I kept seeing Ring Shout on those "Book you HAVE to read in 2020" lists, so obviously, I had to read it. And I'm so glad I did! This little book was so much fun, so timely, and so very well written.

The writing! Absolutely fantastic. Within just a few words my attention was completely captured. P. Djèlí Clark really gave voice to these characters, to this world. It was different from anything I've ever read before, and was done so well.

The characters were wonderful. Maryse is a perfect lead, and while it is her story, everyone around her felt like they had their own stories as well. None of the side characters ever just felt like a prop. For this book, that's less than two hundred pages, to pull that off so spectacularly when I've read enormous tomes that couldn't ever do it right... that alone speaks to the high quality of the writing here.

Ring Shout is much shorter than most books I read, so I knew I'd get through it pretty fast. But I read this one even faster than I ever expected because the pacing is just so good. There's so much action, truly high stakes, and it all just moves moves moves all the way to the end. I was gripped from the first page, and this book didn't let go of me until I'd finished it.

If you're looking for a fast read, or maybe something different to mix things up, Ring Shout is the perfect book for that. It's diverse, and gets across some really important messages. It's fun and fast and exciting. It's a book that's going to stick in my head for a really long time.

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This review will go live on NovelKnight on 9/22/20.

I have been a P Djeli Clark fan since I discovered his work, and I was very excited to see this title become available for advance review. It has, without a doubt, one of the most memorable book covers I have seen in a long time.

I'm not spoiling anything by saying the subtitle, which is Hunting Ku Kluxes in the End Times, which paints a clear picture. What I will say is that the voice and point of view herein are so evocative, grabbing your attention from the beginning and not letting go. Scattered throughout, the author has included transliterations from former slaves from the Gullah language of South Carolina, which I also found interesting.

Set in Georgia, "...this Klan we got in 1922, not concerned with hiding." The protagonist says they hunt monsters and knows them when they sees one, and the action kicks off at, what else, a 4th of July parade. I think Jordan Peele, HBO, and other companies should both take note, because this book screams to be a necessary film or television adaptation.

It is a prescient book, more necessary than ever, #ownvoices, so important, so timely, and I don't know what more I can say other than buy it now and read it now.

Like Lovecraft Country, Ring Shout combines eldritch horror with racism, and it turns out the hate behind racism is the real horror.

Maryse is a sword-wielding black woman who hunts Klu Kluxes, the nightmare creatures that form from Klan members filled with too much hate. She's accompanied by Chef, a munitions-wielding WWI vet, and Sadie, a young woman who is a deadly shot with a rifle. When the group finds out that there's going to be a special showing of DW Griffith's infamous Birth of a Nation, they realize something even worse than normal Klu Kluxes is coming.

I love how a common trope— a sword-wielding young person with a dark past— is transformed in this uniquely American setting to say so much about our past and present. Rather than getting bogged down in pure spectacle, Ring Shout centers on a message about the destructivepower of hate. Further, Clark's background as an academic specializing in slavery and emancipation shows in myriad touches throughout the book, like the references to Marcus Garvey, Night Doctors, Tulsa, and many more.

First of all, this is a fun and exciting book to read; it's well-plotted and well-written, with interesting characters and plenty of action. At its core, the story is a version of the archetypal Hero narrative - a person is chosen, comes to term with and grows into their power, and faces large evil forces. In this case, however, the Hero is a young Black girl in 1920's Georgia during the second wave of the Ku Klux Klan, the Teachers are matriarchs of one sort or another, the "Brotherhood" is actually a sisterhood, and the monsters are the KKK. There is even a "damsel" in distress who has to be saved - the Hero's boyfriend .

The book fits somewhere on a spectrum with Colson Whitehead's and Ta Nehisi Coates' recent works, recasting Black American history with elements of the magical and fantastic. In Clark's case, the fantastic mixes together Lovecraft, African mythology, and African American Christianity.

The ending leaves open the option for additional adventures, and that would be fine with me.

Ring Shout is, to give the elevator pitch, a historic fantasy about lady bootleggers fighting the KKK, with a hearty dose of cosmic horror. But it’s so much more than that.
It’s about rage, and hurt, and justice. It’s about fighting for what’s right even when it’s hard. It’s a colossal EFF YOU to the racist origins of the cosmic horror, and it’s one of the best books that I’ve read all year.

D.W. Griffith and his KKK cronies are sorcerors, who have used Birth of A Nation to cast a spell of hate across America. And hate is a powerful thing.
But Maryse Boudreux has a magic sword, a mouthy sharpshooter, and a Harlem Hellfighter by her side and they are not going down without a fight. Maryse and her friends must fight demons - literal and figurative - to stop the KKK from raising hell on Earth.

Clark toes the line between fantasy and reality remarkably well. I was concerned, in the beginning, that atrocities would be blamed on monsters (thus removing the onus from the all-too-human monsters that continue to stir hate to this day) but Clark shines just as harsh a light on the cruelty of men and the horrors that we create here on Earth. It’s grim, and at times horrible, but it’s a painful reminder of how much we need to continue to do.

Readers, you know I love thorough research, and the paragraphs included regarding the origins of the Gullah ring shouts referenced in the book just had me over the moon - details like these in just MAKE a good historic novel (fantasy or otherwise for me.

5 stars just aren’t enough for this book. Clark’s writing is superb - his characters fresh, unapologetic and loveable (or, in the case of Butcher Clyde and his cronies, deeply hateable), noble and deeply human. It packs a serious emotional punch - it has the sort of battlescenes that make you want to stand up and applaud after reading, and the kind of reunions that bring you to tears.

I’ve pretty much had Clark on my “must-read” list since I picked up The Black God’s Drums, but I was less sure about reading this one. I wasn’t sure about the idea of the Ku Klux Klan being literal monsters: it seemed a bit unsubtle? And I don’t know much about the Ku Klux Klan beyond the very basics, and I just don’t have that deeply American background where they’re a part of my story. That said, I’m gathering that a lot of (white) Americans don’t either, and I don’t normally let a lack of context stop me! Just I’m not always sure what’s really clever and what actually happened, when books blend reality and fantasy like this, and I was worried it’d matter particularly with a book like this, grounded in the pain of Black people and the real horror of history.

I’ll admit, I’m still not entirely sure the literal monsters worked for me. I stayed a bit too conscious of how apropos it is, almost to being a cliché… But laying that aside, it was a quick read, albeit a challenging one: trying to parse the Gullah dialogue kept me busy, especially since I’m not actually good at sounding out what I read, and the dialogue sometimes gave me pause at first. I think it’s probably a good thing I read it in one go, because it gave me a chance to get into the swing of the dialect!

The horror is genuinely horrifying, and I quickly got fond of Maryse and (mostly) Chef. I can’t say any of the twists of the story really surprised me, but they unfolded in such a way that they felt like the only natural way for things to go — not that they felt forced, but that it all flowed from one decision to another. I loved the quoted bits about ring shouts, which illuminated the story and gave me the background I needed… while teaching me a bit of history that I didn’t know about at all.

I can’t say I liked it as much as The Black God’s Drums, but it might stick with me more in terms of the story and images (there’s some really gory bits). I’m not quite sure how to rate it, being honest: my first instinct is three stars, but other aspects (including a worry that I just don’t “get it”) make me want to bump it up… and reading other people’s reviews and what they pick out (particularly the use of folklore, including the shouts) I think that’s more than fair. I’m just a wuss and still cringing at some of those descriptions!

This book is off the scale magnificent. It’s taken me about ten weeks to feel ready to even try and talk about how much it blew me away, and even now I can feel myself getting overwhelmed by the prospect of trying to do it justice. RING SHOUT tells the story of Maryse Boudreaux, a young black woman who runs bootleg whiskey through prohibition Georgia with her pals Sadie and Chef, respectively a foul-mouthed sharpshooter and veteran WWI Harlem Hellfighter. Oh, and she also fights evil monsters called ‘Ku Kluxes’ with a magic sword that she summons from another dimension. Now if you’re anything like me that right there is enough for you to abandon this review right away to go buy a copy of this book (you should totally do that by the way – every second you’re reading this review is another second you’re not reading RING SHOUT) but there’s so much more to talk about and I need to release the pressure valve cos I feel like my chest has been about to explode with adoration ever since I closed that final page.


Okay okay okay, I can feel myself getting over-excited and this has the potential to become an incoherent stream-of-consciousness squee-fest, so I’m gonna do my best to rein myself in and speak with poise and grace about what makes this book so damn incredible. First off, there’s the over-arching concept of the book. D. W. Griffith was a real life film director who made a notoriously vile, racist film called Birth Of A Nation in 1915; Clark reimagines him here as a sorcerer, and his film a spell that draws power from the racist hatred that is so prevalent in early 20th century America (and let’s be real, in modern day America too). The Klan are the footsoldiers of this movement and have a plan to unleash Hell on Earth. What I love about this concept is that this spell isn’t the cause of the racism portrayed in the book, as can often be the case in some SFF books where the social evil is represented as the result of some outside intervention. In this case it simply feeds on the power of the bigotry that already exists. It doesn’t absolve people of responsibility for their racism. I don’t want to say too much more about this aspect of the story because it’s so tied in with plot development, but trust me when I say that Clark uses this concept and takes it to a truly dark and horrifying conclusion that kept me transfixed from beginning to end.

As a work of art RING SHOUT is superb in every way, but as a story it’s the characters that bring it to life. Maryse is a hero that I just gelled with instantly. She’s a magic-sword-wielding monster hunter who runs bootleg whiskey for eff’s sake, but she’s also a righteous hero and a complicated person who lives, loves and makes mistakes. I loved her comrade-in-arms Chef, a veteran of The Great War whose prized possession is a knife she took from a slain German soldier. The opening chapter takes place in a cotton warehouse and it’s this setting, combined with the object of Chef’s knife, that serves as a poignant reminder that throughout the story that follows, with all its racism and violence against Black people, that it was Black folks who built America and Black folks who also fought and died to defend it. Sadie the sharpshooter is wonderful too. Every single one of Clark’s characters are incredibly well-developed, fully-realised people with so many facets to their personality (a remarkable achievement in the limited word count of a novella by the way) and not one of them fits the caricature of how women (and young Black women in particular) are often represented in stereotypical media portrayals, but I think Sadie, above all, is the best representation of this. She swears, she flirts and she’s a crack shot with a rifle. There’s a great scene where she, Maryse and Chef are driving through town and see a poster for Griffith’s film; Sadie leans out the car window to hurl abuse at it and Maryse’s reaction is simply ‘Can’t say I blame her’. This scene in particular hit me hard because there’s always that argument that’s brought up whenever we talk about historic racism, that ‘times were just different back then, people thought racism was more acceptable’, when what they really mean is white people thought it was acceptable. And this just lays bare who we centre whenever we discuss these things because – shock, horror – there never was a time when Black folks thought racism was acceptable.

As a quick aside, when I started reading P. Djèlí Clark’s books, I wasn’t prepared for the level of dark horror that he incorporates into his fantasy. There’s definite Lovecraftian vibes to his short story A Dead Djinn in Cairo and some quite chilling horror in his associated novella The Haunting of Tram Car 015. His books are often billed as ‘dark fantasy’, and while that’s definitely true, I don’t think it captures the level of horror that’s present in his stories. RING SHOUT takes that to the next level; genres are fickle things, but if you’re going into this thinking it’s just dark fantasy, be aware that horror is absolutely front and centre in this book. Also, since I mentioned Lovecraft, that guy can get fucked but he also wrote some existentially terrifying stories. Gore horror and jump scares can get in the bin, that’s the sort of horror I love; the stuff that leaves you questioning your place in the universe, how you exist and relate to powerful forces you have no control over as an individual. P. Djèlí Clark is the anti-Lovecraft, but also the antidote to Lovecraft because he takes the best of that kind of storytelling and energises it with much more intelligence and talent while challenging the racism that overshadows Lovecraft’s legacy.

As a writer, Clark is exceptional. His prose is crisp and evocative, conjuring up images in your head that draw you so completely into the world of his story in a way that makes everything feel that much more real and visceral. A lot of the time in my reviews I talk about plot, setting, character and themes separately, but I honestly have a hard time doing that here because Clark is a master of having all these elements interplay so gracefully that it’s difficult to untangle them and almost feels like a disservice to do so. While each element on its own is incredibly well done, they weave together into a beautiful tapestry that’s somehow greater than the sum of its parts.

I honestly think P. Djèlí Clark is a genius and, simply put, one of the greatest writers alive right now. He makes my chest swell and bones vibrate in awe at his talent. There’s actually a lot more I want to talk about, particularly the politics represented in the book, from Marcus Garvey to the Bolshevik Revolution, because there’s a lot to pick apart and is another aspect of Clark’s storytelling where his intelligence looms large and his understanding of the relations between race, economics and political movements is abundantly clear. This review doesn’t do justice to just how much of a groundbreaking author he is. Long story short, put RING SHOUT at the top if your reading list, I promise you it will be one of the best books you read this year.

thank you netgalley & the publsishers for this arc!!!!

ok... wow. this is definitely one of the most interesting/unique books I've ever read. The writing/narration style is SO immersive, and you just get thrown into the world from page 1. It wasn't very long so it had to pack a lot in a short time but I loved it. I thought the pacing was excellent and although there were a lot of different parts/elements throughout the story it all made sense at the end (for the most part). I loved the characters, they were all so distinct and just MAN THE WRITING!!!!!!!!! The world that was created in this book!!! It was grounded in reality/american history but the fantasy/horror elements that got thrown in there really added to the creepy/mysterious atmosphere of the book. I will forever recommend this for people looking for a unique/creepy/immersive read.

I definitely want to check out more of P. Djèlí Clark's books.

P. Djeli Clark does it again with another amazing fantasy novella.
Ring Shout takes place during prohibition in Georgia. Maryse is tasked with destroying the ku kluxes which are demons formed from Ku Klux Klan members with the use of witchcraft.
This is a terrifying twist on the Ku Klux Klan. It is fantastically written and I am unable to stop thinking about this book.

Interesting premise in which the release of The Birth of a Nation wasn’t just a movie, it was a spell that feeds on hate, and continues to spread.

Maryse is one of the few who can see the creatures that have been let into this world through this spell, in the form of Klan members transformed into horrific “Ku Kluxes”. With a showing of The Birth of a Nation coming up on Stone Mountain, an even bigger spell is in the works to bring through more eldritch beings. Maryse and her friends must join together to stop it, no matter the cost.

This novella takes real historical events and tweaks them just a bit for an otherworldly horror beyond the horror in the real world. It’s timely, and it’s not subtle about it either.

A harrowing, allegorical novella set in 1922 in Macon, Georgia in which the Ku Klux are bloodthirsty and literal monsters and a group of friends led by a young woman named Maryse hunts them.

This book was absolutely perfect in execution. Every page was tense and scary and totally satisfying. A must read.

Gripping, fast paced, cinematic, endless twists and turns! Brilliant Black women! Friendship! Tree portals! Gnarly monsters! Bizarre doctors! Destruction of evil! Bootlegging! History! There is so much packed into this novella, it’ll leave you stunned.

“I remember the songs that come with all those visions. Songs full of hurt. Songs of sadness and tears. Songs pulsing with pain. A righteous anger and cry for justice. But not hate.”

Dark fantasy meets historical fiction meets supernatural horror. Ring Shout is a fast paced, dark satire novella set in 1922 Macon, Georgia and follows the tale of a bootlegger, Maryse Boudreaux, that fights monstrous Ku Kluxes with her magic sword. Ku Klux are demonic carnivores that thrive on hate and are perceived as humans by those that are not gifted with the sight. Maryse and her resistance fighters hunt the monsters rather than the human Klan members.

In 1915, on D-Day, The Birth of a Nation was released not just as a movie, but as a spell. A conjuring spell that hungers for the darkest thoughts and hate that are within white people in the South. But now with a viewing of the film scheduled, Maryse and her companions know that the world could be consumed by monsters and hatred.

P. Djèlí Clark’s book explores racism, propaganda, all-consuming hate, fear, African folktale, power, love, and so much more. He vividly describes how hate can turn a person into a monster inside out and how trauma always lingers even when it is repressed. Maryse is my favorite character. She keeps fighting the fight and learning what it means to be a champion and a human being.

Thank you Tor.com and Netgalley for this E-ARC in exchange for this honest review.

Maryse is a whiskey bootlegger, that in her off time has a magic sword that fights monsters she calls “Ku Kluxes”. When a showing of Birth of the Nation threatens to bring about hell on Earth, Maryse and her friends set out to save the world from hate.

Ring Shout is a fast paced novella, packed full of some extremely gruesome body horror scenes, punch you in the heart feels, relevant social commentary, and some awesome characters. My only complaint about the book is that it was way too short - I could read a hundred more stories about Maryse and her friends, even if it’s something as basic as them running whiskey without any mention of monsters.

The monsters were over the top and gruesome, and the story surrounding Maryse, her sword, and how she came about to see the Ku Kluxes was fascinating. The balance between the scenes was perfect, never feeling like the body horror outweighed the story. The story of the sorcerer and Birth of the Nation was impactful, and I shouldn’t really have to mention how relevant the racism and hate that fills the story is, especially in todays political and social climate.

Ring Shout feels like such an important read that I can’t encourage people to read enough. Clarks writing knows how to hit home with every word, and draws you right in to the story. Despite wanting more, there’s not a wasted word or sentence throughout and the story feels complete. Everyone needs to give this one a go.

Author P. Djèlí Clark offers up a historical paranormal horror novella in Ring Shout; the tale of a bootlegger in Macon, Georgia who fights monsters known as Ku Kluxes with her magic sword, and a sharpshooter and Harlem Hellfighter at her side.

Seven years ago, Maryse Boudreaux lost everything. She’s forced the memories under the floorboards where she hid that night in order to fight the Ku Kluxes — Klan members whose hatred becomes an infection that turns them from men to monsters. Maryse and her friends Cordy and Sadie were brought together by Nana Jean, a Gullah woman with wisdom and a touch of magic, who called them each from far off to join her army.

The Ku Kluxes are gaining power and adapting at an alarming rate. With a viewing of the film The Birth of a Nation scheduled at Stone Mountain, Maryse knows the monsters could consume the world with their hate.
Traveling between worlds Maryse must confront demons, including her own, and watch for the tricksters her three supernatural aunties warn her about. She has a choice to make and a magic sword to wield in order to save the world.

It’s only August but I’m going to go ahead and say it: this is my favorite book of 2020. Nothing could possibly top this badass and timely genre-bending novella!
Historical fiction with all the paranormal/fantasy/horror vibes, Ring Shout takes a group of women who have survived the hatred and violence of the Klan, acknowledged their traumas and the thirst for revenge, and give them the power to defeat evil before it consumes all.
How can I possibly ever get over this book?! It is dark and painful to acknowledge the truth within the supernatural elements but gives so much power and hope in the fight of good vs. evil without feeling like a tired trope.

Huge thanks to Tor.com and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. Ring Shout is scheduled for release on October 13, 2020.

Three strong, bad-ass Black women hunting down and shooting, stabbing, and blowing up Ku Klux monsters with ruthless efficiency - what could possibly be a more compelling premise? Well, there's a magic sword, too. And plenty of awesome cosmic horror, as well some dashes of light fantasy. Oh, and these awesome ladies are also bootleggers, for some added swoon! All this adds up to one hell of a phenomenal novella from P. Djèlí Clark that confronts America's racist past and challenges it head on with violent gusto.

To say that I loved Ring Shout is maybe putting it mildly. This book gave me life, y'all. In the midst of daily riots against the systemic racism of our American police force and the all-around racist shittiness of Trump and his sycophants (and ooooh boy, with Kamala Harris running as VP, Trump's casual, ingrained, daily racism is about to go full, spit-flying, frothing at the mouth racism, just you wait), this book is a balm. I can only hope it becomes a reckoning.

The Klan is gathering in Macon, Georgia and their numbers are growing fast thanks to their infectious hatred of Blacks and their use of dark magic. With each showing of The Birth of a Nation, white folks surrender to the spell of this movie's sorcery, giving rise to evil forces not of this Earth that feed on hate. These forces mutate the human body, turning people into deformed creatures, and the only people that know otherwise are those who have "the sight," like the sword-wielding Maryse, the proficient sniper Sadie, and World War I veteran Chef. These three women hunt monsters, and ain't no monster bigger than the Klan.

P. Djèlí Clark does so much right here, crafting an action-packed, historical horror thriller with one hell of a potent, timely, and sadly necessary message. Its social commentary may be rooted in 1920s Americana, but the reality of 2020 is a firm reminder that we clearly haven't come very far in progressing beyond the racist attitudes that formed, shaped, and built this nation and its institutions. About all that's changed is the white hoods now wear red hats too, and the brutal slayings of Black men and women are more likely to be caught on cell phone cameras that hidden away.

I really dug the racism as monster metaphor, and it works as well it does thanks to the world-building Clark pours into this story. While plainly rooted in historical fact, the author lays in a welcome layer of supernatural mythology and cosmic horror to give it all little extra oomph and raise the stakes to Earth-shattering, destruction of all humanity levels.

Black women were largely hailed as the parties responsible for saving America in 2017 thanks to the resounding defeat of accused pedophile Roy Moore in Alabama and the broader Democratic victories in the 2018 midterm election. Clark takes a similar tack with Ring Shout, which sees three Black women faced with saving the country from not only the evils of racist whites, but extradimensional horrors that are even more malicious and bloodthirsty than the GOP. Terrifying, indeed! Maryse, Sadie, and Chef make for a hell of a trio, and I dug these gals an awful lot. A wonderful camaraderie exists between these friends and warriors, and I grew attached to each of them in short order. It's hard to not be endeared to them as they discuss French cuisine, tabloid gossip, and the histories of Black civilizations in between kicking lots and lots of ass, and guzzling stolen, prohibited liquor in a Macon jazz club. God, I loved these ladies!

Ring Shout has a lot going for it, so much so that I'm hopeful for a sequel, or perhaps even several of them. The injection of cosmic horrors points toward a reckoning of not only with America's racist history, but with the foundations of racism built into horror's literary canon. There's enough hints in the book's closing moments to indicate that Clark isn't done with these characters just yet, and if he aims to sends them north to confront a burgeoning evil in New England, well, simply put, I am fucking there for it!

Ring Shout- P. DjèlIí Clark

What if those monsters that we deal with, even today, those monsters with so much hate in their hearts, turned out to be actual monsters? Evil to the bone monsters that needed to be fought with sword and magic? That’s where Clark takes us, in this fast-paced novella that will leave your heart racing.
Ring Shout takes us back to 1920’s Macon, Georgia, to the heart of the Klan country. But these aren’t just regular hate-filled Klansmen, these are Ku Kluxes, and if you have the sight, you could see that these are true monsters. They are 9 feet tall, bone white, with ivory claws and 6 eyes on their pointed heads. And Maryse and her friends are tasked with fighting them. On their side is the power of the Shout, and of old Gullah magic. As the Klan sets out with a plan to use the movie Birth of a Nation to unleash an ancient terror on the earth, Maryse must make some horrible choices in order to save the world from the hate that would overcome it.

I loved this little book & I give it a solid 4 stars- I mean, how timely did it end up being?! It is full of stellar body horror in just the right amounts, and then it adds in a whole shovel-full of Lovecraftian monster madness- who could ask for more?. It also has enough authentic history to feel uncomfortably real in the worst ways. One thing it is not is subtle, so be prepared for some full-on, swords-out racist fighting! And that is something we surely need more of!

Many thanks to NetGalley & Tor for this e-book in exchange for an honest review.

Excellent! What a great spin on history, and a thrill ride for alternate history/dark humor fans. There's a lot to like here, and I will be recommending to others.

With dark satire and a sharp commentary wrapped in fantasy, RING SHOUT joins the ranks of books like LOVECRAFT COUNTRY to highlight racism in our country through fantastical means and metaphor. Clark achieves a lot within this novella, creating a well rounded and interesting cast of characters, a clear idea of what he's trying to convey, and a twist on American Racism that doesn't feel twee or cutesy in spite of the nudge and wink of the premise. Not only is the idea of the Ku Klux demons stoking the racism of white people during the time of THE BIRTH OF A NATION's popularity a creative one, I also liked how it didn't let the very human racists off the hook, as they had hate in their hearts to begin with. The demons just take advantage of it for their own ends. Maryse, Sadie, and Chef are great characters to follow, as not only are they three badass Black women who know how to take care of themselves, they also have different strengths that they all tap into. I also greatly liked the idea of white people not being able to see the Ku Klux demons, and only those from marginalized groups (mostly the Black characters, but there is a Jewish character too on the freedom fighting side) can see them, which so easily translates to how white people today say that they 'don't see race', or don't think that an action is racist even when a POC is telling them that it is. Clark executes these moments of symbolism and metaphor with ease, and it works really well.

RING SHOUT is a fast and entertaining story about anger, justice, and a bunch of demons and those who fight them. And it's also a story about America.

It's 1922, and the Klan is raging in Macon, Georgia. Maryse is a young Black woman who's making a living bootlegging and fighting demons — specifically, the pointy-headed, hate-fueled Ku Kluxes that the human Klans may turn into — using the magic of Shouters and a Gullah woman, as well as a mystical sword that responds to her thirst for revenge. As the Ku Kluxes grow in numbers, and as other hate-filled creatures manifest around the screening of Birth of a Nation at Stone Mountain, Maryse must decide whether she's going to let her own hatred and quest for vengeance rule her, or if she can fight these demons in another way.

This is an AMAZING dark fantasy novel that reverberates through the last 100 years of U.S. history, and strips bare the white supremacy and problematic politics of today. It's powerful and unrelenting, and I can't recommend it heartily enough. This book needs to be read.