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A review by abaranes
The Dead Cat Tail Assassins by P. Djèlí Clark
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I love P. Djeli Clark's writing, so I had high hopes for this book. And there was a lot of the book that I really liked. Unfortunately, there was something about it that didn't quite work for me.
The good: First, the writing style and worldbuilding is fantastic, as can be expected from anything written by Clark. Clark has an incredible ability to create a fantastic setting and suck the reader in - and it's on full display in this book. Second, the characters are so much fun. Just like he did with "Master of Djinn", I really hope he adds more short stories in this universe and with these characters just so we can get more of it.
The bad: as great as the style, characters, and world building was, I think the plot itself didn't quite work for me. It was very action-movie-esque. Every scene/chapter felt like it had an action/fight scene and I really wanted more of the actual investigation. While this wasn't a mystery novel per-se, there were definitely mystery elements that I wanted more depth exploration into. Instead, there were times that I felt like I was reading a screen-play for a Hollywood Blockbuster.
Overall, I thought the book was fine. There's a very high floor with anything P. Djeli-Clark writes, so the book is certainly not BAD. I just wish there was more depth and investigation between action scenes.
Many thanks to TOR and Goodreads for providing am advanced copy of the book via giveaway.
The good: First, the writing style and worldbuilding is fantastic, as can be expected from anything written by Clark. Clark has an incredible ability to create a fantastic setting and suck the reader in - and it's on full display in this book. Second, the characters are so much fun. Just like he did with "Master of Djinn", I really hope he adds more short stories in this universe and with these characters just so we can get more of it.
The bad: as great as the style, characters, and world building was, I think the plot itself didn't quite work for me. It was very action-movie-esque. Every scene/chapter felt like it had an action/fight scene and I really wanted more of the actual investigation. While this wasn't a mystery novel per-se, there were definitely mystery elements that I wanted more depth exploration into. Instead, there were times that I felt like I was reading a screen-play for a Hollywood Blockbuster.
Overall, I thought the book was fine. There's a very high floor with anything P. Djeli-Clark writes, so the book is certainly not BAD. I just wish there was more depth and investigation between action scenes.
Many thanks to TOR and Goodreads for providing am advanced copy of the book via giveaway.