Thirteen-year-old Creeper was born in the middle of a New Orleans storm; perhaps that was why the Afrikan goddess of the winds, Oya, took such a shine to her. For
all the girl's life, Oya has been with her, though only a fool would consider such a powerful force a true friend. She has her own mind, Oya, and sometimes the visions
she sends are too powerful for Creeper to handle - but goddesses will not be ignored.
While prowling the airship landings for pockets to pick and purses to snatch, Creeper comes across a group of Confederate soldiers looking to buy a devastating weapon
from a Haitian scientist: the Black God's Drums, the force that destroyed Napoleon's forces and won Haiti's freedom, at the cost of hundred of Haitian lives when the
unnaturally powerful storm it unleashed turned back on the land. Even today, echoes of it haunt the Gulf regions, black storms that threaten even as far away as New
Orleans. With a weapon like this, the South could end its long stalemate with the North, and would likely reclaim the neutral city of New Orleans while it's at it.
Creeper planned to bargain with this information for passage aboard an airship out of the city - but fate has other plans for her, as do the old Afrikan deities.
Review
The Black God's Drums has roots running deep into the multicultural history of New Orleans, through local magic and religions, clear back to Africa. Clark
creates a colorful setting in an alternate Earth where the Civil War ended in a stalemate (the South now drugging its slaves to prevent escape), the Caribbean Islands
won freedom via weaponry tinged with old magic, and New Orleans broke bonds with the rest of the nation, not to mention where airships rule the skies and old gods walk
the land in unusual guises. Creeper's a clever and gutsy main character, narrating the tale in colloquial dialect that only occasionally tripped me up. Her reluctant
companion and protector, the Free Isles airship captain Anne-Marie, has her own goddess (Oshun of the waters, sister goddess to Oya), though she's spent her life
pushing the force away instead of accepting it as Creeper has. As for Oya, she's never quite human, nor does she speak in words, but she is nevertheless a very present
character and shaper of events, as much a force of nature as anything else. It's a nicely original milieu, featuring a diverse and unique cast, though it seems a little
short in some ways; I'm not necessarily sure it needs a sequel, for all that I'd read more in this world, but something feels like it wants to lead into a longer work.
In any event, I enjoyed this visit to a New Orleans that never was.
In a 1912 Egypt where old magic has returned and beings like djinns and self-proclaimed angels mingle with the mortal populace, the Ministry of Alchemy,
Enchantments and Supernatural Entities is a vital resource, helping keep the peace when crimes cross the line from mundane to supernatural... but even Agent
Fatma el-Sha’arawi, no neophyte to her badge, is daunted by what she uncovers while investigating a djinn's apparent suicide. Strange glyphs at the crime
scene hint at ritual sacrifice, and the presence of an artificial feather ominously points to one of the entities who call themselves angels. Soon, it's
apparent the case is far bigger - and more dangerous - than any she's encountered before.
Review
I actually think I would've enjoyed this novella better had I read it before A Master of Djinn, Clark's novel-length debut. This is where the
author first introduces both the universe and the distinctive character of Fatma, with a few descriptors being copied almost verbatim in the novel. The
latter, however, goes into much greater depth, and has (for lack of a better word) a polish to it that makes this entry, fine and interesting as it is,
look a bit tarnished by comparison. It's a solid, decent tale in its own right, but A Master of Djinn covers much of the same material and more,
making reading this after the novel feel redundant, save filling in a bit of backstory on how Fatma encountered a few characters. As an introduction,
though, A Dead Djinn in Cairo and its companion novella (The Haunting of Tram Car 015, which is less rehashed in the novel) are still
good stories in a world that has enormous potential.
1912 Cairo is a far cry from the days of the pharaohs, but - thanks to the return of the djinn and other magical beings and the innovative constructions
they brought - it is still one of the grandest metropolises in the world. Still, even modern cities have their problems, especially ones where the
infrastructure relies as much on magic as on technology, which is where the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities comes in.
Agent Hamad Nasr and his eager new assistant, Agent Onsi Youssef (who was educated in distant, backwards Oxford, but still shows some promise), never know
what each new day will bring, but even they were surprised to be summoned to a haunted tram car. Car 015 has picked up a malevolent supernatural passenger,
one that has entwined itself in the magical “brain” of the autonomous vehicle and refuses to leave... something far more dangerous than a stray djinn or
spirit.
Review
I got this as a free ebook download from Tor.com (the source of many quality free ebook downloads), and didn’t realize it was technically the second
title written in its setting. In this instance, it doesn’t matter, as it works fine on its own. Clark creates an imaginative, intricate, and fascinating
setting in his turn-of-the-century Cairo enhanced by both magic and steampunk elements, the two being deeply intertwined. It’s also a melting pot of human
cultures and religions, as well as new ideas like women’s rights and tolerance of worship, a truly cosmopolitan locale that feels both fantastic and real.
The characters inhabiting the world likewise are interesting, avoiding flat or obvious stereotypes and becoming rounded individuals with personalities and
histories and blind spots. As for the plot, it moves fairly well, and while there’s a somewhat light and humorous overtone, it doesn’t shy away from the more
terrifying aspects of hauntings. It reads fairly fast, being a novella, and makes the reader (or at least this reader) eager for more adventures in this
alternate world. (And, yes, I'll be adding the first title in this setting to the Kindle queue.)
1912 Cairo is a thriving metropolis, where ancient traditions meet new technology - and returned magic. Ever since the mysterious sage al-Jahiz tapped
the otherworldly domain of lost powers, djinns and other magical beings have flowed into the world, bringing strange new powers and devices... and, of
course, dangers. Agent Fatma el-Sha’arawi, one of a handful of women field agents in Egypt's Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities,
has had more than her share of danger already, but Cairo never sleeps, and neither do its criminals, human or otherwise.
When an eccentric English tycoon, head of a crackpot cult dedicated to al-Jahiz, is found burned alive with the rest of his cult companions, the only
remaining witnesses point the finger at a stranger garbed in black with a shifting golden mask: a figure who claims to be the lost mystic al-Jahiz,
returned. Neither Fatma nor her rookie partner Hadia believe it - but the man has uncanny abilities, a supernatural guardian, and even appears to have
tamed an untameable fiery Ifrit. As rumors and riots spread, Cairo stands on the brink of disaster... and if Fatma fails to unmask the imposter and his
scheme, the whole world might fall to the self-proclaimed Master of Djinn.
Review
I have read one of Clark's two novellas set in this alternate history, The Haunting of Tram Car 015, and enjoyed it so much I grabbed this
title before I'd even gotten around to reading the other one, A Dead Djinn in Cairo. In retropspect, I should have reversed that order; while the
novella I read introduced me to the world and one of the Ministry's dedicated agents, A Dead Djinn in Cairo introduces the singular Fatma, one of
those characters who just leaps to life from the page in her fine Western-style suits and bowler hats, as she deals with a crime that forms a key part of
this book's backstory. However, it is not at all necessary to have read either novella to enjoy this book; Clark does an excellent job backfilling
information from the novellas as needed (if with potential spoilers).
The alternate Cairo leaps to life as a vibrant, dynamic, and diverse city, one where the promise of progress and equality constantly jostles with holdover
prejudices and superstitions, exacerbated rather than soothed by the return of powers and beings once relegated to old poems and stories. The djinn are
fantastical and wildly magical, but ultimately just people, prone to the same personality faults and vices and prejudices as any mere human. There are also
wonderful mind's-eye-candy details, like "boilerplate eunuch" brass robot servants and automated vehicles and even new twists on old architectural styles -
and even mundane touches, such as a thriving proto-jazz scene made of expatriate American musicians fleeing Jim Crow's killing grasp, that add richness and
texture. Through this amazing setting wends a collection of distinctive characters pursuing a tantalizingly twisted mystery and a dangerous, devious villain
who exploits the city's underlying inequalities and unrest for their own gains. Glimpses of a wider world where magic has returned and either been rejected
or embraced are offered via an attempt at a peace conference to head off what would be this world's Great War. The whole creates a great story, as Fatma
chases leads, survives risky scrapes, runs into numerous dead ends and setbacks, and ultimately arrives at a final confrontation with the fate of the city
at stake. I couldn't help thinking that, in the right hands, it would make an absolutely wonderful streaming series; the world and the characters could
easily carry more adventures, and the visuals would be amazing.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I really need to get back to my kindle to read the novella I skipped, while I wait for future installments of Fatma and the
Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities.
America has always been the land of opportunity... but that opportunity was built upon the backs of generations of slaves. For all the bright lights
the country brought to the world, with democracy and innovation, it hides numerous dark shadows in its racism and prejudices... as well as shadows of a
different sort, demons unleashed by sorcery at the height of the Civil War, along with as haint spirits and magical traditions of many lands. Few know
that better than Maryse. As a teen, she saw her family murdered by men in white robes - and things that were not men at all, but monsters wearing human
skin. She and other colored folk with the Sight hunt down the Ku Kluxes, demonic entities that spread like parasites into souls weakened by hate-filled
hearts, but nobody else has the weapon she does: a mystic sword gifted to her by foxlike haints that channels generations of anger and injustice and the
powers of long-lost gods. Among other demon hunters like sharpshooter Sadie and Chef, demolitions expert and veteran haunted by the Great War in Europe,
along with numerous others, Maryse has found a new family - but this one, too, stands threatened. The Ku Kluxes are changing, becoming more clever and
more numerous, just as a new monster comes to their Georgia town. The demons, it turns out, were only ever the advance scouts. The true monster is about
to arrive... and, in the coming battle, Maryse faces a choice and a temptation that might doom herself, her friends, and the whole world.
Review
This award-nominated novella dives head-first into the skeletons piled in America's closet, bones of slavery and racism and hate that continue to
haunt our country and threaten its future, with heavy shades of old folk tales and magical and spiritual traditions with roots stretching back to the
shores of Africa. As I've come to expect from Clark, the story paints a vivid picture of history, one that doesn't whitewash the shadows away but which
also doesn't feel too modern (as some historical fiction works can, projecting modern attitudes and sensibilities onto the past). Jim Crow rules in full
force and klansfolk rally openly and proudly, and while the civil rights movement as an organized national phenomenon is some decades off, not everyone
quietly accepts the status quo. The horror elements are a natural addition, evil given tangible and terrifying form in the Ku Kluxes and the
nightmare-inducing butcher who is both their master and the servant of another, even greater emanation. Maryse struggles to navigate a world that melds
demonic threats and various stripes of magic with everyday racism, with various ventures to the side of reality into the realms of haint spirits... all
of whom have their own agendas and who cannot ever be taken at face value, even the friendlier ones. The tale dances deftly between light moments and
banter and deadly serious battles, between realistic depictions of the 1920's Deep South and the supernatural realms of ghosts and spirits, between hints
of hope and crushing fear and despair, all with threads of sometimes-gruesome horror. It all builds to a powerful and harrowing finale where Maryse must
decide where she stands and what future she wants, not just for herself but for America and the world. The audiobook presentation almost lost a half-star
for how the narrator's voice could drop into deep murmurs or rise into high keens or fade into breathy whispers, which were nice effects but not ideal
when one is listening in a warehouse environment (as I tend to). That issue aside, though, I thoroughly enjoyed this work from an author who is quickly
becoming one of my favorite new genre voices.
