SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Amberlough by Lara Elena Donnelly

SF/F Review: Amberlough by Lara Elena Donnelly https://t.co/IrvvblR3IT Short Review: 3 out of 10 (1/3)

— garik16 (@garik16) January 4, 2018

Short Review (cont): When a Nazi-like party starts taking over the government of Amberlough, spy Cyril is forced to be a double agent to protect his gay love. But his love and others have plans of their own. Slow Pace and an annoying lead made this not enjoyable to read (2/3)

— garik16 (@garik16) January 4, 2018

Amberlough is the first in a new series (I suspect trilogy but not sure) which is basically an alternate world spy/political thriller.  Note that while the book is listed as SciFi or Fantasy, there's practically nothing about the book that fits into either description - the book's setting is just an alternate world with around 1930s-era technology, and there are no magic or steampunk elements to be found otherwise.  So if you're interested in spy thrillers involving double agents, smugglers and their runners, and a group of people who love each other trying to protect each other through such acts, this could be the book for you.  If you're not into those things and just want a SF/F story, this is not your book.

That said, I didn't really enjoy Amberlough.  You would think, given the current political climate, a thriller where a gay smuggler, a runner/stripper, and a gay spy try to survive the ascent of a fascist government would be of particular interest these days.  However, plot-wise, it didn't really grab me - I admit to not quite really getting the political situation as it was introduced, and while that didn't matter too much (the party taking over are hateful fascists, and you don't need to know much else) - and well I didn't love the characters enough to compensate.  It's not the worst book, but it's forgettable at best.


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Cyril dePaul is a former spy who now works at a deskjob in Amberlough City.  His lover, Aristide Makricosta, is an MC at a burlesque club....and also one of the City's biggest smugglers (who Cyril should really be keeping an eye on).  The current government of Amberlough doesn't have a problem with this type of relationship (one prominent religion preaches marriages between two women and a man), but the fascist Ospie party is gaining strength.  And when Cyril is sent back into the field to spy on how the Ospie's plan to take over the government, his cover is blown and he is forced to turn into a double agent for the Ospies whose takeover seems inevitable.  His price for working to help the fascists complete their takeover?  Safe passage for himself and Aristide out of the country.

To help Cyril survive, Aristide arranges to have one of his club's dancers, Cordelia, work as Cyril's beard (as the Ospie government is homophobic), while at the same time he uses Cordelia as a runner to smuggle stolen goods.  But Cordelia is strongly independent as well, and wants to hurt the Ospies who threaten her friends at the Burlesque club.  And Aristide isn't one either to wait for Cyril's help in surviving, and has his own plans for the two of them......
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Amberlough alternates chapters between the perspectives of each of the three main characters: Cordelia, Aristide, and Cyril.  The book is mainly Cyril's story mind you, but each of the three characters have their own interests - Cordelia's plotline intersects with Cyril's obviously but isn't directly related.  Cordelia is the best of the three major characters - a strong independent woman who doesn't put up with others' ideals of her but cares for all of her friends (even if those friends might not care for each other) and seeks to fight back against those who are harming them.  She's great, and would be the main reason I might continue with this series.

The problem is the other two characters: Aristide is fine - he's a smuggler who is daring and refuses to play it safe sometimes, trying to achieve what he wants - protection and a good life for himself and Cyril - by his own means.  But he never really jumped off the page to me to make me care a lot about him.

And Cyril....well, I kind of hated Cyril as a character.  This is his story mainly, and obviously the book is trying to toe a line to make him sympathetic as someone forced by necessity to try and be an agent for an evil fascist regime that is against everything he stands for, but he comes off instead as a total coward, who screws things up for everyone.  It's also hardly clear why the Ospies even need him - he manages to accomplish a grand total of one thing to help the Ospies throughout the whole book and even that feat is done mainly by luck.  (You could argue he accomplishes two things, but the second thing is done entirely offscreen).  The book fails to really make him out to be an effective or interesting spy, so basically you just have a guy working for the bad guys to save himself and his lover....it's kind of hard to like that sort of character.

Amberlough also does start kind of slow: it takes about 9 chapters for the plot to be setup, during which some of what happens (particularly for Cordelia) doesn't seem to matter at first, but it speeds up immediately thereafter.

I don't know, despite all that I didn't truly HATE Amberlough - which I guess is an impressive feat given I disliked the main character - but I just found it kind of forgettable.  And even then, in retrospect, I think I might be bending over backwards not to dislike this book more.