Life these days tends to err on the side of chaos, so what better to fit into your busy schedule than a novella?

All the charm of a novel, but now with less words! Quicker to read, but with all the goodness of a full story packed in. Really, it’s the best of all worlds, right?

The three books I bring you for today’s mini reviews are all novellas that took some unique ideas and spun them in really interesting ways. So they’re novel, if you will … even though they’re also not. (Get it?! Sorry, I’ll move on.)

Ring Shout

Nebula, Locus, and Alex Award-winner P. Djèlí Clark returns with Ring Shout, a dark fantasy historical novella that gives a supernatural twist to the Ku Klux Klan's reign of terror.

D. W. Griffith is a sorcerer, and The Birth of a Nation is a spell that drew upon the darkest thoughts and wishes from the heart of America. Now, rising in power and prominence, the Klan has a plot to unleash Hell on Earth.

Luckily, Maryse Boudreaux has a magic sword and a head full of tales. When she's not running bootleg whiskey through Prohibition Georgia, she's fighting monsters she calls "Ku Kluxes." She's damn good at it, too. But to confront this ongoing evil, she must journey between worlds to face nightmares made flesh--and her own demons. Together with a foul-mouthed sharpshooter and a Harlem Hellfighter, Maryse sets out to save a world from the hate that would consume it.

Content Tags:

Perfect for readers who want:

• Alternate history mixed with fantasy.
• A Black-centered cast and culture.
• Found family and friendship bonds.
• A strong, uplifting journey of self-growth and understanding.
• Emotional racial narrative about struggle and healing.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Tor.com for a review copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. Quotes are taken from an unfinished version and may differ from the final product.

I had no idea what to expect going in, but I found blood and gore and trauma and so much emotion, but also friendships and hope and healing.

There was a little of everything, which is what really made me love this novella. I will warn you that the beginning is a bit of a shock. It’s quite violent and gory, and while I’m a fan of violence, I’m not so much a fan of the gore. Definitely turned my stomach in some places. For a minute, I considered whether this was the book for me. Ultimately, I stuck with it, and oh my gosh, I’m so freaking glad I did.

If you hit the 15% mark and you’re still not quite sure if this is the book for you, giving it a little more of a chance. The beginning feels like a shock impact, but for a reason. After all, this takes place in an alternate history around the early 1900s, where racism is still a well-accepted thing. As you can imagine, not a great time for all the main characters, who are Black.

I am so glad that I stuck with this, but the beginning wasn’t at all an easy read for me. If that’s your experience, I’d encourage you to maybe stick with it a little while longer and see if it picks up for you.

Race plays an important role in this novella, and it’s not always pretty, but I bet it’s not quite what you expect.

I mean, I sure didn’t. There are definitely the obvious culprits when it comes to racism and segregation and all the things we know took place in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Add onto that, though, a hint of magic … the dark kind, if you will.

Ku Kluxes are monsters from somewhere else that are infiltrating the Klan and riling up normal white folk. That’s where Maryse and her gang come in, because they can see the monsters among the humans and take them out … sort of. That’s the goal, at least. Never quite as easy as that, though, is it?

There’s a lot of uncomfortable moments in this book when it comes to race, regardless of what side you’re on, and the story really asks you to just sit in that unease for a while and get used to it.

We can’t grow if we don’t face our monsters head-on, can we? You’re going to be asked to bear some horrible things along with Maryse and her crew, but trust me, the payoff will be worth it.

This is a coming-of-age story for our older main character, Maryse, who thinks she’s already got things figured out.

Because of course she does. Most people do. Surprise! Turns out there’s still quite a bit for her to figure out. I still absolutely love coming-of-age stories with older protagonists, because as it turns out, more years on Earth does not equate to miraculously figuring out your stuff. Who would’ve guessed?

I’m a fan of coming-of-age stories for older characters because they remind us that regardless of your age, you can change. No matter where you are in life, you can always become something better, do something more, or have a life-altering experience. This is definitely the case for Maryse.

I don’t want to go too in-depth with this, because this is a pretty big part of the plot. Needless to say, the character has some things to work out, and I loved her emotional journey.

Even though this book is filled with a lot of darkness, the message is rather uplifting, and I walked away with so many beautiful moments.

That may seem a little counterintuitive, considering this is a horror about racial strife, but bear with me. There’s a lot going on in this, especially for a novella.

The friendship bonds and found family are *chef’s kiss*. Oh my gosh, I just loved this crew so much. Rooting for them was easy.

There were so many beautiful one-liners and nuggets of wisdom and just wonderful words that I for sure couldn’t include them all in this review, but Clark’s writing is just gorgeous, layering meaning on top of meaning.

Oh, and the best part? Did you know that a ring shout is a thing? I had no idea where the title came from when I picked it up, as I’d never heard the term, even though I knew the idea (which becomes clearer as you read). I love the magic invoked by these ring shouts, though, and the meaning they had in the overall novella.

Of Dragons, Feasts and Murders (Dominion of the Fallen, #3.5)

From the author of the critically acclaimed Dominion of the Fallen trilogy comes a tale of dragons, and Fallen angels—and also kissing, sarcasm and stabbing.

Lunar New Year should be a time for familial reunions, ancestor worship, and consumption of an unhealthy amount of candied fruit.

But when dragon prince Thuan brings home his brooding and ruthless husband Asmodeus for the New Year, they find not interminable family gatherings, but a corpse outside their quarters. Asmodeus is thrilled by the murder investigation; Thuan, who gets dragged into the political plotting he’d sworn off when he left, is less enthusiastic.

It’ll take all of Asmodeus’s skill with knives, and all of Thuan’s diplomacy, to navigate this one—as well as the troubled waters of their own relationship….

Content Tags:

Perfect for readers who want:

• A quirky M/M romance.
• An interesting murder mystery.
• A fantasy world with different sorts of fun creatures.
• Politics and political drama.
• Characters that are slightly murdery and all sarcastic.

Many thanks to NetGalley and JABberwocky Literary Agency for a review copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. Quotes are taken from an unfinished version and may differ from the final product.

Even though this is part of a series, it works fine as a standalone, and in some ways makes a nice lead-in to the rest of the series itself.

Now, would you get more out of this novella by reading the rest of the series? I’m assuming so. There were definitely some instances that I thought would’ve benefited from me having read the previous books in the series, like the romance. I just didn’t get the spark between the love interests or what held them together, but I’m assuming that was established in early books and their dynamic just held through this one. For the most part, though, the world was sufficiently explained and explored, and I could follow along without too much trouble.

This novella does a fantastic job of introducing the reader to this world in small, bite-sized chunks while still being able to pique one’s interest.

First, dragons. I just feel like I should throw that out there, because that’s important in and of itself. More than that, the main character, Thuan, is a royal, so there’s a lot of social games that come into play and political struggles, etc. It’s all about knowing how the game was played. Since I didn’t know the world, I found this interesting!

The mystery was fun, with some unexpected turns, but the journey seemed more personal than anything.

It was a self-awakening within a mystery within political drama, so there were plenty of fun layers to delve into! It was almost more interesting not having read the series and not knowing Thuan’s relationship to his family or his home before starting this book, because I was able to see his character grow through his interactions with everyone.

There were parts of the mystery that felt a little easy, but just taking the trip with the characters was enjoyable.

I didn’t guess the ending, per se, but I did guess the culprit ahead of time. However, these characters were so fun that I was fine with just going through the motions with them.

Demons are Rude (A Booker Patrick Mystery Book 1)

Booker “Book” Patrick is having a rough time. His wife left, his career fell apart, and he’s been forced to move to St. Augustine, Florida, and take a low-paying job. The only place he can afford to live is a treehouse in a crusty old man’s back yard.

When Book befriends Drawbridge, a snarky, talking dog that only he can see, the twosome team up to investigate a sudden influx of quirky ghosts, called Diluteds. Diluteds are souls who never reached the afterlife, have no idea how they died, and are now confined to specific buildings: the trifecta of otherworldly odd.

When the happy-go-lucky Diluteds begin to change into fierce, defiant, even gross, supernatural entities, it’s a harbinger of things to come. All this weirdness seems to be leading to a bigger, more terrifying destiny for Book and Drawbridge: a date with a demon—and not the good kind where you have a chance to get lucky. It’s the kind of date that could lead to world annihilation.

Content Tags:

Perfect for readers who want:

• Dark humor and sarcastic comedy.
• A man down on his luck finding his way.
• Ghost doggie! With an attitude.
• Murder mystery that needs to be solved.

The humor in this had me cracking up. The tone was light and the voice enjoyable, which made reading it a breeze.

If you’re looking for a quick, easy read, this is just the ticket! I wanted something to break up the darker things I’ve been reading, and this did a fabulous job of that. I just had fun with it, and I definitely laughed. The humor is very dry and sarcastic, which is always fun. There’s definitely some situational humor, too, given that our poor main character isn’t having a great time of it.

Ghosts are popping up all over town. What is a man down on his luck to do?

The correct answer is team up with the mysterious ghost dog who appears in your treehouse one night and take on the case! Wait … that is the correct answer, isn’t it?! Seems to be the case here, and I just loved it!

The plot in this is obviously a little over-the-top, which is partially what makes it such a fun read. If you don’t like big, ridiculous stories, this book isn’t for you. If you enjoy something you can laugh at that follows more of a Ghostbusters feel with the easy, cheap laughs and the slightly absurd events, you’ll likely enjoy this.

The ghosts in this are quirky in their own way and never quite what you might expect.

I mean, obviously, since they’re at the center of the mystery, aren’t they? It’d be silly if there was nothing surprising about them. I loved seeing them pop up, though, and having the chance to meet them and all the situations that led to.

The romance was a bit rushed to me, but the flirty banter was fun!

Romance really isn’t my thing in the first place, so this may not come as much of a surprise. The love interest is painfully obvious from the beginning, and there were several kind of cringeworthy exchanges that happen between the characters, especially given their ages. So I didn’t love the romance.

Despite that, I did love the banter between the two when they do banter. Their sarcasm and the will they/won’t they is still fun all the same. Just don’t expect any big surprises on the romance front! It’s pretty straightforward.