The Black God's Drums

Starred review from June 25, 2018
Clark masterfully rewrites history in this spellbinding post–Civil War fantasy. America is 15 years past an armistice between the Union, where slavery is illegal, and the Confederacy, where it still reigns, and New Orleans remains the only free and neutral port in all the land. Thirteen-year-old Creeper is an orphan surviving on the margins of New Orleans whose fortunes change when she uncovers a Confederate plot to recreate the titular otherworldly weapon, which ensured devastating victory for Haitian revolutionaries, and use it against the Union. With help from Ann-Marie St. Augustine, an airship captain who could be Creeper’s ticket out of New Orleans, and the goddess Oya, Creeper must prevent Confederate soldiers from unleashing the wrath of a furious god upon a city and a nation that will not see it coming. Clark employs fervent, emotive prose to construct an elaborate world populated by diverse, complex people. The story is thrillingly original and will enthrall fans of alternate histories.

August 1, 2018
Making his debut, Clark creates a riveting world, taking his readers to the neutral city of New Orleans in 1871. The American Civil War, fought with steampunk ships and weapons, ended with an armistice, with no big tussles between the Confederates and the Union in the ensuing 15 years. Creeper, the protagonist, is not big on schooling but knows enough to get by on the streets of New Orleans. She knows who to avoid, who to steal from, and who to sell information to. She also receives messages from Oya, the African orisha of wind and storms, and knows there's danger afoot when she overhears Confederate soldiers discussing a weapon called the black god's drums. What she learns from Captain Ann-Marie when she trades that information worries her even more. The weapon is tied directly to various orishas and is virtually uncontrollable when unleashed. With the captain's help, she must discover what different parties intend to do with the weapon and how to prevent its devastating effects from being unleashed. A must-read for alternate history fans. For more Afrofuturist titles, see page 52.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)