REVIEW: Amberlough by Lara Elena Donnelly

cover of Amberlough. Review by Markus McDowell

This book, categorized as Part 1 of the “Amberlough Dossier,” was published 2017.

A double-agent sacrifices all his ideals in order to save his smuggler lover before a government coup takes over their decadent city in Lara Elena Donnelly’s glam spy thriller debut, now a Nebula finalist for Best Novel!
In Amberlough, amidst rising political tensions, three lives become intertwined with the fate of the city itself.
The Smuggler: By day, Aristide Makricosta is the emcee for Amberlough City’s top nightclub. By night, he moves drugs and refugees under the noses of crooked cops.
The Spy: Covert agent Cyril DePaul thinks he’s good at keeping secrets, but after a disastrous mission abroad, he makes a dangerous choice to protect himself…and hopefully Aristide too.
The Dancer: Streetwise Cordelia Lehane, burlesque performer at the Bumble Bee Cabaret and Aristide’s runner, could be the key to Cyril’s plans―if she can be trusted.
As the twinkling marquees lights yield to the rising flames of a fascist revolution, these three will struggle to survive using whatever means ― and people ― necessary. Including each other.
Amazon

If this all sounds familiar, then you probably have some knowledge of the events of the Weimar Republic in Germany and the rise of the Nazi State. Even the settings and characters fit this milieux: a cabaret, police, and detectives that evoke 1930-1940s attitudes, and so much more.

It is so much like a story about that period in Germany that I wonder why the author didn’t just place it there and make it a historical novel. Why invent a world, which seems to add nothing to the story.

The author did create two of the main characters as gay men, but that plays little or no role in the plot or characterization, and feels a bit gratuitous when the rest of that world would not have been so accepting. (Maybe that was the reason to set it in a fictional world?) But the sexuality does not distract from the story or character. The primary character, a police detective, is reasonably well done, though his partner is the more interesting character (by far). Cordelia is an interesting foil, but a rather cardboard cutout of a burlesque performer in the early 20th century. Likewise, the fascists and the people they turn to their uses are rather flat: evil, unfeeling, robotic in their actions and beliefs.

My criticisms may come from my desire for science-fiction works to have a moral bent—to make us think and question. Or for pure creative entertainment about what technology and the future could hold (which still asks the question, do we want to go there?) But what reader might struggle with such black-and-white characters? Even the detective, who is blackmailed into working for the opposition, seems to take it in stride. He doesn’t like it, but doesn’t seem to struggle much with the ethics or morality of his actions and decisions.

Despite my misgivings about the novel, it was a Nebula finalist for Best Novel, which leaves me at a loss and assuming it is just my particular likes and dislikes. Still, I’d rather have seen this novel written as a historical novel.

On the other hand, if you love 1930s/1940s style political drama about people caught up in the liberal fascist movement of Nazi-like States (and the created world it lives it), you’ll probably enjoy the plot and characterization.