Ring Shout

Overall: Clark presents an imaginative take on the idea of the KKK as true monsters from another world, feeding on the existing hate in the human mind. The story goes at a good clip and there's never a dull moment. I found this to read as more of a YA urban fantasy than horror. There's magic swords, spiritual guides, and chosen ones and so on. Nothing wrong with that, but it's interesting that it's marketed as horror.

The Horror: There's some monster goo and weird creature bits but nothing here that should keep you from reading it if you usually shy away from horror. Nothing too intense or gory.

Characters: The adventure is led by Maryse and her comrades in arms, Sadie and Chef. I liked Maryse's sidekicks quite a bit. They had personality and since we knew less about them, it was easy to project what they're like. Maryse's character arc is pretty smooth; she's never in doubt for long for what that's worth. (It is a short book after all.)

Final thoughts: I think I might have appreciated this being a bit longer. So much happened and it felt rushed. There was no chance to make a deep connection with characters or events and it seemed like the kind of story where you would want that.