"The Dead Cat Tail Assassins" Discuss Everything *Spoilers* > Likes and Comments

A few questions to get us started:


1. What did you think of the world?
2. What did you think of the characters?
3. What worked or didn't for you?
4. Overall thoughts?

I've read the first two chapters between last night and breakfast this morning.

I know P. Djèlí Clark's Dead Djinn series is well regarded, especially for his detailed and realistic world-building. He doesn't disappoint here; in fact the rich description of the city of Tal Abisi scatches a very personal itch.

Yet there's one aspect that's annoying me like a dagger in my side: Eveen's free indirect speech is very verbose and rather unwieldy. I certainly realise that it's meant to ease the reader into this secondary world; but that's just what's spoiling it. On the other hand, this seems to be confined to the first chapter, as events start unfolding. Let's see.

Alistair, the first time I tried to read this, I put it back down after the first chapter. I'm glad the group chose it, and I gave it another chance because it does get much better. I also listened to the audio the second time, and I think that helped me to get past the beginning. I was glad I stuck with it, so I hope it improves for you too.

I posted this comment in the no spoilers thread, by mistake. I deleted the comment there and am reposting it here:

This one is my favorite SFFBC BotM this year so far. But I'm also a big Clark fan to begin with. While this isn't my favorite by him, I thought it was a fun read.

I enjoyed how rich the worldbuilding was for such a short book and I thought Eveen had a lot of personality that helped carry the story throughout. Clark does tend to write characters that can rub some readers the wrong way, but for me it's so far hasn't been a problem.

At times it felt a little noisy with all the characters in the story, but I didn't find that too detrimental to my enjoyment. My favorite part was the parallel goddesses staring each other down with that sense of "this could go very badly," lol. Clark does know how to keep things fun.

I only listened to the audiobook since I borrowed it from the library and the ebook wasn't available, so I didn't have an issue with any of the language. But I have read Ring Shout (a masterpiece, imho) so I am aware of how Clark likes to use creoles and dialects and went into this expecting that.

CJ wrote: "I only listened to the audiobook since I borrowed it from the library and the ebook wasn't available, so I didn't have an issue with any of the language.."

that's why I mentioned that I had to sound out the language of the goddesses. I could understand them then

Currently toaward the end of chapter 6, or 60% (incidentally, the later chapters appear to be longer).

I love the liveliness of the city; the way the revels and the night life continue even as Eveen, Sky, Fennis &c. are caught up in their adventure. Tal Abisi is hands down my favourite character.
Years ago I learned that the German have a word, Wimmelbuch, for illustrated children's books teeming with secondary characters (at the most basic, think of Where's Wally). This novel feels like a narrative equivalent.

It looks like my opinion might be unpopular. I tried a couple novellas from Dead Djinn universe a few years ago and now I felt about The Dead Cat Tail Assassins in exactly the same way. I thought the ideas and the world-building to be intriguing, but the characters fell completely flat to me. I don't claim it to be a fact - as I know that many people appreciate the way the author writes the characters - but for me they somehow stayed as a bundle of ideas on a page without ever feeling like real people (or other non-human entities).

So I pushed through to the end because the book was short, but I ended up with a "I didn't love it, I didn't hate it, I wish I spent my time reading something else" verdict.

Eveen felt very real to me but Sky and Fennis (sp?) less so

Closing in the last couple of chapters.

It was clear from very early on that the novel would wind up in the Shimmer; besides, you don't leave something like that in the background indefinitely.

It is probably true, as others have remarked, that the plot is formulaic and the characters simplistic; but the choices are still interesting.
All the cool characters are female (besides Eveen and Cyanna Darnsha Abeg alias Sky, there's Baseema, the quads, Mama Birgini...); male characters are not macho (Fennis) or downright creeps (Valesh, the old man, the Three Beards, basically the entire power structure of the Patriarchs...) I cracked up while reading 'Edgelords' actually used in a work of fiction. Tal Abisi's population is mostly brown to black, and the foundational legend is refreshingly queer: the badass Pirate Princess falls in love with the Golden Bounty, and the Clockwork King is left with the role of 'crybaby'.

1. What did you think of the world?

Loved it. It's a short book and I didn't expect to get much world building but there was just enough to feel like you were in a fully fleshed out place without getting bogged down in world building minutiae.

2. What did you think of the characters?

Hilarious. I read the audiobook and the narrator really did a good job of playing both female main characters and the Jamaican inspired goddesses at the end. I was very entertained.

3. What worked or didn't work for you?

I think it all worked for me. Can't think of anything that I would change.

4. Overall thoughts

Better than I expected and lives up to the hype

Finished last night. Here’s my review:

This was another inventive, mostly enjoyable, but ultimately pretty thin tale from the pen of P. Djeli Clark. I find so very many aspects of his approach to world building to be quite appealing, and I keep hoping that I’ll get completely swept away by his work, but it hasn’t fully happened yet.

Still, his humor, his evident pleasure in concocting fun and bizarre details in his worlds, and his energetic prose carry me along well enough to keep giving his work a try.

From what I've gathered, it's evident that he has a lot of fun creating worlds, and particularly upholding Black culture and (e.g. in Ring Shout) lampooning the KKK. Not to mention his penchant for undead hired assassins with post-punk haircuts.

I'd be interested to read his academic writing as Dexter J. Gabriel on African-American history.

SFFBC's Virtual Book Club is tomorrow!
We will be discussing Dead Cat Tail Assassins. Join Discord to participate.

**VBC is open to everyone. You will need to join the group Discord to attend: https://discord.gg/EzfepeBR
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