Cbr16bingo Rage
This short novel could fit several different bingo squares: tech, because P. Djeli Clark creates steampunk worlds with amazing machines and inventions; bananas, because all kinds of wild stuff happens in this story. But I have decided to go with Rage because much of what drives the action is rooted in the rage of an anonymous entity intent on murder and the rage of a goddess named Aeril, Matron of Assassins and big-time foodie. This is a bloody, action-packed and immensely entertaining story of an undead assassin and the dilemma she faces while on the job. The action takes place in the course of one night, but it is a wild Festival night with revelers and assassins on the loose.
Eveen is a member of the goddess Aeril’s assassins’ guild, known as The Dead Cat Tail Assassins, in a lively port city called Tal Abisi. Assassins made a deal with Aeril while they were alive to become indentured undead assassins for 100 years after their death. These undead have no memories of their past life and generally are resurrected long enough after death that anyone who would have known them is long gone. When the story opens, it’s the final night of a multi-day event known as the Festival of the Clockwork King, the Princess Pirate and the Golden Bounty, an event that is similar to Mardi Gras/Carnival celebrations with plenty of eating, drinking, carousing, and sex. The Festival is rooted in the town’s history, and the story, which is told later in this novel, explains why there is such a dangerous concentration of magic in one abandoned part of town (naturally, our characters are going to end up there eventually). At any rate, on this final night of the festival, Eveen gets a job from her handler Fennis to “ship” or kill the person named in the contract. Eveen is an experienced assassin and has earned the nickname “the eviscerator,” so we know that killing folks does not bother her. In order to understand the rest of the story, it is important to know the rules of the guild, rules that the goddess herself might enforce in a most deadly way if she feels like it. Here are the top three rules of the assassins’ guild:
- The contract is just; those whose lives are to be taken have it coming.
- The assassin may only kill the person named in the contract.
- If the assassin accepts the contract, he/she must carry out the job or risk the wrath of guild boss Baseema and the goddess Aeril herself.
When Eveen finds the subject of her contract, something unheard of occurs: Eveen has a memory. As a result, rather than kill the young woman called Sky, she takes her to safety and has to figure out what to do next. Fennis is freaking out but tries to help Eveen figure out how to manage this situation which could lead to the destruction not just of Sky and Eveen but of the entire assassins guild. Guild boss Baseema meanwhile, while not unsympathetic to Eveen’s plight, is more concerned about her guild. Thus, she unleashes all the other assassins against Eveen. Eveen and her friends have until daybreak to figure their way out of this untenable situation.
This is a fun, non-stop-action kind of story and I loved it (as I have also loved Clark’s other stories) but it is definitely not for the squeamish. There’s a lot of blood and violence. This story has a pretty great resolution, and I hope The Dead Cat Tail Assassins will be the start of a series.
