The Black God’s Drums — P. Djèlí Clark

27 December 202126 September 2024 By 5t4n5

The Black God's Drums -- P. Djèlí Clark Take some super good fantasy with a good African/Caribbean flavour, season with a nice hint of steampunk, and bake slowly for a few of hours in an althist New Orleans: what more can you ever want from a book?

This good length novella is from around the same time as Djèlí was writing the Dead Djinn series, and with all of these stories you really pick up on the time in Djèlí’s writing that he begins to introduce steampunk elements into his unique and wonderful style of fantasy.

A really well written, really enjoyable read.

For my next P. Djèlí Clark story, i’m going back in time. I managed to track down some earlier stories of his that i missed: gotta read them all. First up of those will be The Things My Mother Left Me.

Djèlí’s Page

#fantasy #steampunk #pdjeliclark

The Fall of Babel — Josiah Bancroft

27 November 202115 September 2024 By 5t4n5

The Fall of Babel -- Josiah Bancroft

Josiah’s Page

#steampunk #josiahbancroft

A Master of Djinn — P. Djèlí Clark

25 September 20219 August 2024 By 5t4n5

A Master of Djinn -- P. Djèlí Clark The fourth book in the Dead Djinn Universe and carrying straight on from where The Haunting of Tram Car 015 left off, with all our favourite characters involved, this really is some great writing.

This trilogy has been my first taste of Djèlí’s writing and i’m very impressed. His imagination is excellent and his ability to put that imagination into words for all us avid readers is simply marvellous. I’m certainly going to be reading more of his work in the future: i’m hooked.

All in all, a wonderful blend of steampunk, fantasy and folklore all thrown into an alternative history in Cairo with lots of shenanigans mixed will in. And it’s great to have main protagonists who are strong women, from different religions, who also happen to be in a same sex relationship.

P. Djèlí Clark’s Page

#fantasy #steampunk #lgbtq #pdjeliclark

A Dead Djinn in Cairo — P. Djèlí Clark

12 September 20216 August 2024 By 5t4n5

A Dead Djinn in Cairo -- P. Djèlí Clark The first book in the Dead Djinn Universe, and what a good start it was. While it’s only a short story, 36 pages, it’s a very good short story and is packed with great hints as to what the rest of the series is going to be like in this alternative fantasy/steampunk Cairo.

The title gives the beginning away in that a Dead Djinn is found in Cairo by its lover. A special investigator from the “Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments, and Supernatural Entities” is brought in with a police inspector to investigate and then it’s just non stop until the end.

Then once you’re at the end of this i can’t imagine that any reader wouldn’t want to dive straight into The Angel of Khan el-Khalili, which is the next book in the series.

Great writing, great characters and just plain good stuff for those who like their fantasy mixed up with steampunk elements.