P. Djèlí Clark

I have received an Advance Reader's Copy of this book through a giveaway hosted by the publisher. This has not affected my rating or review in any way.

Abeni's Song is an epic of a novel. That is to say, I had a bit of a hard time with this one.

Firstly, this novel felt like it was written as an adult fantasy and later dumbed down into a middle grade novel. I understand that Clark is coming from an adult fantasy background but this hardly felt like something for younger readers at all. There was an intense amount of world building, too much for a middle grade novel. The intensity of the world building eventually took away from the story itself, as I found myself growing bored and uninterested around the midway point.

I wanted to like this novel so badly, but I just couldn't find it in myself. The characters weren't intriguing enough for me to attach to or care about them, with the world building taking precedence in this story. I also wasn't a fan of Clark's writing style, as for example, too many times I noted his overuse of exclamation points similar to Sarah J. Maas's writing in the first Throne of Glass novels- almost as if he were trying to sound condescending or patronizing. I wasn't a fan of the overly long chapters, finding myself fatigued after reading so many longer paragraphs with so little dialogue and scene or chapter breaks.

Now these are some minor personal issues I had with the book; considering this is an Advance Reader's Copy I found many spelling and punctuation errors which I hope to see fixed in the final version. Also, my copy was so poorly printed that some of the words were cut off at the top or bottom of the page. It was still readable but it certainly wasn't easy and it somewhat affected my reading experience.

Overall, I was disappointed to find that I didn't like Abeni's Song. I believe this novel just wasn't for me.… (more)

** spoiler alert ** On the whole, this was fast paced, clever, and I loved the twists and turns a lot, especially as things come to a head in the ending. The audio book was very well read. It's entertaining.

However, a couple of things bothered me:
1: why are they called the Dead Cat Tail Assassins? Not answered. The fact that they all wear cat mask variations might be the reason, but I'm not convinced that the masks came first, and it still has nothing to do with cat tails, so I just kind of hate it as a mystery.

2: I do not understand how the death of someone who does not belong in the same universe can be certified as "just" under assassin contract law. And why did no one bring that up in the arbitration? It seems to me like it would be "just" to kill a young Eveen in revenge on elder Eveen -- tenuous, but "just" under their rules. But it does not follow that Skye, from a parallel universe, who is not this Eveen and never can be is a "just" target for assassination. That plot hole drives me crazy, even as I very much loved the excuse to pull a parallel goddess into the universe -- that was such a cool twist. I just wish it made sense according to the rules of the world building, and for me, it did not.… (more)

I had almost given up on this nominee, and actually didn't finish before the voting deadline. I gave a few of the ones I didn't finish another chance to redeem themselves. The beginning is so very slow to start and to get to the adventuring bit without wading through a lot of training montage stuff that honestly almost made me want to stop reading. Maybe I'm not quite the right age for it. It wouldn't have got my top vote but it would have got a vote.
The interaction between the characters makes the latter half of the book shine but the first part didn't really work for me.… (more)

Eveen is undead, a member of the Dead Cat Tail Assassins (no, they're not cats, it's just a name). She and the others in her guild have three unbreakable rules: accept the contract if it is just, don't kill those not on the contract, and once you accept the job you must carry it out. Her latest job is an anonymous contract, but when she goes to carry it out, she realizes that the person she's supposed to kill is her younger self. Can she do that? And if she doesn't, can she avoid the consequences brought by her own goddess?

A propulsive, slightly mind-bending novella set on a fantasy world with a fascinating mythology and pantheon. Clark has a way with descriptions and world-building that I appreciate, even more impressive when the story is so compact. I was a little taken aback by the level of violence (my own fault - of course a fantasy story about undead assassins is going to be gory), but I would be interested in another book set in the same world.… (more)