Cordelia is the odd man (woman) out here. A lot of people I talked to found this really romantic, but I frankly found it frustrating that their entire stories could be resolved by the two of them admitting they had feelings for one another. All of them are dealing with the fact that a right wing religious movement is sweeping through Amberlough and trying to destroy their heathen lifestyles.Ī major pillar of the book’s story is that Cyril and Aristide are in love, but their jobs keep either of them from admitting it to one another. Cordelia is a dancer at the Bee and is looking to move up in a turbulent world.

Aristide is a showman at the Bee at night, and a smuggler by… also night, he doesn’t have a lot of work/life balance. Cyril is a government spy (and patron of the Bee), taken off active duty for a traumatic injury, but is being sent back out in the field.

They live in a time of upheaval and change in the city of Amberlough and all have connections to the Bee cabaret. I will go into all of this in detail, but let’s first talk about the plot.Īmberlough follows three character POVs: Cyril, Aristide, and Cordelia. I am really big on the fantasy spy novels so I decided to check it out… and found that I didn’t like a lot of things I probably should have expected from the synopsis. Amberlough, by Lara Elena Donnelly, is the first book in The Amberlough Dossier, and has a cool concept: fantasy spy thriller that revolves around a cabaret. So I debated whether or not to even review this book because I think my net summary is “it wasn’t for me”.