I really like P. Djeli Clark. Is this novella his best work? No, but anything he writes is good stuff. This was quite an entertaining little story, nice world building and fun characters. I kinda hope we get more stories from this world to further develop the setting. The narrator is amazing! The only caveat is that some characters tend to whisper and considering I listened to this book while driving I had to turn the volume up and down multiple times which gets a little annoying.

I started this book reading digitally but then quickly switched to audio once I understood it was going to take some getting used to the setting of the novelette. The 7-hour and 22-minute production is read by Lynnette R. Freeman. Freeman is a newcomer to me, so I have no real opinion of her narration style and quirks. Maybe I'll run into her voice in a different book, and we can see if she's one of those ones for me. But for now, she was cool.

For the people who have no idea what this book is about because the synopsis didn't help,TDCTA is about a top assassin who was hired to kill a doppelgänger of herself, and she refused. As a result, the entire assassin organization is after her for breaching the contract.

I didn't care for the book and even should have DNFed, but I also understand it was a me thing and not an it thing. There is nothing wrong with TDCTA. I enjoyed the world-building, the framing of the story, the witty dialog, the fighting scenes, and the intricacies of how we got to the plot. However, I just could not get into it. It was a level of weirdness I wasn't expecting, and it took too long for me to latch on.

Idk if it was just this book, but I'm still going to check out Clark's other work.

I am a big fan of Clark’s, so I was thrilled when he announced this release. This world feels very reminiscent of the Dead Djinn universe and I love the vaguely steampunk combination of gods and magic and technology. I also really loved our two main characters. Clark is able to put so much voice and depth into characters in such a short page count, and I am forever in awe of that.

This story feels more action adventure romp than any of the other work I’ve read from him before, and while I can sometimes struggle with big fight scenes, etc. I never felt bored here. In fact, I actively added time to my afternoon walk because I didn’t want to stop listening to this book. This is fun, voicey, and action packed and I had a great time. The audiobook is narrated by Lynnette R. Freeman, and I think she knocked it out of the park.

Read this over the space of a few commutes, and honestly, its fun to see Djeli get to dabble around in a straight fantasy setting for this one. The twist is well done, and even though the assassin rules can get a bit trite at times, the pacing is really well done, and the description is gorgeous. Pick it up this fall and enjoy the ride. The narrator does a fantastic job with the voices here, switching easily between the fantasy narration and the cant of some of the speaking accents towards the back of this.

This was seriously perfect. Super unique story line with intensely interesting characters. I finished it in one sitting and now I find myself immediately ordering this authors other works.

Fantastic narrator! Fast-paced and with lots of action, "The Dead Cat Tail Assassins" hosts Gods and Guilds while exploring moral conundrums. The book consists of time travel/inter-dimensional travel, the Undead, and a solid ending. I recommend this for readers who enjoy sci-fi/fantasy novellas.

I really liked the world. We get a glimpse in one aspect of the magic system through Eveen since she is a resurrected assassin contracted to one of the goddesses of the world. We see other type of magics that I really want to know more about (specially about the construction of spells that was linked to a type of an equation) - there is space for other books in this world and I'd be really interested if the author continued to work on this world.

The book is primarily a mystery book, figuring out who Sky is and who made the contract that put Eveen's life in disarray. The mystery is pretty straightforward and it's kind of easy to figure out before the characters what is going on. That really wasn't such a hindrance for how much I liked the book because I liked Eveen and the world so much. She is a cativating character and I was rooting for her and I'm interested in her even if we only see a little of her story in the book. She is a more humorous and due to her personality so is the book. And even though I liked her humor, sometimes it was too much.

By the end, I liked the world, the characters, and how the story ended.

In regards to the audiobook itself, I liked the narration a lot. The narrator did different voices for different characters and the emotions were really well done.

Thank you Netgalley, author, and publisher for the ARC.

this was a nice entertaining adventure filled fantasy story that was well written and interesting from start to finish.
i think it leaves a nice window for the author to come back to this specific setting and world and explore it further since it’s such an interesting place and a lot of it hasn’t been talked about in this book since this story was very focused on specific characters and i would love to get more about this world and the magic from different perspective and characters.

as this book is: i enjoyed it a lot.


the audio book was mostly well done too. i didn’t love one of the voices the narrator made -a younger character in her 20s gets a very high and often a little whiny sounding voice that makes very little sense as to why the voice is that specific tone and could have easily been done a bit less high pitched and trying so hard to sound different and younger.

besides that the audio was well done - nicely read and nicely spoken overall.

Undead assassins, thrilling mysteries, fantastical world building, what's not to love? This book was such a fun, action packed and unique reading experience. Thank you netgalley for the ALC!

The Dead Cat Tail Assassins was a great read. I loved the character development and the writing was propulsive.

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

I keep trying books by P. Djèlí Clark hoping to be blown away by them but they always fall in 3-4 star range for me, and unfortunatly this was no exception. I think the writing is really good in this novella but the story fell super flat for me. I never felt connected to the characters so the mystery and stakes never felt like enough for me. I was never bored while reading but I did have to keep forcing myself to pick this back up when I wanted to do anything but read it. But, once I started reading it was easy sailing, I never felt like I wanted to stop reading it. I think this author could be for me when the plot is super interesting to me, but this wasn't it.

In terms of the audiobook, I was enjoying the narration in the first 60% but as more characters were added, some of their voices started to annoy me. I don't remember the character's name, but there was one character that had a high pitched voice and it felt like a jump scare every time they started to talk.

I'll definitely keep reading things by this author but I've learned to stick to the stories that the plot is super intriguing to me.

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

3.5 stars rounded up.

I love P. Djèlí Clark’s writing. He crafts fully realized engaging characters in a world that is easy to grasp. This book is no exception to his track record. I really enjoyed the first half of this book and found the dynamic between Eveen and Sky fun to follow. However, I lost interest as the book progressed and was no longer invested by the end. I’m not sure exactly what didn’t work for me as I loved the beginning! My rating was rounded up to reflect the fun I had in the first half.

I would still recommend this to readers interested in darkly humorous fantasy books. The narrator was fantastic and the audiobook is a great way to enjoy this work.

Thank you to NetGalley and RBMedia for access to this audiobook in exchange for an honest review!

This book has a special place in my heart. The main character is an absolute badass! The story concept of signing a contract to basically be reborn to be an assassin was intriguing! I found myself laughing, holding my breath, rooting for her, and feeling my heart break for her in an emotional and intellectual rollercoaster. The narrator was wonderful! I still think about this book to this day. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC opportunity.

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!

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.

Thank you Tordotcom, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for an ARC and advance listening copy in exchange for an honest review!

I absolutely loved Master of Djinn, so I was super excited for Djèlí Clark’s next work, and this one did not disappoint. His character work is wonderful and I loved the voice. Considering this is a novella, the level of world building is rich and impressive. Though the premise was interesting, I didn’t quite know what to expect, but I was completely absorbed into the story. There are so many little details that I think it’ll be a joy to reread, which is always exciting.

The audiobook was excellent, and Lynnette Freeman really breathed life into the story that made the experience feel so immersive.

I absolutely loved this book, I was slow to start but once the story advanced and I caught on to what was happening I couldn't stop listening. I loved the bits of humor and sarcasm, the Banter between Sky and Avene was amazing. Listening to the audiobook version was wonderful, the narrator did such a great job bringing all of the characters to life. I definitely want to read more of this author's writing.

This is my first book by this author, their writing is so full of imagery I have started on their backlist!
The story is captivating and once I started i simply didn't want to stop. Characters are full of depth and the narrator was exceptional