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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Fast and fun, a surprising amount of action and world building for 200 pages
3.5 - half stars should be a thing
Edit: read another comment; what I refer to a dialect/accent is meant to be Creole apparently, a language I had completely thrown out of my brain so apologies for my forgetfulness and ignorance here. That said my point still stands regardless if it’s a written language/dialect/accent.
So this is one where I saw everything coming from 100 miles away plot-wise unfortunately. To me everything in this novella was just predictable and came as no surprise. I almost guessed the plot from page 1. :( That admittedly was a bit of a let down. When that is said, I did enjoy the story, the worldbuilding and the overall concept and would have loved to have had a few more pages to the story revealing a bit more about the characters and Eevens past in the end.
I also liked the writing style with the exceptions of the written accent, which is meant to be a language thing in the book, from two characters at the end of the book. I’m not a fan of written out accents/dialects in general. I get why it was made a thing and if I am assuming correct it has to do with perhaps drawing some sort of inspiration from hoodoo/voodoo/Baron Samedi, but at times it rendered parts of the dialogue incomprehensible to me personally aside all I ended up thinking about was stereotypes from a certain part of the world as well as the trolls in WoW. It’s not a bad thing as such but as a non-native English speaker accents/dialects written out that way is just very difficult for me. I might have understood it better had I had the audiobook at hand, but the written part made my poor neurodivergent brain go all haywire trying to correct spelling and figure out what some of the words were meant to be. Basically I lost a lot of immersion at the end of the story when it was being wrapped up, which was somewhat of a bummer.
That said now I know what to expect when I get to read one of the author’s other books, and I know I enjoy his writing style overall aside the accent thing.
Edit: read another comment; what I refer to a dialect/accent is meant to be Creole apparently, a language I had completely thrown out of my brain so apologies for my forgetfulness and ignorance here. That said my point still stands regardless if it’s a written language/dialect/accent.
So this is one where I saw everything coming from 100 miles away plot-wise unfortunately. To me everything in this novella was just predictable and came as no surprise. I almost guessed the plot from page 1. :( That admittedly was a bit of a let down. When that is said, I did enjoy the story, the worldbuilding and the overall concept and would have loved to have had a few more pages to the story revealing a bit more about the characters and Eevens past in the end.
I also liked the writing style with the exceptions of the written accent, which is meant to be a language thing in the book, from two characters at the end of the book. I’m not a fan of written out accents/dialects in general. I get why it was made a thing and if I am assuming correct it has to do with perhaps drawing some sort of inspiration from hoodoo/voodoo/Baron Samedi, but at times it rendered parts of the dialogue incomprehensible to me personally aside all I ended up thinking about was stereotypes from a certain part of the world as well as the trolls in WoW. It’s not a bad thing as such but as a non-native English speaker accents/dialects written out that way is just very difficult for me. I might have understood it better had I had the audiobook at hand, but the written part made my poor neurodivergent brain go all haywire trying to correct spelling and figure out what some of the words were meant to be. Basically I lost a lot of immersion at the end of the story when it was being wrapped up, which was somewhat of a bummer.
That said now I know what to expect when I get to read one of the author’s other books, and I know I enjoy his writing style overall aside the accent thing.
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I'm obsessed with this novella! I bought it on a whim and I'm so glad I did. The story was clever, interesting, and paced so incredibly well. The world building was stunning, descriptions perfect, and I love all of the characters - they were all so distinct. And the banter between Sky and Eveen really was the cherry on top.
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
if this was a longer novel I think it would have been 5/5
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This novella has such an interesting concept. An undead assassin discovers that the person she was contracted to kill is younger version of herself brought into the present from her past life. It’s an interesting tale of revenge that includes some clever plotting, fun characters, and witty writing. I listened via audiobook and the voice acting is phenomenal!
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Well written, but I just didn’t really connect with the story or the characters. I adore Clark’s Dead Djinn series, so my lack of strong feelings towards this story is really disappointing.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I really enjoyed this book and will be exploring more of P. Djèlí Clark's work. I liked that the world building didn't take the entire first half of the book and the plot moves pretty quickly. I also enjoyed the descriptions of the various characters/assassins and their fight scenes. It was so easy to imagine these characters and settings.
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Clark continues to write some of my favorite fantasy stories. Sharp, fast, witty.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse
Moderate: Torture, Murder