Book Review

Amberlough by Lara Elena Donnelly

Amberlough is an intense fantasy spy novel that ends on a cliffhanger. It’s not a romance novel, but there is romance in it. It’s a novel in which none of the main characters seem especially tender or affectionate and yet everyone is motivated by love.

Amberlough is technically a fantasy novel in the sense that it takes place in an alternate world, but there are no magic spells or dragons (alas). The city of Amberlough is reminiscent of 1920’s Berlin, but using a fictional city and world allows the author to incorporate gay, poly, and interracial relationships (our hero’s lover, Aristide, has dark skin) without historical constraints. Residents of Amberlough do their best to get to work and buy food and enjoy the cabaret entertainment at The Bumble Bee Cabaret amidst increasingly violent riots and raids. The city is in the midst of an election year, and the fascist One State Party (the Ospies) is poised to seize power.

In the middle of all this drama is Cyril, a secret agent who is assigned to keep an eye on Ospie leadership. Cyril was traumatized by a previous mission and although his loyalty to his own organization has eroded, he fears and loathes the Ospie government that might replace it. His primary interest is his own safety and the safety of his lover, Aristide.

Aristide is a performer at the Bumble Bee who also smuggles drugs — the Bumble Bee is not what you might call a high-class institution, and performers don’t make much money. He presents himself as a shallow gold-digger but asks Cyril an awful lot of questions about his work. The third critical character is Aristide’s co-worker at the Bumble Bee, Cordelia. She is a drug-runner for Aristide, but when Cyril has to pass for heterosexual as part of his effort to infiltrate the Ospies, Aristide pays Cordelia to pose as Cyril’s mistress.

The epigraphs are quotes from Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Cabaret, and that’s what this book is – a mash-up of the tawdry yet sparkly work of Cabaret and the hard-core, cynical world of espionage that vacillates between paper-pushing tedium and occasional episodes of brutal violence. The theatrical world of the Bumble Bee and the world in which Cyril does his spy business are alike in that they appear to be beautiful, sensuous, and glamorous to an outsider but are actually full of discomfort, tedium, boredom, and hard work. They are also alike in that even though the main characters are keenly aware of the grimy downsides of their professions, they can’t give those professions up.

The thing I found most interesting about this book was that even though all the characters are involved in political activities, their strongest motivation for their actions are personal relationships. I spent a lot of time thinking about the relationship between Cyril and Aristide, which on its surface is purely sexual. It didn’t occur to me until the end of the book that they both actively conceal their feelings for reasons of safety on many levels, some of which aren’t clear until the end. Their words to each other are seductive, insulting, and generally untrue (they lie to each other constantly), but their actions belie a deep devotion that fuels almost all everything they do once things start to go wrong in their world.

Similarly, Cordelia is almost completely apolitical until she gets angry, and what makes her angry is when her home (the theater, not her apartment) and her friends are threatened. Cordelia is in non-sexual relationships with Cyril and Aristide and sexual but not romantic relationships with two other men. Cordelia also initially seems like a shallow person who, while not malicious, is primarily looking after her own interests and maintains little to no emotional connection to anyone else. However, because she is shamed for her active sex life and her lack of monogamy, her refusal to apologize for her sexual freedom and her refusal to give that freedom up is a hint of her intense capacity for self-respect, stubbornness, and steely rage, and that rage is triggered not by abstractions but by wrongs done to the people she cares about.

Some readers will be captivated by the Roaring 20’s aesthetic of the book. Some will be enthralled by the plot. I was most interested in the reminder that the personal is political, and the political is personal. The love story is hardly a hearts and flowers one, and the cliffhanger ending is maddening, but I ended the book wanting very much to read it all over again. I’d recommend this book to anyone who can tolerate violence, morally murky characters, and cliffhangers. Readers who like political thrillers and spy novels will adore it, and fans of the 1920’s will like it, too.

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Amberlough by Lara Elena Donnelly

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  1. KateB says:

    *flailing Kermit gif* *flailing Kermit gif*

    I LOVED this book. Yes, because I love Cabaret and Weimar Berlin as a subject, and yes, because I love spy thrillers too, but oh my gosh, this book. The characterization is so fine and pointed, it’s almost painful. The world. The hints of fantastical worldbuilding draped in Art Deco glamour (reminded me a bit of Legend of Korra, actually). The way it reminded me that fantasy can do anything and be just as politically sharp as anything.

    And that cover!

    Oh, and it’s not out yet, but Tor just released a sample of the audiobook, read by Mary Robinette Kowal.

  2. quizzie says:

    This sounds right up my alley. I’ve just finished watching The Halycon http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5808318/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_2 which is set in a hotel during WW2 and has plenty of spy stuff, so I need a new fix 🙂

  3. Steffi says:

    I have never added a book to my wishlist so fast.

  4. chacha1 says:

    I love it just because of the cover art. But the story and style sounds right up my alley, so it’s onto my wishlist too.

  5. Hazel says:

    What an interesting combination, Cabaret and Le Carré. Have to try that!

  6. Mary Beth says:

    Do you know how long it will take for the sequel to be published? I have a hard time waiting with cliffhangers.

  7. Morgan says:

    The ending had me in tears until I found out there would be a sequel. I just hope Cyril Ari and Cordelia are still the main characters. I need closure.

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