P. Djèlí Clark’s new novel “The Dead Cat Tail Assassins” begins with an interesting dilemma. Eveen the Eviscerator, an undead hitman working for the titular guild, is divinely contracted to kill a younger version of herself. Is the assassin coldhearted enough to snuff out her only chance at remembering her past? And what are the consequences for refusing to do so? This simple premise propels readers across the colorful port city of Tal Abisi as Eveen races against the clock to discover the answers she is seeking and escape her guild’s leg breakers.
If you’re hungry for a high-fantasy beach read, this might be it. Clark’s story wastes no time — every chapter pushes the action forward, introducing new threats and ending with well-planned cliffhangers. Tal Abisi is also an endlessly creative backdrop for an adventure. Clark seamlessly blends inspiration from Swahili city-states, Renaissance Venice and Angkor Wat to create a bustling, popping landscape. The reader can smell danger lurking through every page. The Festival of the Clockwork King is a particularly strong element, further energizing the city and adding a ticking clock to the story — once the festival is over, Eveen is toast. Its key role in the book’s conclusion ties a gratifying bow around the worldbuilding.
But beyond the adventure, there’s not much to attract readers. The most obvious issue is the juvenile prose — like when Eveen calls a group of hedge wizards “neckbeards,” or when the goddess of knives drops the term “mansplaining” during the book’s conclusion. Such dialogue robs Clark’s world of its creativity and shatters immersion. This corniness could possibly be excused in a kid’s novel, but the constant profanity indicates an older target audience.
The style isn’t the only issue either — the writing is painfully transparent, with characters always saying exactly what they’re thinking. Eveen, tormented by her amnesia and the existential horrors of undeath, presents an obvious opportunity for emotional depth. A few scenes between Eveen and her younger self gesture toward this wellspring but never dive deeper than establishing its existence. Other characters fare no better. Eveen’s handler Fennis is almost entirely defined through his portly figure and exotic appetite. This quirk-based approach to characterization mixed with the shoddy prose leaves readers with a third rate R-rated Rick Riordan novel.
Elsewhere, Clark has proven he’s a talented storyteller. In his previous short story “The Angel of Khan el-Khalili,” he imagines a Cairo filled with djinn who sell pastries, “armored eunuchs” and alchemy. One girl’s journey to request a miracle from a mechanical angel becomes a gut-wrenching exploration of sin, forgiveness, industrialization and class conflict. Here, the emotional core of the story and its fantastical world are interwoven. In contrast, “The Dead Cat Tail Assassins,” with its shiny setting and lackluster characters, resembles a beer and pretzels game of D&D. Eveen and the cast feel like high schoolers lazily roleplaying as assassins. Nothing quite comes alive.
Daily Arts Contributor Awmeo Azad can be reached at awmeo@umich.edu.