I have read almost everything that P. Djeli Clark has written and I was excited to hear about another book being released. Dead Cat Tail Assassins? Sign me up. However, I was a little disappointed in this book. I wanted a little more world building as in previous book, I felt like that was done great. It was a little lacking in this book. I did enjoy the plot and the main character. The pacing seemed a little off to me as well. We would have super fast moments and then drawn out moments. Overall, I would recommend if you have read previous works by P. Djeli Clark. But go in knowing you are not going to get all the answers you want.

3.5 stars. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an Advanced Review Copy. All opinions are my own.

This book was amazing. The worldbuilding was so complete and vivid. I loved the characters, they were funny, relatable and likable. I loved the twists throughout. This book was jam packed with fun adventure, interesting magic and a unique world.

I received an advance copy via NetGalley.

The Dead Cat Tail Assassins is a brilliant dark fantasy novella. Deep world-building. Plentiful trope twists. A shocker of an ending. It really has it all.

Eveen is an assassin dubbed the Eviscerator. She's also undead, having signed away her life to a goddess, and for reasons unknown to her. She remembers nothing of her life-before-resurrection. Then she's assigned a job commissioned by an anonymous patron, and realizes the victim has her own face, albeit younger. Eveen breaks the commitment to the job, saving her own younger self--and risking the wrath of her bosses, peers, and even worse, her overseeing goddess.

I loved the originality of the setting, the developing relationship between Eveen and her other self, and how, even though I predicted some plot developments, I was still gobsmacked by others. It was sheer fun, all the way through.

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book. This was my first P. Djèlí Clark book and I really liked it. The book was short but had a lot going on. The world building was great and the characters really fleshed out for such a short book. I couldn’t it put down. I will definitely read more from this author.

I will read (or at least try) anything P Djélì Clark writes, and when I heard about Dead Cat Tail Assassins I could not wait to get my hands on it. This was so excellent and I am in awe of what a master storyteller Clark is in the sense each story so distinctive and stands on its own. I loved the way this was set up and the resolution was absolutely wild. I don’t want to give anything away, but I had so much fun with this and this is a world I would love to see explored more in terms of the contracts with Aeril, but also this definitely works as a complete story and no continuation necessary.

I absolutely love everything about this book. I think the cover is fantastic. This is a fun, fast-paced fantasy. The writing is evocative and immediately hooked me. The world-building is outstanding and unique. It has a great, well-rounded cast of characters and excellent character development. There's action, adventure, and plenty of dark humor. Overall, I think this is a perfect, short fantasy read.

I think 'The Dead Cat Tail Assassins' builds a really interesting world with lots of cool characters, especially Eveen, who's not your typical tough-as-nails assassin. But, for me, some of the modern words, like 'shipping' and 'edgelord,' felt out of place and distracted me from the story. The funny lines sometimes didn't quite hit the mark, and the story felt a bit rushed in places. The excessive exposition and unrealistic timeline made it hard for me to stay fully engaged. Despite these flaws, I still enjoyed the book's unique concept and characters. 'The Dead Cat Tail Assassins' has its strengths, like the imaginative world-building and diverse characters, it also has its drawbacks. It's a fun read with some cool ideas, but it could have been even better with smoother writing and pacing.

Dead Cat Tail Assassins

P. Djèlí Clark is an absolute master at his craft, and exemplifies that once again in this outrageously fun stand-alone novel.
He starts drops you right into the action, but knows exactly when and how to drop nuggets of world-building and lore so that you feel neither overwhelmed nor confused about what’s going on. Everything you learn feels so natural and well integrated.

The tension never really drops, which makes sense for a book that takes places over just a few hours - there’s no downtime for them, so there’s none for you. That said, it never feels overwhelming. When the first big “plot twist” hits it’s surprising, but leaves so much more to be explored. And explore it he does! While there may be aspects you predict about the plot as you go, nothing will ever quite go as you think.

I love that this book doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s fun, it’s goofy, and it has so much heart. I love so many of these characters even though we only spent a small amount of time with them. Such an absolutely fun ride!

Thanks to TOR for sharing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I’m going to keep this review spoiler free since release day is a few months out.

There are many things to like about The Dead Cat Tail Assassins. The central conceit of a guild of undead contract killers is an incredibly interesting, exciting idea. The world building is vivid and draws on Steampunk tropes without falling back on some of the sillier tenets of the subgenre. Unique action sequences are peppered throughout and are thrilling every single time. The port city of Tal Abisi and the stories within are also evocative of the Dishonored series of video games (a personal favorite of mine.)

Clark’s sense of humor simply does not work for me. Each joke landed like a lead balloon every single time, and throwing in anachronistic terms like “mansplaining” ellicited full body cringe. Despite this, most of the tone was great - it felt like a lighthearted, swashbuckling tale that counterbalanced lots of grimdark subject matter deftly.

Another point of contention, similar to Clark’s The Black God’s Drums, is the brevity of the story. Usually I appreciate economical storytelling that trims away fat. But in Clark’s case, he creates these amazing worlds that could be so much richer if he took the time to flesh them out further. The resolution also felt truncated and rushed, and the grotesque subject matter was treated in a cartoonish manner that didn’t match the tone of the rest of the novel. Overall if the story had been expanded, I think it would have been one of the best novels of the year.

Despite my nitpicking, I wholeheartedly recommend Dead Cat Tail Assassins, and Clark’s work in general. I hope to see more of Eveen’s story in the future.

The Dead Cat Tail Assassins is a fantastic upcoming novella from one of my favorite working fantasy authors, P. Djèlí Clark! He builds immersive worlds that I want to explore, to dig into every nook and cranny, to uncover the magic system (or just let it all wash over me). 
Eveen the Eviscerator is a Dead Cat Tail Assassin in the service of the goddess Aeril, “Matron of Assassins, The Silent Blade, the Lady of Knives, Snatcher of Souls—and, sometimes, the Crafter of Delectable Culinary Delights.” Aeril resurrects people (wiping their memory, but making them nearly invincible) who have pledged themselves to her service, and she has a strict code that her assassins must abide by. That’s how Eveen finds herself in a tough position: she’s sworn to carry out her contract, but can’t, because killing her latest mark might break all the rules, and maybe the world.
Clark’s writing is witty, wry, action-packed, and filled with nuance. I highly recommend this book for fantasy-lovers, for Assassin’s Creed fans, for fans of non-European-set fantasy. Heads up, there’s a lot of swearing, but it’s a lot of fun, regardless.

THE DEAD CAT TAIL ASSASSINS is equal parts witty, quirky, dynamic, and sarcastic. It’s a deadly and fast-paced novella filled with humourous banter that skews at moments to a dark yet absurd comedic tone and employs smart and efficient world building. For those looking for a quick and fun read.

4.5! This book was so much fun. It truly has a unique premise. Eveen is an assassin in an assassin's guild called The Dead Cat Tails. The twist is, all of the assassins are undead. In their living life, They pledged themselves to the Goddess of assassins and cooks (both users of knives). Eveen is given a contract with a complication and she needs to find a way out. I rated this a 4.5 stars and I will be buying a physical copy when it releases in August 2024. I laughed out loud so many times. There are enjoyable with witty banter, lots of action, and a great mystery to solve. I really enjoy an FMC in her 30s - I appreciate a more mature main character. I tired to find plot holes with this short but complex story, but could not. I really, really hope that Clark decided to write more books in this world because I need to read more adventures of Eveen the Eviscerator. I immediately picked up another P. Djeli Clark book after this because I liked his writing style so much.

I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Are we supposed to root for the protagonist's actions at the end? Because if so, the author's sense of justice is very different from mine. I found this was the same at the end of his A Master of Djinn. I enjoyed both stories until the resolution, both of which have left a bad taste in my mouth.

Eveen is a colorful character whose unorthodox methods and foul mouth drive the momentum of this story. I laughed and shook my head at her antics many times. I loved her friendship with Fennis and building friendship with Sky.

The worldbuilding is complex, weaving together history, cultural celebrations, and cuisine into a living, breathing world despite the story's short length.

The action is smart, dark, and brutal. Each character brings something new to the table to challenge Eveen, keeping the progression interesting.

Sometimes the balance between silliness and seriousness feels off, with the silliness veering into over-the-top unbelievable territory, especially at the end.

Hopefully by the time the book is published the punctuation misuses (especially the dashes) will be fixed. They added unnecessary pauses that threw off the pacing.

You might like this if you like: The Johannes Cabal series by Jonathan L. Howard, Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots, Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

If this was rated off of world building alone, it would be a 5 star easily. The setting is so intricate it makes it truly feel as though the story is a small piece of a larger narrative- incredibly impressive given the short page count. The pages are just rich with details about food, culture, gods and lore. I want to know more, I’d absolutely read another book set in this world, but sadly this one just didn’t work for me.
The downside: the characters just fall a little flat within their story. The dialogue is quippy and sarcastic (which I normally love), but in this case it makes the stakes of the plot feel really low, almost as if the characters are unbothered by the really important events happening to them. Some dialogue points are also a little too cringey, or have modern language that doesn’t really fit, like the line “Smackety-smack-smack” or calling someone a “neck beard”. I also really struggled to read the goddesses speech at the end- I appreciate the effort at making an accent apparent, but it made it really hard to get through that section and some of the meaning was lost.

I had some hesitations about this book at first. The title had me assuming the book may be a little more corny or childish, but I'm glad I was wrong! I'm just now getting around to writing this review, but this book was a smooth, easy read. Once I picked it up, it was so hard to put down. Filled with page turning excitement and twists to keep me hooked, I was fully inundated in a magical world. I feel I have a pretty robust vocabulary, but I ain't got nothing on this author! Thank goodness for Kindle's highlight & define feature. It's been a while since I've looked up so many words, but that was more of a personal preference. Context clues were enough to understand what was going on, but I wanted to catch up on all the colorful words. Overall, to finish this book, I chose reading over sleep… and I LOVE sleep. It was worth the read. Thank you Tor Publishing Group for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

This is a 3 star book for me. I appreciate how developed this world was for such a short story - it is beautiful and vibrant and contains so much! I also really enjoyed how unique this story felt to the badass women assassin trope. Eveen was a very human character who definitely broke the mold of the stoic, emotionless, badass assassin (don't get me wrong, she's still a badass - she also just has emotions and a personality). Overall, all the characters felt very individualistic (if not entirely original), and I particularly enjoyed the variety of assassins!

Unfortunately the writing was a bit of a drawback for me. I'm not a fan of repurposing modern language into other settings, so the use of terms like "shipping" and "edgelord" (even though their meanings are very different in this novella) pushed me out of the story. It felt like they were supposed to be an inside joke for the reader, but it just fell a little flat. Some of the snark and wit didn't quite hit the mark for me either, often causing me to pause and reread a line, or throwing me out of the story entirely because it didn't make sense. I also very much struggled with the dialogue at the end in which the accent of a character is written out. It took so much effort to understand what I was reading that I ended up skipping that characters part of the conversation and would figure out what was said based on the other parts of the conversation.

While the world was beautifully built, the amount of detail and exposition made the story drag a bit. There was also an issue with the timeline. There was an excessive amount of events that happened in a single night that made it difficult to continue suspending my disbelief. I think there are several bits that could be cut out to make the story's pacing more consistent and easier to stay connected to.

Overall the world was beautiful; the characters were fun; and the story was interesting. But ultimately these things were lost a bit in the excessive exposition, some quirky writing, and the unrealistic timeline.

I was given an ARC by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

The Dead Cat Tail Assassins by P. Djèlí Clark is a fantasy novella where Eveen, an undead assassin in the service of a goddess, is given a target only to find out the girl she’s supposed to kill has her face.

Everything I have read by Clark I have loved and this was no exception. Eveen is a fun character to experience the plot with and the twists are shocking without feeling like they come out of nowhere. I loved the stuff regarding time travel and souls, it’s right on that cusp of science fantasy, which is one of my favorite subgenres.

How the action is portrayed is a great example of how to depict a fight scene in prose and the use of rules as a theme that reoccurs added to the worldbuilding and Eveen’s character as well as the plot. The only thing I liked more was the dynamic between Eveen and Fennis, two work friends who have one of the funniest dynamics I’ve read in a fantasy in a while.

I would recommend this to fans of fantasy assassins and readers looking for a novella with action and science fantasy elements.

Unfortunately, while the premise and cover of this pulled me in the book itself just didn’t. I think this book would be perfect for someone looking for a fast paced action movie style book heavily laced with sarcasm. But for me, it was reading like a manic pixie dream girl, I just didn’t enjoy the dialogue and didn’t find myself connecting with the characters.

Thank you to NetGalley & Tor for the arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for sending me this ARC!

This was such an incredible story! The only words I can think of to describe it is mind blowing!! The writing and penmanship itself was beautiful. The way everything is explained and the details that are included truly transported me to this world while I was reading.

The plot and storyline are astounding. There were so many twists that kept me on my toes the whole time, the pacing was fast, and there was a lot of action sequences. The story itself is so unique that I was overwhelmed at how well it was captured in such a short amount of time. With each page turned, I was truly reminded of the magic of writing. Anything that seems implausible or impossible can be well within reach in the lines of a page. Clark executed it all perfectly.

Also, with it being a novella, I was equally surprised at how well the character work was in so few pages! Eveen is a kick butt female protagonist that lives in a sort of grey area. However, I was rooting for her the whole time. She had depth. I learned about her internal struggles, external struggles, hobbies, friends, and life in a short time yet in the most palatable way to read.

I will definitely check out more works by this author, because I thought about this story every second I wasn’t reading it.

It comes out August 6, 2024, and not only will I be buying a physical copy, but I will also be recommending to everyone I know in the meantime!

This novella was not what I expected! It’s a very short, punchy read. It is jam packed with action and adventure (and violent limb breaking). The aesthetic is a distinctive Afro-Caribbean flavor of steampunk, which is really cool and fun to experience. While it is a novella, the elements of the magical world are sketched out in vast detail and deeply thought out.

There is a pretty major plot twist that occurs early on in the story, that I completely did not see coming. That twist sets up a little mystery/situation that the characters spend the rest of the story trying to solve. I’ve never read a plot twist like the one in this book, and it really had me on the edge of my seat.

I’m realizing that the structure of novellas may not totally be for me, as I usually prefer a more fleshed out story where I can spend more time with the characters. And while I appreciate good fight scenes, there was a little too much “undead gore” for my particular liking. Otherwise, this is a fantastic book that I know will make a big splash!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

3.75 STARS