Eveen the Eviscerator is skilled, discreet, professional, and here for your most pressing needs in the ancient city of Tal Abisi. Her guild is strong, her blades are sharp, and her rules are simple. Those sworn to the Matron of Assassins—resurrected, deadly, wiped of their memories—have only three unbreakable vows.
First, the contract must be just. That’s above Eveen’s pay grade.
Second, even the most powerful assassin may only kill the contracted. Eveen’s a professional. She’s never missed her mark.
The third and the simplest: once you accept a job, you must carry it out. And if you stray? A final death would be a mercy. When the Festival of the Clockwork King turns the city upside down, Eveen’s newest mission brings her face-to-face with a past she isn’t supposed to remember and a vow she can’t forget.
Thanks to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the review copy. All opinions are mine.
At this point in the review, I haven’t even finished reading it, and yet I already know I love it. Here’s why: kick butt female main character, Eveen. There truly isn’t anything wrong with her character, Well except maybe that she kills people. But besides that small detail, I love her.
Eveen wagged a finger. “That’s solid literature! Asheel hunts maniacs—even though he’s a maniac! A maniac who hunts other maniacs? Genius! And Terrors of the Demon Lands is reputedly an eyewitness account.”
Fennis regarded her skeptically.
Isn’t this like a lot of anime plots, lol? And speaking of loling, I literally did that a few times, and again I’m not even 60% into this book.
Also, I just really enjoy books where the main characters are above the age of thirty, or just doesn’t put an age on the characters, either way just another reason Eveen needs to be in more stories. Please, write more stories with her in it.
Then there’s everyone else in the story. Fennis and Ennis are adorable, and I would want them on my side. Baseema, another kick butt woman, whom I would not want to cross. Sky is super smart, strong, and capable. The quads were funny and scary. The Banari made me chuckle. Really having a hard time here to think of one bad thing. I guess, let me finish reading the story.
Another thing is the world building is absolutely beautiful. I felt like I was there. The festival sounded neat, and I got Guild Wars vibes from it. The Clockwork King, the Pirate Princess, and the Golden Bounty, magic called shimmer, laboratories with machines to see auras! Speaking of laboratories, that brings me back to this part:
“You’ve used this before, then?” the girl asked.
“On myself, yes. And cats. Regrettably, they won’t let me experiment on students.”
“You shared your aura with a cat?” Eveen asked, half-expecting the man to lick himself.
“Yes. Remarkable creatures. Half in this world and half . . . who knows.”
“What is it cats are thinking about?” the girl asked.
Ennis shrugged. “Mostly fancy themselves predators who hunt and eat us. Delusions of grandeur. Anyway, the principle here should be the same.
LOL
I found this while looking up the author:
But much of his beloved sci-fi and fantasy fiction didn’t pass, or barely passed, his mother’s litmus test: It lacked Black and Latino characters, women, and LGBTQ people at the center of the stories.
Gabriel had from a young age written fiction as a hobby, loving the idea of world-building, of dystopias, of a kernel of history spinning out into a new alternative reality. And the absence of people like him in those stories colored his writing from day one.
“I felt a need for more diverse tales with more diverse characters drawn from more diverse sources,” he says. Link
This story doesn’t lack. I mean, if I finish this book and all the characters are killed off in insane manners, I might still give this at least three stars. Even while being incredibly saddened and disappointed, because I rarely start writing reviews in the middle of books.
Ok. I am back from finishing this story. I loved it. I love novella’s because they are short, and I really wouldn’t want to add anymore to this particular story. However, I want to read more stories involving all of them. Most of all, I want more stories with and about Eveen. I started a book that was kind of close to this one in terms of smart, but also kind of goofy leading lady main characters, and had to stop reading it. It wasn’t Eveen, it was similar, but not close enough, because it wasn’t Mr. Clark’s writing. No hate to that other novel, though, I’ll try again later on.
Anyway, I don’t have anything else to say, and so, this concludes the love letter to this book.
Please write more about Eveen, pretty please?
Published by: Tor Publishing Group
Pub Date: 06 Aug 2024
Genre: Novellas & Short Stories | Sci Fi & Fantasy
Pages: 208
Date Read: 14 Mar 2024
Rating: ★★★★★