A review by thereadingrambler
The Dead Cat Tail Assassins by P. Djèlí Clark

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? No

The Dead Cat Tail Assassins is a short book that packs quite a punch in terms of plot and characters but will not be everyone’s cup of tea due to the cavalier approach to violence and the quirky narratorial voice. This was exactly my cup of tea though. The book follows Eveen the Eviscerater, who is one of the Dead Cat Tail Assassins, an undead woman who is sworn to a century of assassination services to Ayeril, the Matron of Assassins. There are three vows to her order: the contract must be just, the assassin can only kill who the hit is contracted for, and the assassin must kill the target. When those who have given their lives to Ayeril are resurrected, they have forgotten everything about their pasts and are resurrected far enough away from their death-date that anyone who might’ve known them is probably dead. Eveen is very good at her job and enjoys it well enough, but everything is thrown off-course when she discovers that she recognizes her target for the night is someone she remembers from the Before. This sets of a series of events through the night about what Eveen might remember, who this girl is she is contracted to kill, and why.

The book immediately takes an irreverent tone that jolted me in the best way possible. I did not enjoy A Master of Djinnor Ring Shout, so I wasn’t sure if Clark was going to continue to be an author I followed, but I was drawn in by the tagline for the book:  Dead Cat Tail Assassins are not cats. Nor do they have tails. But they are most assuredly dead. From this, I thought the book was going to be gritty, dark, and intense. The book opens with this line, but the reader quickly finds out this line is on a business card. This is a brilliant and hilarious twist to reader expectations and from there we are on a raucous ride that makes some of the most ridiculous jokes, including a very clever breaking of the fourth wall.

That said, because there is a streak of black (this is a book about an undead assassin after all) and sardonic humor throughout this book, it is not going to be for everyone. This is not written in first-person nor is it a “dear reader” kind of narratorial style, but there is a strong and unique narratorial voice that deftly and definitely shapes the way the reader understands the story. This was something I greatly enjoyed, but I understand why people might not.

This is a novella, so the world-building goes fast, and there is a lot of it. Almost none of it is given through exposition; the reader has to figure out everything from the dialog and descriptions. For instance, this story takes place on one night, which happens on the night of a major festival. In the background of pretty much every scene are people celebrating in various ways through the streets. From these comments, the reader can (should) pick up on why this festival is happening, and eventually the story of the festival ties into the plot.

This is a balanced character- and plot-driven book. Eveen grounds the book and her relationship with Fennis and Sky gives her balance and propels her forward through the plot, which is opaque to reader and characters for much of the book. They are trying to unravel the mystery of why Eveen has been given this contract and also how this contract is even possible given the confines of things like time, space, physics, reality, and the will of the gods. This is not a mystery, though, the reader is given many of the clues to figure out what happened and how the characters are going to solve it, but we skip over the final confrontation planning montage and right to said final confrontation. This didn’t bother me as, for the most part, their plan goes off without a hitch and gives the reader a satisfying (if bloodthirsty) ending—so seeing them plan it would’ve just spoiled the ending. A planning montage always means the plan is going to fail. And I didn’t want to see Eveen fail. I was really rooting for her by the end of the book—even if her solution to 90% of her problems is violence.

I would recommend this book to people who like Murderbot—a somewhat reluctant main character who really would prefer to just enjoy simple pleasures and be left alone but unfortunately is very good at their job and unwillingly cares about other people in their life and even more unfortunately discovers a massive conspiracy they somehow are in the middle of without even realizing it.