NetGalley Review: The Absinthe Underground by Jamie Pacton
Hey all, Sam here.
It’s my last day of work for the week. Woohoo! And then I get the next three days off work. I’m hoping to accomplish a decent amount of both reading and writing, although I might try and do some BG3 playing…and possibly I’ll do a little TV binging–I’m currently doing a re-watch of “The Vampire Diaries,” so I could probably just have that as sort-of background noise while reading or worldbuilding/plotting. We’ll see.
Anyway, I’m still trying to catch up on my book review backlog, since I did a lot of reading in January and February, and considerably less blog posting. On the plus side, that means I don’t have to worry about thinking over content for a bit; I just need to figure out the order to write the reviews in.
And the review backlog isn’t really getting smaller either, because it’s not like I’ve stopped reading or anything. Oh well. It’s just part of book reader and book blogger life, I guess. It feels like I was born with a never-ending TBR, and then ended up with generating more content than I can easily keep up with.
I’ve thought about trying to do little video reviews, like on TikTok, Instagram, and perhaps even YouTube. I’ve thought of starting a BookTube channel for about a decade now…but I keep psyching myself out on it. I admit it; I’m nervous about being in front of the camera. So I keep doing nothing.
Okay, this intro is getting to the point of being too long, so let’s just go ahead and dive into today’s review.
My Thoughts
Moulin Rouge meets Holly Black in a thrilling sapphic friends-to-lovers romantasy!
For Sybil Clarion, the Belle Époque city of Severon is a wild, romantic dream, filled with cafés, cabarets, and glittering nightclubs. Eager to embrace the city’s freedom after running away from home, she’s traded high-society soirées for empty pockets and barren cabinets. At least she has Esme, the girl who offered Sybil a home, and maybe—if either of them dared—something more.
Ever since Esme Rimbaud brought Sybil back to her flat, the girls have been everything to each other—best friends, found family, and secret crushes. While Esme would rather spend the night tinkering with her clocks and snuggling her cats, Sybil craves excitement and needs money. She plans to get both by stealing the rare posters that crop up around town and selling them to collectors. With rent due, Esme agrees to accompany—and more importantly protect —Sybil.
When they’re caught selling a poster by none other than its subject, Maeve, the glamorous girl doesn’t press charges. Rather, she invites Sybil and Esme to The Absinthe Underground, the exclusive club she co-owns, and reveals herself to be a Green Faerie, trapped in this world. She wants to hire thieves for a daring heist in Fae that would set her free, and is willing to pay enough that Sybil and Esme never have to worry about rent again. It’s too good of an offer to pass up, even if Maeve’s tragic story doesn’t quite add up, and even if Sybil’s personal ties to Fae could jeopardize everything she and Esme have so carefully built.
Jamie Pacton, author of The Vermilion Emporium, dazzles in this lavish and decadent LGBTQ+ fantasy romance that will leave readers utterly enchanted!
Rating: 3.5 stars
I’ve read a couple of Jamie Pacton’s books so far (and I think I’ve reviewed at least her The Life and (Medieval) Times of Kit Sweetly book), so I thought I knew what to expect with this one, and I liked how it sounded anytime I heard about it. I’ll be honest though, I was not “utterly enchanted” by this one. In many ways I feel like it under-delivered.
But, I am seeing other people who are raving about how great this book is and giving glowing reviews. I wish I was one of those people. And if this book sounds interesting to you, definitely still pick it up, and I hope you become one of those people gushing about this book.
The beginning was great. I enjoyed the set-up, and I thought the atmosphere and vibes at the early pages of the book was great. I enjoyed the stealing posters for money concept, and was really excited to see how the Fae elements of the story would be woven in. Plus, I really wanted sapphic roommates/friends-to-lovers pining and longing becomes romance story.
To me, though, the longing was good, but I didn’t really feel the yearning to be together. It just felt like both Sybil and Esme told us that they had feelings for their roommate and that was it. I wanted to feel how they felt for each other more, and instead it felt like I was just told how they felt. I mean, clearly they cared for each other, but I didn’t feel it the way I want to in a book that calls itself romantasy.
The build-up to going into Fae for this heist was nice, but I feel like the timeline was too short. We didn’t really get much time for any sort of sidequest, and there weren’t that many complications. The job/heist felt very simple to me, and that was unfortunate because I was so looking forward to it.
I wanted more of the Fae realm and to understand more of the realms relationships to each other, and the magic, and of course all the Fae politics.
I will say that I did read this book fairly quickly. It was only 304 pages, and I wanted to keep going, to follow along with Sybil and Esme’s adventure, and see how everything turned out. So, it held my interest enough that I wasn’t setting it aside for other books. I just wanted a bit more depth from it.
I’m still going to keep reading Jamie Pacton’s books, because her writing style is easy to follow, and for the most part I have really enjoyed her books. Besides, 3.5 stars isn’t a bad rating. This book just didn’t wow me as much as others have, and that’s okay.
Oh, I suppose I should say that this book is available now, as it was released February 6th, so if it sounds interesting then you can pick up your own copy wherever books are sold, or even pick up a copy from your local library.
All right, well that is all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.
