The Black God’s Drums
- 136
- Pages
- about 2.5 h
- Reading time
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Our view
“The Black God’s Drums” packs an alternate New Orleans of airships, pirates and gods into a novella of under 150 pages. In this history the Confederacy won the Civil War and the city stands independent; readers praise how fully that world comes across in so little space. The first-person narration grows precious towards the climax for some readers, and others simply wish the book were longer.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
The Black God's Drums is a 2018 fantasy novella by P. Djèlí Clark. It is set in an alternate history New Orleans in which the Confederate States of America won the American Civil War and New Orleans is an independent territory. The novella received critical acclaim, being nominated for the 2018 Nebula Award for Best Novella, 2019 Hugo Award for Best Novella, 2019 Locus Award for Best Novella, and 2019 World Fantasy Award for Best Novella. It was awarded a 2019 Alex Award.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.9 across 120 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 45% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Science fiction average of 7.8. That is how 7.9 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardcover | 7.9 | 120 | 100% |
Frequently asked
How long is The Black God’s Drums?
It has 136 pages — shorter than 98% of the ranked books in Science fiction.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Science fiction — with scores between 7.9 and 8.0, closest to this book.
