The Dead Cat Tail Assassins was a quick-moving novella filled with clever, fleshed-out characters set in a captivating fantastical world.

Eveen is a resurrected assassin - one of the best in Tal Abisi - and serves her guild with skill, discretion, and a bit of humor. Like everyone else brought back from the dead to serve the Matron of Assassins, she has no memory of her past life and has sworn to follow three unbreakable vows.

She’s never had any trouble carrying out her contracts … until her latest mark sparks a memory. Eveen can either do her job or start to untangle the threads of her past, with the risk of losing everything.

Tal Abisi came to life on these pages. It’s a mix of humans, magic, and gods, and I felt incredibly grounded in its streets. The story takes place during a festival weekend, and we get to weave through celebrations and costumes and luxury, but also see what lurks in the corners and undergrounds. There’s both otherworldly magical legends and class structures that feel very close to home. It’s so very lush for just 200 or so pages.

The characters were all great fun. This book is action-packed and often dark, but Eveen’s narration brings a charming levity to the story. She’s funny, a bit immature at times, and is super easy to root for. The secondary characters - fellow assassins, gods, and magicians alike - were all compelling, too.

Through magic and mayhem (and immersive descriptions of food and clothing), Clark tackled some darker and larger themes involving power structures and abuse of marginalized bodies. But he entwines these with playfulness and good ole revenge that keeps it from tipping too far into grimness and despair.

Sometimes the pace did drag a bit awkwardly and the writing was occasionally repetitive, but overall it was wonderful.

CW: murder, death (child), gore, blood, violence, torture, kidnapping

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(I received an advance reader copy of this book; this is my honest review.)