Ring Shout, by P. Djeli Clark

Ring Shout is in the horror/fantasy category, but I really began to enjoy it when I started to read it as a fable. The way the book works through its moral arc leads directly to its final lesson, that if we give back all the hate we receive then we lose ourselves in hatred. Come for the great storytelling but stay for the history--Clark has all his ducks in a row and delivers a real education in with the fable. The Gullah translations were really valuable to me. You kind of see things coming, but if you let go of the notion that you shouldn't then you will fully enjoy the book. TIL what a Ring Shout is, and I am better for it.

My Goodreads Review

The Haunting of Tram Car 015, by P. Djèlí Clark

 I liked this story, perhaps more than the star rating will suggest. It's a good solid tale in a world with incredible promise. Inspector Nasr and his protege Onsi are reasonably engaging fellows, and there's a feel-good subplot on women's suffrage in Egypt included. The story is small in scope (a single haunt of a single tram car) rather than the world-threatening event of the first story, and there's a certain self-consciousness about that reflected in it. I just have to say that I was just a little disappointed that, having my appetite whetted by the highly flavorful Fatma el-Sha’arawi, I had to settle for the somewhat more bready Nasr and Onsi for the subsequent course. But the world itself will keep me and others coming back.

My Goodreads Review

A Dead Djinn In Cairo, by P. Djèlí Clark

I read this to prepare for reading The Haunting of Tram Car 015. Am glad I did, because the story is a great introduction to this world. A universe that combines humanity adjusting to magical beings with Cairo as the most influential city in the world, and Egypt as a great power, has all kinds of great possibilities, and I think the era setting (right after the Gilded Age) is a great choice as well. Perhaps this world will not have a Great Depression. The story is fine, it's a good detective tale and introduces the protagonist (Special Investigator Fatma el-Sha’arawi) very well, though it's a bit predictable. Definitely makes you want more, and I'm looking forward to the next installment.  

My Goodreads Review

The Black God's Drums, by P. Djeli Clark

The Black God's Drums by P. Djèlí Clark

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is a really good introduction to Clark's work--for a completely different, also multiple nominee work see "The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington". Our protagonist Creeper is a fun, tough kid, easy to root for. The story moves right along and doesn't get boring.

I guess I'm not rating it higher because I'm sort of over New Orleans as a fantasy setting. Seems like I've read hundreds of these, and while this one is good and somewhat different it draws on many of the same tropes. I want a fantasy set in Gary, Indiana, or maybe one of those anonymous factory towns in China with 4 million people. Let's mix it up.

Props for good world building around Free New Orleans and the Surviving South. I think this can get bigger, or he can create other more complete worlds. Worth a read, particularly since I borrowed it from my local library.



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The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington, by Phenderson Djèlí Clark

The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington by P. Djèlí Clark

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This story is structured as a fantasy history done in vignettes, and is based in historical research. I really like these kind of stories, they are perfect for short fiction and give that atmosphere of authority to a story that makes it extra entertaining. This one is excellent, and I think it's a contender for the Nebula and the Hugo for sure.



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