The Dead Cat Tail Assassins by P. Djèlí Clark 

TL;DR: As always Mr. Clark manages to create a unique and fun story. This time the humor was just on point.
Source: Thank you to the publisher for my copy via Netgalley!

Plot: Eveen is a contract assassin who finds herself in a sticky situation when her newest target is not someone she wants to kill unless she wants to possibly disappear herself.
Characters: I enjoyed the variety of characters we got here. I liked Eveen but in this case I think I enjoyed the surrounding cast more.
Setting: The setting here was very rich and fun. The city is in the midst of a festival and the colors and events really feel tangible in the text and interact with the characters.
Magic: Honestly, this was minor till the end and then some things popped off and I loved it.

Thoughts:

The Dead Cat Tail Assassins is one of those books I feel like I can’t explain too much or it will steal the magic of it. Eveen is a infamous contract assassin who finds herself contracted to kill someone… let’s say it’s best she doesn’t. Unfortunately her contracts are magically binding, going all the way up to the goddess who controls Eveen’s (un)life. So she decides that for the night she has to ‘complete’ the job she’s going to find a way to fix it. She ends up dodging fellow assassins, hunting down Edgelords (I’m serious on that name), and others.

Mr. Clark’s humor really shines here. It feels a bit like he let go and just threw things into this pot to see if they stick and they do. My favorite being the Edgelords, which while a pop culture word actually have a legit reason for the name in this world. Eveen has a sharp sense of humor as well and her quips and retorts had me chuckling. There is a note of sweet revenge in this by the end I just found the whole thing a delight. My favorite part was the last quarter. I don’t want to spoil anything so I’ll say the new character(s) that appear there were a joy.

It seems everything I read from P. Djèlí Clark is a winner, this is no exception. I loved this, and if you enjoy fantastical assassins in a fun and rich setting give it a shot.

5 out of 5 Terribles (I’d read them)