Ring Shout, by P. Djèlí Clark

[sophia_sol]

This is a very good book which I'm glad exists in the world, and which I'm glad I read, but which I also.....don't really love. Look, it's just not really my kind of thing, a story about a prophesied champion with a magic sword fighting against beings of pure evil.

Did the author do really great things with that basic premise? Absolutely! Interesting themes well integrated into the narrative, good character building and place-setting, and a narrative drive. And not the kind of setting or characters who often get to be sword-wielding champions of prophecy in fantasy books! (It's about a black woman and her various compatriots fighting against eldritch abominations in the Ku Klux Klan a century ago.) This book is truly excellent at being the book it is, and I applaud it and recommend it.

But....*shrugs* I liked his previous books a lot more. I will definitely continue to be looking out for Clark's next book though, because his writing is always worth the read!

Comments

[skygiants]

Yeah, he was clearly having a lot of fun with it and I enjoyed watching him have fun, but the tropes he's hitting in his other stuff are just a lot more up my alley than this one in particular.

[sophia_sol]

Yes exactly!

[lirazel]

This book is truly excellent at being the book it is, and I applaud it and recommend it.

There's something really cool about finding a book that doesn't work for you because of your particular interests but that you know is a really solid example of something you're just not into. I'm going to read this one because I'm so impressed with Clark, but I kind of suspect I might feel the same way about it that you do.

[sophia_sol]

There's something really cool about finding a book that doesn't work for you because of your particular interests but that you know is a really solid example of something you're just not into.

Yeah! And it's also a helpful exercise in reminding myself that my taste is not universal :P

[chestnut_pod]

You know, this review has actually swayed me further towards reading this one, because I saw the cover and the marketing and thought, "Oh god, I don't know if I'm up for Rivers Solomon-level raw despair ambience right now," but if it's playing around with these kinds of tropes, maybe it's a bit less like that.

[sophia_sol]

Oh yeah, no, it's NOTHING like Rivers Solomon! No raw despair. There's hard and crummy things that happen but the overall attitude is "LET'S DO THIS!!"

[lokifan]

Yeah, by the sounds of it I'd have the same "good book to exist, but I'm not its reader" reaction.

[sophia_sol]

Yeah, not every book is for everyone!