Clark is a fantastic author. I have read most of his works and have only a couple left. This short novel was fun and propulsive, not to mention chock full of strong female characters. I enjoyed the reading tremendously. As always, the world building is well done. You can see and feel the world of the assassin’s guild and the characters within. However, I did wish that I got more internal dialogue and thought from the characters. It wasn’t quite as strong as some of his other work.

Clark is fantastic at creating wonderfully diverse and creative worlds, and this book is no different. Set in a sprawling, ancient city, the story follows an undead assassin, revived to serve a goddess, as she finds herself thrown a curveball with her most recent contract. The plot was fast paced and easy to follow, but i found the setting and world building to be more interesting. The characters were interesting, but didn't have a lot of room to grow in such a quick moving story, and while there were a few twists, nothing truly surprising happened. I would like to see more novellas in this setting, as the world is just fascinating.

The Dead Cat Tail Assassins is a wild ride, and you will not want it to end! Honestly, this could be a whole series. That's my only complaint--that this story is too short!
This book has everything: mystery, adventure, action, magic, assassins, action, mythology, necromancers, action . . .
Eveen the Eviscerator has a calling card and she's only mildly embarrassed to use it. She's dead. Having made a deal with the goddess of knives in life, she now carries out assassinations as an undead amnesic hitwoman. She's great at what she does until a job takes her face-to-face with the past she's not supposed to remember.
If you're a fan of Clark's Dead Djinn universe and Muir's Locked Tomb series, The Dead Cat Tail Assassins is a must-read!

This was so much fun! I enjoyed the premise, the characters, and the dialogue. The worldbuilding was also very cool and unique, although there were a handful of anachronistic references that pulled me out of the story (zombies and Edgelords??).

For such a short read, it was certainly action-packed. It could have felt repetitive after a while, but Clark really spiced up all the other assassins in a way that made each feel unique. I thought I saw the ending coming, but I got it just wrong enough to feel both surprised and satisfied.

I was provided an ARC of this book via the publisher and Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

This was originally supposed to release in April, however the publication date has moved to August. Not sure if that will impact the contents of the book, but I loved it! This novella is roughly 200 pages of action packed sci-fi/fantasy. Each one if Clark's books mixes a bit of steampunk, science fiction, and fantasy into a unique story that you don't want to put down. The world building is excellent, and even in a short time you come to love the characters!

Eveen is a member of The Dead Cat Tail Assassins', they are a guild of undead assassins governed by contracts and godling laws. When presented with what appears to be a proper contract, Eveen finds herself unable to fulfil the contract which could bring down the wrath of Aeril, the goddess her kind serves on not only herself bur her entire guild.

Eveen and her mark, set out on a mission to figure out how to undo the contract through time and space without destroying the entire city before the sun comes up. Eveen and Sky offset each other like night and day, while using everything at hand to figure out how to circumvent the contract and set things to rights. This had everything I would want from a great story, good humor, engaging plot, interesting characters, and it was a lot of fun!

Tor and P. Djèlí Clark, I fall at your feet once more. P. Djèlí Clark's been a must-read author for some years now, ever since A Dead Djinn in Cairo popped up on NetGalley, so it truly is an honor to be once more accepted to read one of his books. A master of storytelling, his worlds always feel deeply lived in, deeply familiar, deeply glorious, deeply hilarious, deeply emotional, and deeply human.
Though there were some formatting errors (blank pages) it felt more like cliffhangers, and therefore made the read even better!

If this world is ever expanded in to, I'll be coming to the line as early as I can to read!

I have long wanted to try out a P. Djeli Clark book, so when this novella popped up and it had assassins, I couldn’t resist. Eveen is an undead assassin, her continued existence granted by the Matron of Existence. Her past life is wiped and her undead life goes on in exchange for her pledge to complete every contract that she is given. But when the mark looks familiar (hard to do when you have no memories), she gets caught up plot that goes deeper through her city than she ever imagined.

This story was wonderfully paced, the action continually propelling me forward through the whole novella. While I did guess the twist almost immediately, I did not see all the ways he used it in the finale. Overall an enjoyable short read.

Clark once again delivers a fast, readable novella with great action and his trademark worldbuilding skill. "The Dead Cat Tail Assassins" reads (with mild spoilers) like a fantasy version of the movie "Looper," following an assassin with a patchy past as she tries to understand why her latest job has gone so terribly wrong. As in his "Dead Djinn" works, Clark returns to the well of steampunk technology mixed with necromancy, this time in an original setting rather than the alt-history Egypt he previously used. Separating the novella's world from ours gives him more room for twists and turns, but also leaves the worldbuilding details feeling more detached (or perhaps that's just my growing interest in history coming through). Still, it was an entertaining read that sets up and executes (ha! pun intended) its premise, and doesn't pointlessly trail off in service of a sequel. These days a true standalone is hard to find, and that alone would be enough to earn it a solid four stars. Luckily, the book isn't coasting on narrative structure alone and the prose holds up, though not quite enough to earn a fifth.

I read this in a day and loved it. A quick read that is funny, a beautiful representation of black fantasy, and with a few twists and turns that kept me guessing, I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a short romp of a novel that’ll break them out of a reading slump! 4⭐

*Thank you again to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.*

This was one of the best ones I've read so far . The characters are well fleshed out. The wiring fantastic obviously written by one of the amazing authors.
I just love it.
Definitely going to buy this when it comes out.

I hate giving negative reviews of ARCs but I really, really did not like this one. It's not quite a one-star for me, but it's close-- I would give it 1.5, and that's only because I was intrigued at the start and saw glimpses of good writing. Granted I understand this is a novella, but the worldbuilding felt very poorly done considering how important it was to the plot. Eveen just drove me nuts with her one-dimensional "I'm a badass, look how tough I am" persona. When all of the assassins started coming after them, it almost reminded me of Scooby Doo or something-- "oh no, not HIM! How am I gonna get out of this???" *gets out of it easily* "oh no this person is EVEN WORSE! How am I gonna get out of this?" *gets out of it easily*-- and this was just on loop. This book takes place over the course of about a day but the pacing dragged so much, it just felt endless. Also, I think catchphrases are really only appropriate in bad TV shows, never books. The phrase "Aeril's fiery tits!" occurs SIXTEEN TIMES in this 200-page novela. That's ridiculous, it was so obnoxious. Also, the use of "Edgelords" as a group was SO cringe, even if that was the intention, I couldn't stand it. There were other similar moments where the author was trying to be funny or clever and I just couldn't stand it, especially as the book went on and it became more frequent. Another example is when the borderline-incomprehensible deities use the word "mansplain". I'm so disappointed because I've heard great things about this author but this has put me off their work and I don't think I will be revisiting it. Very curious to see what others think, especially because other early reviews seem to be very positive.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I needed this novella to be a novel. I thought the world had so much potential, and after loving Clark's full length novel previously, I do think his worldbuilding is better when he has room to expand. I was very intrigued by the carnival and the society that he created, however, I do feel like there was too much time spent of mundane details that retracted from the actual plot. Again, if this were full length, the world expansion would have been much more appreciated.

The characters were also just middle of the road. The main character, Eveen, is an undead assassin. Super cool, very unique, and I was immediately interested when I read that. However, she was also supposed to be middle aged, or at least that's how she was described, but she seemed so childish. The way she talked made her younger self feel much mature. I had a hard time caring about these characters because we didn't spend enough time seeing who they are outside of just being undead. I do realize that them being undead wipes their memory, but all of the characters felt very similar because of it.

The plot itself was very well done. I flew through this as it was both short and fast-paced. I just wish that it was a novel. I've rad his novella before with Ring Shout, and that didn't seem to suffer from the same issues I found in this one. I loved the writing style, I just needed more of it.

Huge thank you to NetGalley and Tor Publishing for allowing me to read this early!

I was instantly drawn to this book by the title and the cover and the synopsis sealed the deal, I HAD to read this book! I have only ready one other book from Clark’s backlog and am happy to say this doesn’t disappoint! My only real complaint is that it wasn’t longer! The world that Clark builds is so unique and the story that comes of it takes you on an unexpected adventure. The characters, world building and plot are extremely well thought out and keeps the readers interest and attention. I highly recommend this!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this ebook ARC. Y‘all this fantasy novella was such a fun read and made me an instant fan of P. Djèlí Clark. This author‘s been on my (ridiculously long) TBR for ages and I’m so happy I finally got my hands on one of his books. P. Djèlí Clark did not disappoint!

Eveen is an assassin, a member of the Dead Cat Tail Assassins guild in the ancient city of Tal Abisi. No they’re not cats, but they are dead, resurrected with no memories of their past and the sole purpose to swear allegiance to the goddess Aeril and carry out her deadly contracts. Eveen’s a snarky BAMF and she’s so good at her job that she’s known as the Eviscerator. But her latest contract will send her on a collision course with her past, which she’s not supposed to remember at all.

I don’t want to give away any spoilers but for the first 85% of this book I was completely hooked. This novella has it all, witty banter, BAMF female assassins, a diverse cast, magic, gods, action and thrilling escapes. I loved Eveen and almost all of the side characters as well. The backdrop of the Festival of the Clockwork King brought in more steampunk elements and made the book even more fantastic. The setting and the magic system def made me want to come back to this world and had me hoping that there‘s going to be a sequel or that P. Djèlí Clark already has another novella set in this world. It was a fast read and exactly what I wanted.

I had a couple small issues with the ending. Without giving anything away, this is a novella, so its understandable we didn’t have all the answers. Still, I wish we’d gotten the answer to one of my burning questions (I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a sequel). There is also a scene where I had difficulty understanding one of the character’s dialogue. I found the dialect distracting and it was a pretty intense scene, so it really slowed down the pacing. Other than that, the book was brilliant and I would highly recommend it!!

The Dead Cat Tail Assassins.

That title was enough to make me want to read this book. This was such a fun read set in a fantasy world with magic and steampunk vibes.

Our main character Eveen, is a member of the Dead Cat Tail assassins and when she goes to complete her next job, finds that she cannot. What comes next is a fun adventure that had me hooked from start to finish.

The characters in this book were great- we meet deadly assassins, necromancers. This is a short read, less than 300 pages and honestly I wish it was longer. It was just such a fun adventure filled with humor and beautiful descriptions. I don't know how the author did it but I felt like I wanted to eat this dish with crispy ants.

I would recommend to any one that enjoys a magical fun filled mystery/adventure.!

Thank you to Netgalley for this e-Arc!

3.5.
I have really enjoyed P Djeli Clark’s other books and I think this had a super unique premise. The writing was good and I liked the main character a lot. My issue was that because it as a novella it wasn’t fleshed out enough for my liking personally. I would’ve liked it if it another 100 pages longer I think. The world building could’ve been a bit fuller and we could’ve got better pacing.
I do recommend this if you are a fan of the authors other works or like novellas.

P. Djèlí Clark brings stunning world building and fantasy that has you craving more. A fast-paced novella sending you on a whirlwind adventure. There is so much personality in every aspect of the story, beginning to end.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the arc. I could not put this down. I loved reading TDCTA. The concept immediately intrigued me, the world building is phenomenal, and the characters so compelling. I want to read more stories set in this world. Though this novella is short, the world, the magic, the plot, and the characters will stay with me for a long time. I loved the plot, it was really fun. I also really want to visit this world, especially during the Festival. I want to explore the whole place. The stories, the legends, the magic system, the guilds, the gods and goddesses, every thing was made to intrigue me. I did not plan on staying up to read this, I just wanted to read a few pages before bed, but that was my mistake, because now I want to read everything P Djeli Clark rights. Normally I don't like novellas because they always feel lacking, but this was perfect. It was short, fast, and so intriguing and captivating. Love Eveen so much, and Sky, and Fennis, and Baseema. The prose was also so pretty and perfect. I really hope there are more stories set in this world. This is probably the best world building I have ever come across in my life. I need more stories here.

3.5 stars

The world building in this novella was so lush, I truly felt transported to Tal Abisi. There was so much lore and history packed into such a short amount of pages. I also really enjoyed Eveen and Sky as characters. I think they were well developed and entertaining to read about. The overall idea was also super unique and I really enjoyed the whole dead assassin thing. I did struggle a lot with the pacing. The first half of the book was essentially Eveen being chased around, then that would stop, then they’d be chased around again. It got a little repetitive. The second half of the book was a lot slower paced and it took me quite awhile to get through 224 pages. Pacing aside, I did really enjoy this one!

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Dead Cat Tail Assassins instantly caught me with its’ intriguing premise, mysterious edge and surprising humor. This is a captivating and page-turning novella and I enjoyed every page. There are such small, wonderful moments tucked into the assassination action of this story that made it so well rounded and enjoyable.

I hope that the author builds on this world, and there’s definitely room for it! I finished this desperately wanting more of Eveen, Sky, Baseema and Fennis. Most of all, I really want to know how Eveen became a Dead Cat Tail!