "Yankee and the Brave." Somehow, all of that got thrown up in here.”
further reading:
everything else by P Djèlí Clark, especially A MASTER OF DJINN (2021) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ and RING SHOUT (2020) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
A BROKEN BLADE: Book one of the Halfling Saga, by Melissa Blair (2021) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ —I usually don’t enjoy the assassin trope but this was the other book I’ve read that featured an assassin MC that I actually loved.
AN EMBER IN THE ASHES: Book one of the Ember in the Ashes tetralogy, by Sabaa Tahir (2015)
THE BALLAD OF BLACK TOM by Victor LaValle (2016) —a LaValle novella I have on my shelves.
I also think Clark’s writing style & characters are very reminiscent of one of my other favorite fantasy authors: T Kingfisher—esp her books WHAT MOVES THE DEAD (2022) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ and NETTLE AND BONE (2022) ★ ★ ★ ★ .75
BLACK SUN: Book one in the Between Earth and Sky trilogy, by Rebecca Roanhorse (2020) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
SIX OF CROWS: Book one in the Six of Crows duology, by Leigh Bardugo (2015)
The Inheritance trilogy by NK Jemisin (2014) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
DOPPELGANGER by Naomi Klein (2022) —a crazy book to have happened to have been reading when I picked up Cat Tail Assassins. The overlap in themes was unsettling…
The Menu (2023) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
from the Acknowledgements: “The inspiration for this one came from a jumbled mix of old Forgotten Realms stories I read as a kid, and a host of flicks ranging from The Long Kiss Goodnight to Dancehall Queen. “Walk an' live!””
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