Title: The Black God’s Drums
Author: P. Djèlí Clark
Stars: ★★★★
Like War Cry, this was a novella I got from Tor. Clark’s protagonists are powerful women of African descent. It’s honestly my first afrofuturistic tale. I never even knew the term until Tade Thompson used it, so I’ve got a deep dive into the terminology planned for my next down-time period (we can give credit to the Afrofuturism movement for Black Panther, so…I’m on board).
On one hand, Clark’s style is refreshingly unique. If you enjoy steam punk, you will probably enjoy this book. If you are critical of male authors writing female protagonists, you might have some issues, but as far as I’m concerned, Clark runs middle of the road. He’s not the best. There are certain moments where I question if my dissonance with the character is due to the limitations of my experiences or his.
All in all, a fun race around a unique, steam punk Civil War placed New Orleans with interesting characters and the sort of not-good, not-bad deities who would likely receive the same sort of love as Loki does in the Marvel verse.
Buy Link:
Eli Celata 
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