#The Dead Cat Tail Assassins

[torpublishinggroup]

Tor Publishing Group is BACK (again) with a guide of books to gift the people in your life…and yourself!

━ ˖°˖ ☾☆☽ ˖°˖ ━

Cozy books to curl up with in the winter...

Legends & Lattes / Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree

The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst

Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne

━ ˖°˖ ☾☆☽ ˖°˖ ━

Dazzling new worlds to explore...

The Dead Cat Tail Assassins by P. Djèlí Clark

Blood of the Old Kings by Sung-il Kim; translated by Anton Hur

━ ˖°˖ ☾☆☽ ˖°˖ ━

High stakes, high thrills...

Extinction by Douglas Preston

The Lies We Conjure by Sarah Henning

Exordia by Seth Dickinson

━ ˖°˖ ☾☆☽ ˖°˖ ━

Story collections that pack a punch...

Januaries by Olivie Blake

The White Guy Dies First: 13 Scary Stories of Fear and Power edited by Terry J. Benton-Walker

Not enough books? Don’t worry, we have another GET BOOKT: THE BOOKENING guide to help you out!

[aroaessidhe]

faves of 2024: novellas

Walking Practice

The Dead Cat Tail Assassins

The Salt Grows Heavy

Dehiscent

As Born to Rule The Storm

The Butcher of the Forest

Graveyard Shift

Pluralities

Rose/House

The Brides of High Hill

Small Gods of Calamity

The Labyrinth Beckons

Party of Fools

The Fireborne Blade

The River Has Roots

[freckles-and-books]

Just started, and it’s really fun so far!

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

Books of 2025: January Wrap-Up.

I read a lot this month! Finally got around to the novella kick I had been hoping to do after NaNo (thanks, Tor!), PLUS the weather was fabulous for reading through some Snowy Winter Books, and I managed to daisy-chain between them really well!

Photos and/or reviews liked below:

TIME'S AGENT - ★★★ I had outrageously high hopes for this one (Pocket Worlds?! dimensional fuckery?! scientist MCs?!? queer?!), and unfortunately it turned out to be Just Okay for me. Very much a grief-centered book, very much a corporate hellscape future (I suppose it does have some Murderbot overlap, in that regard). How time worked in the Pocket Worlds was wild and cool, but I found the grief-strained relationship between the MC and her wife exasperating--maybe it'll hit right for allos, but it was not my cup of tea.

WELCOME TO THE GODDAMN ICE CUBE - ★★★½ I don't usually peruse non-fiction, but I'm doing a subscription box of nature writing this year, and they sent me this! Interesting cultural window to far-north Norway, very winter-approved, and pleasantly surprisingly queer. Glad I read it! (CW for much sexual assault/abuse, though, broadcasted clearly in the first couple pages.)

CAMP ZERO - ★★★½ This near future cli-fi was comped to Station Eleven (which I loved) and The Power (which I have not read), and takes place in far north Canada where something sus is going on at a building project. I was really enjoying it up until the last hundred pages or so, when things suddenly felt very rushed and thrown together--I might've given it 4 stars if she stuck the landing. Another good winter read!

BLACKFISH CITY - ★★★½ I can't decide if this is 3.5 or 4 stars, but since I didn't slam the 4-star button on Goodreads, I'm going to leave it as 3.5. I really liked this one, though! Love a good futuristic floating city in the Arctic. The worldbuilding was very cool, and the polar bear was appropriately terrifying. Had a lot of POVs and jumped kind of rapidly between them, which I didn't have a ton of bandwidth for this month. Overall had a good time! Might reread when the time is right.

LOST ARK DREAMING - ★★★★ I thought this one was also about a floating city based on (not looking closely enough at) the cover art, but it turns out those are Super High Rise Skyscrapers where the first few floors are underwater. More climate fiction, but this one takes place off the coast of Nigeria, and the comp to Rivers Solomon's THE DEEP is absolutely loadbearing (affectionate). Enjoyed this one a lot, too, to the tune of Some Of The Interspersed Poetry Made Me Feel Shrimp Emotions, And I Busted Out A Sticky-Tab To Flag A Few Lines.

THE DEAD CAT TAIL ASSASSINS - ★★★½ This was a lot more fun than I anticipated! I've really enjoyed all of Clark's novella-length work, and this one was funny and surprisingly weird and perfectly fucked up and unfortunately I cannot state specifics without being spoilery. Definitely worth picking up, if you like assassins and mind-bendy plot twists.

ADRIFT IN CURRENTS CLEAN AND CLEAR - ★★★½ One of my favorite January Traditions is reading the latest installment of Wayward Children. I really enjoyed the waterworld in this one, and All Things Russian are my jam! I should go back and reread Sugar Sky, though.

OVERGROWTH - ★★★★½ I received an ARC, and it was SO GOOD HOLY SHIT!!! I actually wrote a Thoughtful Review about it. Out May 6, 2025! Great things to look forward to!!

THE LANGUAGE OF THE NIGHT - 94*/259 pages read; will report back. Really enjoying this so far! It's very thoroughly introduced, and I appreciate the thematic organization over chronological. (*asterisk: By the page numbers, I'm up to 94, but there are definitely xl pages of General Introduction before the book itself starts--I am not exaggerating about Thoroughly Introduced haha.)

Under the Cut: A Note About ~*★Stars★*~

Historically, I have been Very Bad™ about assigning things Star Ratings, because it's so Vibes Heavy for me and therefore Contingent Upon my Whims. (Example: I don't like that stars are Odd, because that makes three the midpoint and things are rarely so truly mid for me)(I have hacked my way around this with a ½, which is really only applicable for me at ★★★ and up). Here is, generally, how I conceptualize stars:

★ - This was Bad. I would actively recommend that you do NOT read this one, no redeeming qualities whatsoever, not worth the slog. Save Yourself, It's Too Late For Me. Book goes in the garbage (donate bin).

★★ - This was Not Good. I would not recommend it, but it wasn't a total waste or wash--something in here held my interest/kept my attention/sparked some joy. I will not be rereading this ever. Save Yourself (Or Join Me In Suffering, That Seems Like A Cool Bonding Activity).

★★★ - This was Good/Fine/Okay/Meh. I don't care about this enough to recommend it one way or another. Perfectly serviceable book, held my interest, I probably enjoyed myself (or at least didn't actively loathe the reading). I don't have especially strong feelings. You probably don't need to save yourself from this one--if it sounds like your jam, give it a shot! Just didn't resonate with me particularly powerfully. I probably won't reread this unless I'm after something in particular.

★★★½ - I liked this! I'll probably recommend it if I know it matches someone's vibes or specific requests, but I didn't commit to a star rating on Goodreads. More likely to reread, but not guaranteed.

★★★★ - I really enjoyed this!! I would recommend it (sometimes with caveats about content warnings or such--I tend to like weird fucked up funny shit, and I don't have many hard readerly NO's). Not a perfect book for me by any means, but Very Good. This is something I would reread! Join me!!

★★★★★ - I LOVED THE SHIT OUT OF THIS, IT REWIRED MY BRAIN, WILL RECOMMEND TO ANYONE AND EVERYONE AT THE SLIGHTEST PROVOCATION (content warning caveats still apply--see 4-star disclaimer). Excellent book, I'll reread it regularly, I'll buy copies for all my friends, I'll try to convince all of Booklr to read it, PLEASE join me!!

[b-plot-butch]

started the dead cat tail assassins yesterday and i LOVE it

[carvingclown]

What can I even say about this one? It's short, it's cool, it's P. Djèlí Clark (honestly that last point should be enough). A tale of crossed timelines, conflicting vows, and the healing power of street food.

[yourfavebooklrsfavebooklr]

New releases of March!

which are you guys most excited for?

[jambearie]

I love having an affectionate cat but also sometimes I just wanna read 😂

[do-not-go-gently-42]

already being a fan of p djeli clark’s work, I had a lot of expectations for The Dead Cat Tail Assassins. “they sent my younger self to the future and hired me to kill her” was not on my bingo card though

[authorkarajorgensen]

10 Books to Add to Your TBR 2024 Edition Part 2

Most years I put out a list of books I greatly enjoyed from the first half of the year some time in June. This year, I decided to do it early because, besides needing a blog for this week, I have read a lot of good books lately, so I’m thinking of making this something I do more than twice a year (and often forget to do in December). The books listed below are not in any order of favoritism, but…

[torpublishinggroup]

This advertisement is for The Dead Cat Tail Assassins, a new novella from Nebula and Alex Award–winning author P. Djèlí Clark, featuring HIGH body count with LOW page count. 

WHAT’S IT ABOUT

Undead hired killers, soul-binding contracts, sharp knives, hidden identities, and sweet, sweet vengeance. This is just a snippet of what’s in store for readers in this action-packed fantasy novella. 

Eveen the Eviscerator is a skilled, powerful assassin who is sarcastic, flippant, full of quips, and with a penchant for dark humor. What’s not to love? She’s also nice with a blade, and one of the best at what she’s contracted to do. 

Ready for magic, monsters, and fantastic beasts? Then The Dead Cat Tail Assassins is your jam. 

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

The Dead Cat Tail Assassins

fast-paced fantasy novella about an undead assassin - with no memory of her life or why she signed up to be resurrected after death

when she’s given a new contract - that she is bound to carry out - she finds an unexpected mark who she doesn’t want to kill

facing connections to a past she’s not supposed to remember, they have to find a way around the contract in one night, facing other assassins, necromancers, gods, and wealthy patriarchs

[rhetoricandlogic]

THE DEAD CAT TAIL ASSASSINS by P. Djèlí Clark

RELEASE DATE: Aug. 6, 2024

n undead assassin seeks to get out of an impossible contract.

If a writer introduces three unbreakable laws (or in this case, vows), it’s because they intend a character to break at least one of them. Eveen is a member of the Dead Cat Tail Assassins; when still alive, she promised her afterlife existence to the goddess Aeril, Matron of Assassins. Resurrected without any memory, she has vowed only to accept just contracts, never kill anyone she’s not contracted for, and always carry out the hit. But on the night of Tal Abisi’s Festival, Eveen runs into a conflict with vow number three: The target appears to be her younger self, Sky, pulled out of time. If she goes through with the contract, Eveen might blink out of existence; if she doesn’t, Aeril will certainly punish her (and anyone connected to her) with a fate worse than death. Someone has clearly targeted Eveen for a nasty piece of revenge, and she’s only got until dawn to find the mastermind and figure out a contract loophole, all while keeping Sky safe and dodging the assassins from her own guild, who intend to carry out the contract and stave off Aeril’s wrath. Like the creations of the Clockwork King, whose defeat is celebrated during the festival, the plot’s gears click along in a somewhat predictable and yet marvelous fashion; even if the reader can figure out where the story is likely to go, the payoff is fun and the journey is full of action and amusing dialogue. Eveen is a delightful character, trying to seize what joy and remnants of her moral compass she can. She’s obviously bothered by not knowing what happened in her mortal life that led her to strike a bargain with Aeril; that concern comes to the fore when she encounters the innocent Sky, who can’t comprehend how she would ever become someone like Eveen. Clark wisely doesn’t answer all our questions on that front. The idea that the relationship between mortals and the divine could be founded on a legal contract rather than faith seems to be a favored concept of more than one fantasy author (most prominently, Max Gladstone), but there’s still juice in that trope.

Well crafted, exciting, darkly comic, and just gory enough.

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

Books of 2025: THE DEAD CAT TAIL ASSASSINS by P. Djèlí Clark.

Tore through this today! It was very fun--I've really enjoyed all of Clark's novella-length work that I've read so far, and this was no exception. Gorgeous descriptions, neat worldbuilding in a little package, and I liked our MC (Eveen) and all of her reckless decisions (which I suppose is allowed if you're a badass undead assassin under contract and on a time crunch).

The jacket/Goodreads blurb captures the ~assassins~ part of this story really well, but I don't think it does justice to the Inherent Weirdness--there's more loadbearing magic going on that is, unfortunately, spoilery, but super cool and mind-bendy and verging on timey-wimey (is that proper usage?? sorry I don't go here).

Overall: fucked up funny weird little story! This definitely startled laughter out of me in spots, and I love that. I had a really fun time, which, per his acknowledgements, is what he set out to write. Mission accomplished, sir!

[b-plot-butch]

PLEASE let baseema and eveen fuck PLEASE let baseema and eveen fuck

[libertyreads]

March TBR--

I'm hoping the month of March goes a little better for me reading wise. I felt like I got a decent amount read in February (while still sticking to my goals for the year) but a lot of it was so mid. I'm ready for any of these books to just grab me by the throat and keep me hooked. I have two rereads in preparation for new releases later this year. I also have two NetGalley ARCs and a hockey romance (because I've read one every month of the year so far, why not keep that going?).

The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah-- This is one of those books you hear about a ton on the bookish spaces of the internet and I decided it was finally time to see what all of the hype is about. In this one, we follow Loulie al-Nazari as she and her jinn bodyguard are forced to help the sultan find an ancient lamp that has the power to revive the barren land. There is a ton more in the synopsis, but like a lot of reviewers these days, I feel like synopses are starting to give too much away. I'm hoping for some City of Brass vibes and lots of adventure.

The Foxglove King by Hannah Whitten (Reread)-- I read this one a year ago and I'm excited to dive back into it before the next book comes out. In this one we follow Lore who escaped from a cult beneath the city of Dellaire over 10 years ago. Lore's job as a runner sustains her, but when a run goes wrong and her power is revealed she's forced to work for the Sainted King to find the person in his court responsible for the deaths of entire villages on the outskirts of the country. Thrust into the Sainted King's glittering court, Lore becomes tangled in politics, religion, and forbidden romance. This was my favorite book of January last year so I'm excited to reread.

The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu-- A first contact with aliens story that's been translated from the original (and set to be released as a Netflix show soon) and follows the outcome of a secret military project that sent signals into space to establish contact with aliens. Will the alien civilization on the brink of destruction be welcomed on Earth or will there be a fight against an invasion?

Teen Titans: Raven by Kami Garcia and Gabriel Picolo (Reread)-- Before the next in the graphic novel series comes out, I plan on doing a quick reread of this one. Number one in this series introduces us to Raven who is forced to move to New Orleans following the accident that takes her foster mother's life. But that accident has also taken her memory. Then strange things start happening. This is a fun series and I'm glad I get the chance to reread it.

No Coincidence by Rafat Kosik-- Translated from the original Polish, this is the first novel in the Cyberpunk 2077 series. Apparently, this series includes collected editions of limited series, standalone graphic novels, and also full length novels. There are four authors who have contributed to it. It is all based on the game Cyberpunk 2077. My understanding is that you can start in a few different places. I hope it's true. Let's talk about the actual book now. This one appealed to me because of the cover. But the synopsis really got me. A misfit group is forced to do a heist thanks to some good, old-fashioned blackmail. The gang includes a veteran turned renegade, a Militech sleeper agent, an amateur net runner, a corporate negotiator, a ripperdoc, and a techie. They must come together to pull off the deadly heist. Also...is this the third book in this TBR about people being forced to work for people above them??

Must Love Hockey by Sarina Bowen (Kindle)-- This short hockey romance follows a woman who has an allergic reaction at a hockey game and is rescued by an equipment manager whose name she doesn't manage to catch. I've read and enjoyed Sarina Bowen before so I'm hoping this is a fun and quick read.

The Dead Cat Tail Assassins by P. Djeli Clark (NetGalley)-- The Dead Cat Tail Assassins are not cats. Nor do they have tails. But they are most assuredly dead. Those sworn to the Matron of Assassins--resurrected, deadly, wiped of their memories--have only three unbreakable vows. First, the contract must be just. Second, even the most powerful assassin may only kill the contracted. Third, once you accept a job, you must carry it out. And if you stray? A final death would be a mercy. Eveen's newest mission brings her face-to-face with a past she isn't supposed to remember and a vow she can't forget.

Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes (NetGalley)-- When I tell you that I was squealing the day I found out I got access to this book, please, do picture it as a cute and dainty squeal instead of the insanity that actually unfolded. I loved Dead Silence from this author so when I saw they had a new space horror novel I HAD to try to get an ARC. Space exploration can be lonely and isolating. Psychologist Dr. Ophelia Bray is assigned to a small exploration crew and she is determined to make a difference. But as they begin establishing residency on an abandoned planet, it becomes clear that the crew is hiding something. Her crewmates are far more interested in investigating the eerie planet and unraveling the mystery behind the previous colonizer's hasty departure than opening up to her. That is, until their pilot is discovered gruesomely murdered. I cannot wait to read this one.

This TBR is giving me such a good feeling. There's Sci-Fi, there's Fantasy, there's Romance, there's Sci-Fi/Horror (a beloved genre pairing for me), there's a graphic novel. I'm just hoping March is such a good reading month. I kind of need it.