“You ever seen a Klan march?” With an opening line like that and promises of literal monstrous beings in the Klan ranks, P. Djèlí Clark had me hooked. Tordotcom rarely does me wrong; but when a book puts folkloric monsters in the 1920s American South, I’m even more sold. Sign me up for some Klan monster hunting.

The Blurb:

“In 1915, The Birth of a Nation cast a spell across America, swelling the Klan’s ranks and drinking deep from the darkest thoughts of white folk. All across the nation they ride, spreading fear and violence among the vulnerable. They plan to bring Hell to Earth. But even Ku Kluxes can die.

Standing in their way is Maryse Boudreaux and her fellow resistance fighters, a foul-mouthed sharpshooter and a Harlem Hellfighter. Armed with blade, bullet, and bomb, they hunt their hunters and send the Klan’s demons straight to Hell. But something awful’s brewing in Macon, and the war on Hell is about to heat up.

Can Maryse stop the Klan before it ends the world?”

Review:

Ring Shout is set in an alternate 1922 Macon, Georgia. Maryse’s world doesn’t look so different from our history from the outside. Macon has been infiltrated with violence and fear by the Klan, and the white people of the city literally cannot see the monsters amongst their ranks. Because in Clark’s world, there are actual monstrous beings and Maryse can see them hiding under the hoods. Ring Shout is not a story of quiet survival; it is raw and bloodstained, filled with categorically evil monsters and with a magic purposely left partially unexplained.

Clark’s prose is a harmonious cacophony of voices and accents, with Gullah, Creole, and other Southern Black voices all represented in its pages. The magic in his world is a tangible and earthy thing, infused with moonshine and buttressed by folk stories and juke joints. It was enthralling to read, and I sometimes forgot I didn’t know its magic personally. It felt like a magic I’d heard whispered about on dirt roads and far back in the woods where no one could overhear. Unlike a lot of Southern fiction and Southern fantasy, Ring Shout isn’t concerned too much with actual religion; this came as both a surprise and a relief for me. But as Nana Jean says, it’s “better to keep folk alive; worry on their souls later.”

Final Thoughts: Ring Shout is a mesmerizing novella that is astoundingly well-written and thought-provoking. If you like the idea of monstrous Ku Klux beings, badass Black monster killers, and women with supernatural swords, then this is it. I want more in this world. I want more Southern SFF literature. Just more of this, please, and thank you.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars. It’s not quite on my “Favorite Tordorcom Novellas of All Time” list (Vigilance and Flyaway still take the cake), but it’s up there.

Find Ring Shout on Amazon and Goodreads.

Thanks to Tordotcom and Netgalley for a review copy of the book!