This is a warm 3-star rating, as opposed to an annoyed or disappointed 3-star rating. There is much to enjoy in this novella: an imaginative take on an alternate-history, steampunk New Orleans; sparky, dialect-infused dialogue; and a fun, propulsive plot. It just ultimately feels a little thin in the end, and while aspects of the first-person voice work, I didn’t always buy it as being as authentic to the character as it could be. Still, I will happily seek out other work by P. Djèli Clark, as h...

This is a bright 3 star rating. Such an immersive read and the narrator for the audiobook is wonderful!

“The name of your ship is Midnight Robber!”She pauses at this. Shrugs. Then says evenly: “It's satire.” This novella was so addicting. I absolutely love the worldbuilding of this book. The Black God’s Drums is set in a post-confederate New Orleans in which the South achieved their goal of armistice. While many cities rebelled, they succeeded in keeping most territories, using slave labor and keeping them confined via a type of poison gas called drapeto. The aesthetic used is perfect, keeping

Upping my rating from 4.5 to 5 stars on further thought. This really is an excellent Tor novella, and my favorite of the novellas nominated for the Nebula this year. Final review, first posted (in a slightly different form) on Fantasy Literature:In an alternative history, magical steampunk version of New Orleans, in 1884 the city is still influenced by the aftermath of the Civil War, which ended in a division of the Union and Confederate states. New Orleans is a pocket of neutrality, one of the

Novella Hugo nom for 2019.Just a question for ya'll: Do you like grinning skulls covering New Orleans? Steampunk treatments of Oya, including airships and an old Haitian god of the wind? Angry urchins just wanting to get away from the streets by any means necessary, but really preferring to ride the wind?Yep, this is for you, then. :)I like the writing and I love the gods treatment and there's even a rescue plot in here that rounds it all out. The focus is definitely on good characterization, th...

ARC provided by Tor in exchange for an honest review. “Because in New Orleans, you can’t survive on just dreams.” The Black God's Drums is an amazing novella that stars a young girl, Jacquelin AKA: Creeper, living in an alternative historical 1884 New Orleans. Oh, and Creeper also has an African orisha, Oya, living inside her and allowing her to tap into their powers. And even though Creeper is loved in New Orleans by so many people who loved her mother before she passed away, Creeper

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Fabuleux. If you have a thing for thieving street orphans  or the power of New Orleans, I highly recommend giving it a read.Creeper is a street orphan in the polyglot city of New Orleans. She loves her city but also has dreams of traveling the world. While she's casing out the passengers arriving by recent airship, her hiding space is usurped by a gang of men. They're talking treason, smuggling someone from Haiti and bringing an awful weapon into the neutral zone that is New Orleans."Les Grand M...

Instagram || Twitter || Facebook || Amazon || PinterestSo real talk: I wasn't sure I'd be given an ARC of this book after committing the cardinal sin of giving CHILDREN OF BLOOD AND BONE a one-star review, especially after said review caused a ton of people to low-key imply that I'm a racist for not liking a book written by a black woman. The blow-back was such that I wondered if maybe I'd been put on a blacklist entitled, "Warning: racist blogger, do not give any ARCs written by PoCs." Luck

This was so much fun, even though a bit too short for my liking. And even if too much of deux ex... femina??? I still liked it a lot. Interesting, colourful and steampunk alternative history with Carribean tastes in New Orleans scenery, what's not to like? Plus - goddesses!Btw, colour me stupid, but somehow I though the author was a lady and I was quite surprised to discover in the afterword his gender. Because his female characters are so well done! (not like there were many important male ones...

Amazing worldThe Black God's Drums by P. Djeli Clark is a fascinating alternative history/world where there is more steampunk but also tribal gods are real. A truly unique world. Wonderful well developed characters that came alive on the pages! The world building was outstanding especially since this was such a short novel. The author put so much into so little space and it turned out great! I will be looking for more books by this author. I got this book from the library.

Absolutely stunning!! The biggest disappointing is that this is a short story and only 111 pages long. While a good little story Black God's Drum really feels more like the introduction to a new larger world that could have many books written it it. From airships, voodoo, southern culture, strong heroines, steampunk influences and more; there is a lot here to love. Alternate HistoryWhile P. Djeli Clark (sorry I don't have accents accessible on this keyboard) doesn't specifically call it out by t...

3.5 stars - I wonder if I had read this novella as my first encounter with the author if I would have liked it even more, but that is of course purely speculation. I did very much enjoy this one, but I do see how the author has grown since this story, as the first half of the novella didn't have the same propulsiveness that his other work has. That said, by the midway point, I was fully hooked and really loved where the story went. The world of this one is, as per usual, super interesting, and I...

The way P. Djèlí Clark reinvents history is bloody shrimping amazing. The worlds he creates are scrumptiously imaginative and imaginatively scrumptious (whatever that means). And SO refreshing. BUT. The problem with this story is that there is way too much world, and not nearly enough story and/or characters. There is so much world to take in that it dwarves everything else. The plot is alright (if lacking in complexity), but it feels like the author just barely scratched the surface. It's the s...

This is a good example of why I am grateful that I have GR friends. Montzalee’s review assured me, “The Black God's Drums by P. Djeli Clark is a fascinating alternative history/world where there is more steampunk but also tribal gods are real.” Carol’s review keyed on, “Creeper…a street orphan (and narrator) in the polyglot city of New Orleans. (Who) ….while…casing out the passengers arriving by recent airship…(hears) a gang of men…talking treason (involving) smuggling someone from Haiti and bri...

Set in an 1884 alt-history-steampunk New Orleans, Phenderson Djèlí Clark tells the story of a 13-year-old street urchin that dreams of becoming a member of an airship crew.In this world Clark - a historian – created, the Reconstruction Era never happened and even though there’s a long standing armistice between the Confederates and the Union, the nation remains divided and the possibility of war starting back up is very real. New Orleans, though, taken by a slave uprising in the first year of th...

Magnificent. Novella set in an alt New Orleans, a free city amid the non-united warring states, with airships, pirates, really weird nuns, and the African and Caribbean gods making a slow return to their free people. Absolutely exceptional world building, language, and atmosphere as a teenage orisha-touched thief has to prevent the Confederates from getting hold of a doomsday weapon. Please tell me there will be a novel, or a series, or a series of novels.

Content Warning: Sexually Explicit, Graphic ViolenceThere is so much rich world building and awesome characters packed into this short novella. Creeper is a orphan who is determined to become a sky pirate. She is also possessed by the African Orisha (Goddess) Oya. In this alternative history of New Orleans, the city is apart of the Union which has split from the Confederacy after the Civil War. New Orleans is a welcoming city where all are welcome and it is surrounded by walls to p

Real Rating: 3.5* of fiveI received this novella from Tor.com for a review.I can't say this was a successful read for me, since A Dead Djinn in Cairo was so very, very satisfying; I'm not really excited by New Orleans, for one thing, and found this tale's supernatural elements closer to possession than I'm excited to read.The fact is I'm just not sure why I can't get jazzed (!) for this one. But not every pitch connects!*transferred from LT* again, no idea why this review was never here

“concealed in my alcove, i can see them all: in every color and shade, in every sort of dress, talking in more languages than i can count, their voices competing with the rattle of dirigible engines and the hum of ship propellers.” welcome to late 1800s new orleans, a multicultural airship port.this lovely novella follows street urchin creeper, who overhears the concoction of a plot to bring a godlike superweapon into new orleans. even worse, the confederates are out there trying to g