Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark

Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark is a fantasy/horror novel that takes place in the United States during the 1920s. It follows three young women who fight to defeat the Klu Klux Klan and the “Klu Kluxes” - klan members who turn into evil monsters and try to kill everything in their sight.

This was the first book I read this year. I loved so much about it. This was my first introduction to Gullah culture and some of the history of the Gullah people in the Southern United States. The story was wonderful and the writing even better.

The ideas presented in this book by P. Djèlí Clark are profound. The antagonist is a sorcerer who wants to bring the physical embodiment of hate and racism into our world. He uses The Birth of a Nation to lure Klan members to stone mountain in order to turn them into demonic monsters hellbent on destroying the world. Djèlí Clark is a brilliant writer with brilliant ideas, but I think this novel fell just short of its mark.

What I didn’t like about the book was the pacing. It was rushed. I felt like many scenes were over before they had begun, and not much was dwelled upon. I know this book is technically a novella, but I wanted more. (This book clocks in at under 200 pages). It’s hard for me to feel like art can be wasted - and I don’t want to say his idea was wasted, but the novel was far too short to fully explore the themes of racism and the history of racism in Georgia.

I’m giving this book 6.5/10 stars. The writing and ideas are wonderful, but it didn’t feel complete to me. Give this book a try. I’m sure you’ll be impressed by Djèlí Clark’s prose.