Once again, Clark builds a magical fantastical world with so many elements. Eveen is an undead assassin, NOT a zombie, who gets contracted orders that she must obey. One’s she calls “shipping”. Until her last order, where she comes face to face with her past and feels a memory has returned. When becoming an assassin it is agreed that you will have all memories wiped and anyone that knows you will have a spell cast that makes them not recognize you. She then meets her next job, Sky, who goes on a journey with her to send her back to the time she came from.
I liked the colorful city in the middle of carnival, similar to Mardi Gras. The characters were amazing an I liked the mixture of modern day verbiage and the city from an older time. Eveen is tough, snarky and crass, which makes her character so lovable. There is a mixture of magic and enchantment, patriarchs and matrons of the undead assassins guild. And then there is “shimmer fever”.

P. Djèlí Clark truly is the master of world building. Every time I start one of his books I'm quickly absorbed into whatever setting he's created. His ability to give a sense of the world, the lore, and the characters without info dumping needs to be studied.

This story starts with our undead assassin, Eveen, receiving instructions for her next contracted killing. Quickly, we see that she's full of personality and very good at her job. Once she finds her target though she realizes that this will not be an easy "shipping".

What follows is a layered adventure dealing with magic, mortality, politics, and food so lovingly described that it made my stomach rumble.

My only tiny hang up was some of the modern slang which took me out of the story a little each time. But then again, so many books not based in the here and now are guilty of this so it's an easy hang up to ignore.

Thank you to NetGalley & Tor Publishing for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Title:  The Dead Cat Tail Assassins  
Author:  P. Djèlí Clark        
Genre:  Fantasy       
Rating:  4 out of 5

The Dead Cat Tail Assassins are not cats.

Nor do they have tails.

But they are most assuredly dead.

Eveen the Eviscerator is skilled, discreet, professional, and here for your most pressing needs in the ancient city of Tal Abisi. Her guild is strong, her blades are sharp, and her rules are simple. Those sworn to the Matron of Assassins—resurrected, deadly, wiped of their memories—have only three unbreakable vows.

First, the contract must be just. That’s above Eveen’s pay grade.

Second, even the most powerful assassin may only kill the contracted. Eveen’s a professional. She’s never missed her mark.

The third and the simplest: once you accept a job, you must carry it out. And if you stray? A final death would be a mercy. When the Festival of the Clockwork King turns the city upside down, Eveen’s newest mission brings her face-to-face with a past she isn’t supposed to remember and a vow she can’t forget.

I thought this was unique and a bit quirky, and I liked the world quite a bit. I enjoyed Eveen’s personality a lot and would be happy reading more about her. This was a solid, fun read. Honestly, my only problem with this was when the gods showed up at the end, their dialect was almost incomprehensible. I’ve seen patois done really well, and this was not it.  There was some almost-contemporary slang throughout the rest of the story, so having the gods’ conversation be unintelligible didn’t really make sense to me.

P. Djèlí Clark is an award-winning author. The Dead Cat Tail Assassins is his newest novella.

(Galley courtesy of Tor Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review.)

(Blog link live 11/18.)

Clark is one of my favorite authors, and this book reinforces that love. He is able to create a dynamic character, a beautiful world. and a tense novella in such a short amount of time. I loved the mystery. Every so often I was surprised with the way he could keep us on our toes as we learned more about Eveen. I kept thinking it was the traditional mystery, but I should have trusted Clark to deliver something unique and a new book that I've never ready before.

Everyone go pick this up!

This one took me longer than I'd planned on. I absolutely love P. Djeli Clark's work, so I hoped I'd eat this up in one sitting. Unfortunately I think the story itself was just not for me.

I do love the writing and the characters, as always in Clark's work, were complex and loved, but I just don't feel that it was what I was thinking it would be. I am sure there are many who will absolutely love this book. And I will still recommend it to others. But for myself, it was probably my least favorite of his books I've read.

Thank you to Netgalley and P. Djeli Clark for allowing me to review this ARC of The Dead Cat Tail Assassins.
⭐3.5/5⭐

I waffled between 4 and 5 stars, and thought to hell with it - I had a good time, I enjoyed this book, and it was a fast-paced, quick little read.

This is the first time I have read anything by Clark, and boy - I have been missing out! What a fun book this was. Definitely did not take itself too seriously, and even though it was rather short, I still felt like the world was vibrant and alive in a way some 4 or 500 page books can’t accomplish.

I loved the characters in this book, even the “side pieces”, as it were - and while usually “modern” references annoy me, Clark gets away with using the term <i>edgelord</i> in this one.

Highly recommend if you just want to have some fun and unwind and enjoy a fantasy read. I will definitely be purchasing this for my library.

i really enjoy this author and i hate that it took me so long to read this because as always this was so much fun!

this story follows eveen, who is apart of a guild of hired necromancer killers called the dead cat tail assassins, but she can’t remember anything of her past while she was alive. we meet baseema, the guild boss, and we meet fennis, who handles the guild’s paperwork, and eveen is sent on a mission where the contract asked for her specifically. and set on a backdrop of a clockwork king festival, eveen goes to kill a girl who will make her have memories that she is not supposed to have.

friends, i loved this. p. djèlí clark’s writing, with characters, with atmosphere, with prose in general, is just so so so good. i loved being in a new world of theirs, and i truly hope this ends up being first in a new series. i am an easy sell for assassin guild stories, but i’ve never read one like this. i loved the magic, i loved the talk of community, i loved seeing edgelords getting taken down, and i really loved reading about a girl who loves stories being able to control her own for once. i really recommend this one and i can’t wait to see what the author does next.

trigger + content warnings: talk of death, animal death (bird), fighting, violence, kidnapping, self harm (because of an undead body), blood descriptions, gun violence, fire, explosion, mention of children murders in past

I read this book twice back to back, it was so good! I loved the main character. She is witty, a badass, and clever. The story was intriguing from the start and I devoured within a couple hours because I had to know what would happen next. Thank you for the ARC opportunity!

I really enjoyed this! I finished this in one sitting. I loved the nods to his other works and the world building in this novella. The banter was so good, and I adored the deities. I did this audio in tandem with reading and it was such a good experience. I hope for more from this world. I have a video review that I’ve filmed but haven’t posted yet. Will update this with the link when I do.

The Dead Cat Tail Assassins follows Eveen, one of the assassin guild's best, as she is placed under contract to kill a young woman. However, upon seeking her out to complete the job, Eveen discovers that Sky, the target, is literally a copy of herself, plucked from the past. This makes "shipping" her extremely complicated. As Eveen and Sky attempt to uncover who caused this conundrum and save their lives, we follow them through perhaps the most momentous night of their lives.

I loved this so much. Eveen is hilarious, and this story made me want to be an assassin and find a clone of my own! The writing was so well-done that I kept reminding myself it all took place within just one night. I cannot recommend it enough. I love P. Djeli Clark’s work, and it's no surprise that this book is now one of my favorites. Funny, filled with great side characters, twists and turns, and assassins?! It hit it out of the park.

CAWPILE Ratings:
Characters: 8
Atmosphere: 9
Writing: 10
Plot: 10
Intrigue: 10
Logic: 9
Enjoyment: 10

Final thoughts: This was a thrilling, entertaining read that left me hooked until the very end!

If P. Djeli Clark wrote it, I’m going to read it.

The Dead Cat Tail Assassins was an enjoyable read. The dialogue was very witty and snarky, which I’ve come to enjoy in gaslamp fantasy tales. There were times that the storyline dragged and if I am being honest, I was close to DNF’ing. But the ending was good. I didn’t enjoy all of the endless action sequences, but if that’s your thing you’ll like this.

I do love that P. Djeli Clark added a sprinkle Caribbean culture in how he designed the goddess Eros.

For fans of Gideon the Ninth. Dark and sassy with huge character growth.

Who doesn’t want to come back as a undead assassin? Even if it means forgetting your past and ending up picked to assassinate someone you never thought possible.

Didn't love; didn't hate. It was an interesting enough story to keep me reading until the end, but things were pretty predictable. I did like some of the snideness throughout the book.

Eveen is a part of a guild of hired necromancer killers called the dead cat tail assassins; she was resurrected after death and is beholden to the goddess Aeril with no memories of her past.

There are only three unbreakable vows.
The contract must be just.
You may only kill the contracted.
Once a job is accepted, it must be carried out. If you don’t - a final death would be a mercy.

When the Festival of the Clockwork King turns the city of Tal Abisi upside down, Eveen’s newest mission brings her face to face with a past she’s not supposed to remember.

So this took me a moment to get into it while reading - and it really has nothing to do with the writing, because P. Djèlí Clark is amazing and I always love everything he writes. My problem was my eyeballs were not cooperating with the creation of the world. My solution? Listen to the audiobook! And boy, was that the best solution because I got immersed in this world so fast listening to Lynnette R. Freeman read it (especially with the Cajun accents!). It also helped me when, later that night, I tried to read the last two chapters myself but then the Goddess came with a very thick Cajun accent and the words on the page had to be said aloud in order for me to understand the words with the accent. So, this is my long ended version of saying I loved the audiobook version of this book!

The book itself?

Worldbuilding - amazing, steampunkish.

Characters - stunning, especially the women who were unapologetically themselves and held power to the highest degree.

*Thank you Tordotcom and NetGalley for an advance digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

The Dead Cat Tail Assassins is quick-witted action-packed fantasy novella perfect for the spooky season. Clark packs this novella full of interesting world building and emotional character arcs.

When a mysterious contract brings undead assassin Eveen face-to-face with a past she shouldn’t remember, she finds herself in the middle of a much bigger conspiracy. Clarks crafts an engaging and detailed world in a short amount of time. The story takes the reader on a chaotic flight through the city touching on many different areas and people. A festival lingers on the outskirts of the story giving the world added depth and character.

I was impressed by now much depth we got from Eveen's character in this novella. She was so much more than the snarky care-free assassin we first meet.

Though the pacing is fast and engaging the fight after fight after fight started to feel a bit clunky. There was also something campy about this book–and A Master of Djinn as well– that didn't really land for me.

I was left wanting more but for such a quick read, P. Djèli Clark accomplished a good amount: you have a dystopian magical society and some fun world building. A lot of creative ways of showing how society is a mess.

I wanted more from the characters and I didn't feel connected.

But a fun action-packed quick read.

Firstly, thank you to Tor/Forge for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When I saw that P. Djèlí Clark was releasing a new book, I was beyond excited. Literally everything this author has written, I have loved. This book was no exception.

The world that’s been created here, while brutal beyond belief, is so amazing and vibrant that I want to visit it if only for a short time. The way Clark is able to completely draw me in every time is nothing short of magic.

The characters were layered and real, and while flawed beyond belief I’d still want to hang out and grab a drink with them at the end of the day.

In short, if you love fantasy, humor, fast paced action and bloody good fight scenes — you’ll love this book! Hoping that Clark revisits this world in the future, because I would 100% read an entire series with these characters.

The Dead Cat Tail Assassins doesn’t have any cats in it, but it does have assassination. And the assassins are dead.

Eveen has been resurrected, had her memories swiped, and is sworn to the Matron of Assassins to carry out contract killings. She’s never had a problem before doing her job, and she’s good at it. But her newest contract brings up memories from the past she isn’t supposed to have. Those unbreakable vows she took won’t be as easy to keep anymore.

I adored the world Clark created in this book! He is so imaginative and skilled at creating a world that feels immersive and expansive in a short amount of pages. I’m always left wishing we had learned even more about the world. The mythology and lore were so interesting that I would love to read a prequel novel just about that. I don’t know if this will be a series, but I’m hoping so!

It’s hard to talk about the characters too much without running into spoilers, but I liked the dynamics between the main characters. I wished we would have dug in a little deeper into their backgrounds and also their personal motivations, but they were both fun to follow.

The ending felt a bit rushed to me. It wrapped up a little too easy IMO, although it was still surprising and satisfying.

If you’re a fan of Clark’s other novellas, if you value creative world building and if you want a fun, fast read, I’d highly recommend this novella!

*Thank you to NetGalley and Tordotcom for the digital arc. All opinions are my own.

This is a punchy novella featuring a main character who is undead and an assasin. She has always diligently done her job but one day she's assigned an impossible contract.

For such a short book the characters in it contained a lot of dimension and depth. Even characters that received little story time, like The Old Man, drew me in. Besides the start I also think this book moved rather quickly and was super intriguing. The magic system complimented the mystery and was pretty well described for such a short book.

The concept of being severed from all memories of your past provided a great setting for the self reflection of our main character when she meets her mark. I like that this is explored while the action is still taking place. Both girls are running and fighting for their lives why this self reflection occurs. The fight scenes were bloody and dynamic as well, propelling us through the story at a fast pace.