Ring Shout (P. Djeli Clark)

Ring Shout
P. Djeli Clark
Tor.com
Fiction, Fantasy/Historical Fiction/Horror
***** (Great)

DESCRIPTION: America has always been the land of opportunity... but that opportunity was built upon the backs of generations of slaves. For all the bright lights the country brought to the world, with democracy and innovation, it hides numerous dark shadows in its racism and prejudices... as well as shadows of a different sort, demons unleashed by sorcery at the height of the Civil War, along with as haint spirits and magical traditions of many lands. Few know that better than Maryse. As a teen, she saw her family murdered by men in white robes - and things that were not men at all, but monsters wearing human skin. She and other colored folk with the Sight hunt down the Ku Kluxes, demonic entities that spread like parasites into souls weakened by hate-filled hearts, but nobody else has the weapon she does: a mystic sword gifted to her by foxlike haints that channels generations of anger and injustice and the powers of long-lost gods. Among other demon hunters like sharpshooter Sadie and Chef, demolitions expert and veteran haunted by the Great War in Europe, along with numerous others, Maryse has found a new family - but this one, too, stands threatened. The Ku Kluxes are changing, becoming more clever and more numerous, just as a new monster comes to their Georgia town. The demons, it turns out, were only ever the advance scouts. The true monster is about to arrive... and, in the coming battle, Maryse faces a choice and a temptation that might doom herself, her friends, and the whole world.

REVIEW: This award-nominated novella dives head-first into the skeletons piled in America's closet, bones of slavery and racism and hate that continue to haunt our country and threaten its future, with heavy shades of old folk tales and magical and spiritual traditions with roots stretching back to the shores of Africa. As I've come to expect from Clark, the story paints a vivid picture of history, one that doesn't whitewash the shadows away but which also doesn't feel too modern (as some historical fiction works can, projecting modern attitudes and sensibilities onto the past). Jim Crow rules in full force and klansfolk rally openly and proudly, and while the civil rights movement as an organized national phenomenon is some decades off, not everyone quietly accepts the status quo. The horror elements are a natural addition, evil given tangible and terrifying form in the Ku Kluxes and the nightmare-inducing butcher who is both their master and the servant of another, even greater emanation. Maryse struggles to navigate a world that melds demonic threats and various stripes of magic with everyday racism, with various ventures to the side of reality into the realms of haint spirits... all of whom have their own agendas and who cannot ever be taken at face value, even the friendlier ones. The tale dances deftly between light moments and banter and deadly serious battles, between realistic depictions of the 1920's Deep South and the supernatural realms of ghosts and spirits, between hints of hope and crushing fear and despair, all with threads of sometimes-gruesome horror. It all builds to a powerful and harrowing finale where Maryse must decide where she stands and what future she wants, not just for herself but for America and the world. The audiobook presentation almost lost a half-star for how the narrator's voice could drop into deep murmurs or rise into high keens or fade into breathy whispers, which were nice effects but not ideal when one is listening in a warehouse environment (as I tend to). That issue aside, though, I thoroughly enjoyed this work from an author who is quickly becoming one of my favorite new genre voices.
(And I know there are accent marks in the author's name, but I can't seem to get those to show up properly in Blogger. Hopefully it doesn't come across as a slight.)

You Might Also Enjoy:
Wild Seed (Octavia E. Butler) - My Review
The Black God's Drums (P. Djeli Clark) - My Review
The Ballad of Black Tom (Victor LaValle) - My Review