Reviews with content warning for Blood - Los tambores del dios negro

Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Los tambores del dios negro by P. Djèlí Clark

8 reviews

tangleroot_eli's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

A rollicking Civil War alt-hist steampunk adventure that could've been about 20 pages longer. Or 200. I'm not fussy. Leaves me very excited to explore Clark's other works.

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takarakei's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I love P. Djèlí Clark's ability to weave history into fantasy. I love to learn little bits of history while reading the immersive lush settings Clark is able to create in such short novellas.

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thecriticalreader's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

Context:

This is the second book by P. Djèlí Clark that I have read. Last year, I read his novel A Master of Djinn and thought it was decent, but I didn’t like it as much as I hoped. I picked up The Black God’s Drums because I wanted to give his writing another chance.

Review:

The Black God’s Drums by P. Djèlí Clark is an adventurous, deeply imaginative novella set in an alternate-history steampunk New Orleans. One thing I loved about A Master of Djinn was its worldbuilding, and Clark once again proves his strength in this area with The Black God’s Drums. I adore how he constructs a believable alternate history of the United States and New Orleans for this story, as well as how he incorporates historical and African spiritual elements into the narrative. Besides the fantastic worldbuilding, this novella features a quirky and diverse cast of characters and an exciting adventure. The only thing keeping me from rating from this book higher is its length; although it tells a contained and well-paced story within its 112 pages, I don’t think it will stick in my memory much. I would love to see Clark write another book within this universe!

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mengzhenreads's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

This would’ve made an epic movie

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peachmoni's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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steffiraquel's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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lipstickitotheman's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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bluejayreads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

This book is short, easy to read, and very, very good.

It's also a hard book to write a review about because you start off knowing very little and the story unfolds as you go along. It starts off with Creeper overhearing some information about some scientist and a weapon that everybody seems to want, and deciding to trade that information to Captain Ann-Marie in exchange for a place on her airship.

Oh, and Oya has given Creeper a vision that probably means something bad is going to happen to New Orleans.

I really don't want to say any more than that because what exactly is happening gets unfolded throughout the story. Creeper and Ann-Marie are both interesting and distinct characters, and so is Oya even though she's kinda doing her own thing in Creeper's head, and the side characters are surprisingly good too for as little page time as they get.

I also want to talk about the world for a second, because I love it. It's an alternate history, slightly steampunk-y version of New Orleans where the American Civil War ended in a complicated peace treaty where the South kept their slaves and subdued them with a mind-altering gas to keep them from running away, but New Orleans became a neutral area where everyone was free because it's a major port city for airships coming between the North, the South, and the Haitian Free Isles and other Caribbean nations. It's an interesting idea and I really want more books in this world because I want to explore it more.

The only real criticism I have of the book is the ending, which built up some really dramatic tension and then skipped over the actual culmination by jumping to the next morning with an "I don't remember much of what happened last night" and you're just expected to accept that the day was saved without actually knowing how it happened. I guess you're just supposed to accept that Oya's goddess magic did it? Personally, I wanted to know how Creeper fixed that entire disaster.

But despite that, it was an enjoyable read. I hesitate to call it "fun" because it is fairly dark (lots of death, discussions of slavery), but it's a quick read and I'm very glad I picked it up.

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