Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Amberlough

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Amberlough by Lara Elena Donnelly

11 reviews

syliu's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book occupies a very unique place in my heart — I first read it around when it was published, almost seven years ago, and I haven’t forgotten it since. It was one of the books that introduced me to the whole concept of queer culture and gender non-conformity, and has absolutely changed my life in some aspect.

Coming back to it has been like seeing old friends again, and the book didn’t have to prove the legitimacy of any of its characters or relationships. To me Cy and Ari’s love and tacit understanding was solid fact, Delia was as good as real, as were the many side characters that brought the book to life. In that I’m very biased — I think the character development is brilliant, I hold a deep affection for each of the main protagonists, and felt horribly empty and listless when Amberlough met its explosive (and tragic) end.

The politics…a bit on the nose at times. But for how ambitious it is I haven’t encountered much better in speculative fiction. Once you get past the slightly confusing premise and fictional slang (which I’ve grown to love) all the espionage and characters’ constant manoeuvrings are thrillingly fun. Many little plotlines and schemes are set up perfectly and brought to incredibly satisfying conclusions.

The sparkling lights and spangles of a Roaring-20s-esque cabaret; sharp and cunning politics behind it all; and the equally adroit cast. Damn it’s so much fun. It's the sort of book that kept me up, heart pounding, till I finished it at 4am, then continued on its sequel till I could no longer keep my eyes open. I know I’ll read this again some day and savour every word.

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booksthatburn's review against another edition

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bree_h_reads's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I was really curious to see what Amberlough would do with its characters and plot. Overall I think it really delivered.

I thought the book had a really strong setting. The world building felt well done and consistent. I was curious about the wider world, but I was always given enough information to understand what was going on. The aesthetic of the world also felt well described. I felt like I could always clearly visualise what things looked like in a scene.

One of the biggest downfalls of the book were, unfortunately, the characters. Each character was uniquely interesting. I was always curious as to what they were doing, their thoughts on things, and how they would react to events in the story. The struggles I faced were finding Aristide and Cyril likeable. Cordelia was easily my favourite, and I didn’t face that struggle with her. It was just a mix of how Cyril and Aristide acted and treated others that pulled me away from them. This was also a struggle as a lot of their plot and actions hinges on their relationship, but I couldn’t get into it. I just wasn’t invested in their relationship and it damaged the plot.

On the topic of the plot, I generally found it hard to keep track of. I felt like there were huge swaths of information I was missing. Something would happen and I would try to remember why or where the buildup to it was. The book handled plenty plot points well, but enough felt very out of where it left me confused.

Overall it was an enjoyable book with an excellent setting. There were just a few short comings that stopped it from being great.

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kal_of_krypton's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The world building is solid. The plot is rather slow to build, it's only in the third act of the book that things really start to move along and feel like there's more of a plot.

The clothing descriptions started to feel a little tedious to me towards the end. Although, I liked the characters well enough and feel invested enough to give the second book a try.

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mandkips's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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bisexualwentworth's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I enjoyed this book a lot! Most of the things I've been reading lately have been either YA or contemporary literary fiction, and this was a very welcome change from all of that.

I love reading about messy adults in fantasy settings, and Amberlough absolutely delivers on that front. The characters were engaging and complicated. Amberlough City was immersive and fascinating. I loved the 1930s vibes.

Amberlough is very much a story about tragic love in the context of a rising fascist regime—with an added dose of smuggling and cabaret performances. The main couple is enemies AND lovers simultaneously, so if that's something that interests you, I highly recommend reading this.

There were some points where I wanted more information about certain things, but since this is the first book in a trilogy, I'm not too worried about it. Overall, it was a super engaging read and a very impressive debut novel.

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octopus_farmer's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really liked it - she did a great job of balancing exposition with action, and every character was meaningful in their own way. I knew it was a trilogy, so I guess I should have expected how dark it would be at the end, but the physicality of it took me by surprise. I think I’d read the rest, given time.

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corvidkings's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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alishareadsandrambles's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

This book over all was pretty interesting and I think the concept is great. I thought the execution was a little bit lacking though. While I was listening to this book I felt that the main plot felt less developed than the smaller sub-plots. For me this led to have a few parts during the book where if felt like it was reaching a conclusion to the story and that the book could be done when I still have hours left to listen to.

Lara did do a really good job at making the characters actions and motivations understandable and relatable. And also how the book ended was a perfect mix of wrapping the story up while also leaving so minor cliffhangers to be resolved in the next book.

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mirm_the_bookworm's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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