What do you think?
Rate this book
Absynthe
In his sci-fi debut, Bellecourt explores an alternate roaring 20s where a shell-shocked soldier must uncover latent telepathic abilities to save himself and the people around him.
Liam Mulcahey, a reclusive, shell-shocked veteran, remembers little of the Great War. Ten years later, when he is caught in a brutal attack on a Chicago speakeasy, Liam is saved by Grace, an alluring heiress who's able to cast illusions. Though the attack appears to have been committed by the hated Uprising, Grace believes it was orchestrated by Leland De Pere--Liam's former commander and the current President of the United States.
Meeting Grace unearths long-buried memories. Liam's former squad, the Devil's Henchmen, was given a serum to allow telepathic communication, transforming them into a unified killing machine. With Grace's help, Liam begins to regain his abilities, but when De Pere learns of it, he orders his militia to eliminate Liam at any cost.
But Liam's abilities are expanding quickly. When Liam turns the tables and digs deeper into De Pere's plans, he discovers a terrible secret. The same experiment that granted Liam's abilities was bent toward darker purposes. Liam must navigate both his enemies and supposed allies to stop the President's nefarious plans before they're unleashed on the world. And Grace is hiding secrets of her own, secrets that could prove every bit as dangerous as the President's.
Liam Mulcahey, a reclusive, shell-shocked veteran, remembers little of the Great War. Ten years later, when he is caught in a brutal attack on a Chicago speakeasy, Liam is saved by Grace, an alluring heiress who's able to cast illusions. Though the attack appears to have been committed by the hated Uprising, Grace believes it was orchestrated by Leland De Pere--Liam's former commander and the current President of the United States.
Meeting Grace unearths long-buried memories. Liam's former squad, the Devil's Henchmen, was given a serum to allow telepathic communication, transforming them into a unified killing machine. With Grace's help, Liam begins to regain his abilities, but when De Pere learns of it, he orders his militia to eliminate Liam at any cost.
But Liam's abilities are expanding quickly. When Liam turns the tables and digs deeper into De Pere's plans, he discovers a terrible secret. The same experiment that granted Liam's abilities was bent toward darker purposes. Liam must navigate both his enemies and supposed allies to stop the President's nefarious plans before they're unleashed on the world. And Grace is hiding secrets of her own, secrets that could prove every bit as dangerous as the President's.
400 pages, Hardcover
First published December 7, 2021
53 people are currently reading
1755 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 110 reviews
July 24, 2023
Despite not being as gripping as I initially thought Absynthe would be. This was still a solid ,enjoyable three star read. Comparable with the books of Mark Hodder and George Mann's Ghost novels with a bit of Inception thrown into the mix.
3.5 stars 🌟
3.5 stars 🌟
December 14, 2021
3 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum https://bibliosanctum.com/2021/12/14/...
Fantasy author Bradley P. Beaulieu is writing as Brendan P. Bellecourt for his sci-fi debut Absynthe, an alternate historical set in a version of the Roaring ‘20s which is characterized by futuristic technology. The story follows Liam Mulcahey, a shell-shocked veteran of the Great War, a bitter conflict between the United States and the nations of the St. Lawrence Pact that culminated into a bloody battle on the shores of Lake Michigan. Now a decade later, Liam still finds himself traumatized by the things he’d seen, though much of his memories are also missing, stolen by a nasty head wound.
Working as a mechanic in Chicago, one day Liam was caught up in an Uprising attack while at a local speakeasy. He is saved by Grace, a charming socialite and heiress with the ability to cast illusions. With her help, Liam begins remembering his time serving in the war with an elite military squad that was injected with a unique serum, giving them telepathic powers to make them fight as a more effective battle unit. Shaken by these realizations, Liam must come to terms with what all this means, even as starts regaining some of his past abilities. As things become increasingly complicated by the unrest caused by a hidden power struggle between shadowy factions in the government, Liam must figure out who to trust before those who want him silenced can get to him first.
This was not my first time with the author’s books, though I hadn’t known it was Bradley P. Beaulieu using a pseudonym when I first picked up Absynthe. Still, once I found out, I was certainly glad. His Twelve Kings in Sharakhai was an amazing book, and I’d always meant to check out more of his work. That this novel was a very different kind of beast in no way deterred me, and in fact I felt excited to try something new by the author and see how he fares with another genre.
And right away, it was clear that his talent for world-building had carried through to Absynthe. I was not disappointed by the setting at all, with its vibrant concoction of a variety of different elements. You had the hallmarks of 1920s historical fiction, including speakeasies and Prohibition, smooth-talking tommy gun wielding gangsters, art deco and all that jazz age glitz. At the same time, you also had the more science fiction aspects—the use of highly sophisticated forms of biotechnology, automation and machinery dubbed mechanika adding to the retrofuturism vibes. On top of that, we also had individuals with the ability to project illusions and cast other mind-altering effects. It’s really no exaggeration when I say this book had a bit of everything.
On the flip side though, you always run the risk of weakening your other foundations when you try to do too much, and some of that was arguably happening here, with world-building overwhelming plot and characters. The story itself wasn’t bad, but considering everything that was happening in it, I’d wanted the pacing to be quicker, the overall energy higher. Instead, Absynthe moved at more of a slow-burn not unlike what you’d expect with an epic fantasy, punctuated here and there by brief bouts of action.
I would have also liked to see more out of the characters, because no one really stood out for me beyond our main protagonist. To his credit though, the author made Liam Mulcahey a very sympathetic figure, using his experience to explore the tragedies of war and the silent personal suffering that happens for a lot of veterans in the aftermath. Liam’s desperate search for the truth surrounding his past as well as his possible role in a government conspiracy also had a way of enhancing the mystery. Even in the face of underdeveloped plot threads and general convolutedness, I always felt invested in Liam’s quest, and my desire to see it through was never in doubt.
At its heart, Absynthe is a book about the struggle to find the truth in a world of obfuscation and illusion. And while sometimes the plot can feel as overwhelming as its myriad themes, Liam’s persistence and tenacity in response to the challenges always had a way of putting the focus back on what really matters.
Fantasy author Bradley P. Beaulieu is writing as Brendan P. Bellecourt for his sci-fi debut Absynthe, an alternate historical set in a version of the Roaring ‘20s which is characterized by futuristic technology. The story follows Liam Mulcahey, a shell-shocked veteran of the Great War, a bitter conflict between the United States and the nations of the St. Lawrence Pact that culminated into a bloody battle on the shores of Lake Michigan. Now a decade later, Liam still finds himself traumatized by the things he’d seen, though much of his memories are also missing, stolen by a nasty head wound.
Working as a mechanic in Chicago, one day Liam was caught up in an Uprising attack while at a local speakeasy. He is saved by Grace, a charming socialite and heiress with the ability to cast illusions. With her help, Liam begins remembering his time serving in the war with an elite military squad that was injected with a unique serum, giving them telepathic powers to make them fight as a more effective battle unit. Shaken by these realizations, Liam must come to terms with what all this means, even as starts regaining some of his past abilities. As things become increasingly complicated by the unrest caused by a hidden power struggle between shadowy factions in the government, Liam must figure out who to trust before those who want him silenced can get to him first.
This was not my first time with the author’s books, though I hadn’t known it was Bradley P. Beaulieu using a pseudonym when I first picked up Absynthe. Still, once I found out, I was certainly glad. His Twelve Kings in Sharakhai was an amazing book, and I’d always meant to check out more of his work. That this novel was a very different kind of beast in no way deterred me, and in fact I felt excited to try something new by the author and see how he fares with another genre.
And right away, it was clear that his talent for world-building had carried through to Absynthe. I was not disappointed by the setting at all, with its vibrant concoction of a variety of different elements. You had the hallmarks of 1920s historical fiction, including speakeasies and Prohibition, smooth-talking tommy gun wielding gangsters, art deco and all that jazz age glitz. At the same time, you also had the more science fiction aspects—the use of highly sophisticated forms of biotechnology, automation and machinery dubbed mechanika adding to the retrofuturism vibes. On top of that, we also had individuals with the ability to project illusions and cast other mind-altering effects. It’s really no exaggeration when I say this book had a bit of everything.
On the flip side though, you always run the risk of weakening your other foundations when you try to do too much, and some of that was arguably happening here, with world-building overwhelming plot and characters. The story itself wasn’t bad, but considering everything that was happening in it, I’d wanted the pacing to be quicker, the overall energy higher. Instead, Absynthe moved at more of a slow-burn not unlike what you’d expect with an epic fantasy, punctuated here and there by brief bouts of action.
I would have also liked to see more out of the characters, because no one really stood out for me beyond our main protagonist. To his credit though, the author made Liam Mulcahey a very sympathetic figure, using his experience to explore the tragedies of war and the silent personal suffering that happens for a lot of veterans in the aftermath. Liam’s desperate search for the truth surrounding his past as well as his possible role in a government conspiracy also had a way of enhancing the mystery. Even in the face of underdeveloped plot threads and general convolutedness, I always felt invested in Liam’s quest, and my desire to see it through was never in doubt.
At its heart, Absynthe is a book about the struggle to find the truth in a world of obfuscation and illusion. And while sometimes the plot can feel as overwhelming as its myriad themes, Liam’s persistence and tenacity in response to the challenges always had a way of putting the focus back on what really matters.
Read
December 6, 2021[Gifted]
Jazz age speakeasies and biological warfare makes this a fresh and original addition to the alternate history sci-fi space. Pacific Rim meets Captain America, in magnificent art deco steampunk style.
Jazz age speakeasies and biological warfare makes this a fresh and original addition to the alternate history sci-fi space. Pacific Rim meets Captain America, in magnificent art deco steampunk style.
December 13, 2021
https://www.bookwormblues.net/2021/12...
I’m a big fan of Bradley P. Beaulieu (writing under the pen name Brendan Bellecourt here), but when I heard about this book, my excitement really moved to a whole other level. I have a huge interest in books that are set in a time similar to/in the 1920s. I saw “speakeasies” and went all Liz Lemon ala 30 Rock, “I want to go to there.” Thankfully, I apparently annoyed the appropriate people the appropriate amount of times, because the next thing I knew, the author was sending me an audible code for the book.
I will say, I loved the narration on this audiobook. It was really easy for me to sink into the story. I usually listen to audiobooks while I do things around the house (when I take editing breaks during my workday, and cook dinner and the like), and I found myself actually wanting to prolong my cleaning/cooking/whatever just so I could listen to the book longer. Simon Vance is basically one of those narrators who could read a phonebook and I’d be one-more-paging that sucker until hell froze over. The combination of his dulcet voice and the story itself really delivered a one-two punch that knocked this one out of the park.
One of the first things that stuck out to me regarding Absynthe was the worldbuilding. There are so many different ideas stuck together in a world that, upon first glance, feels too busy to work but once I got into the book, I saw how well all these ideas fit together. A brief glance through reviews so far will show you that elements of this book are being compared to the Pacific Rim, “decopunk”, steampunk, alternative history, and more. There’s a lot going on, and while it can get busy at times, the author has a knack for synthesizing ideas, playing with new concepts, making things that shouldn’t work, work. Nothing in this world was what I expected it to be, and all of it was so carefully executed, I was left with a newfound appreciation of just how profoundly SFF authors can break boundaries.
There’s a real interesting synthesis of ideas here, from tommy guns and speakeasies to zeppelins and performance-enhancing biotech. There’s some aspects that will immediately put readers in the mind of the 1920s, like flapper dresses and the jazz age excitement of a big, metropolitan area. Then there’s other elements that will make you think “steampunk” or “Pacific Rim”. It was a really interesting blend of different ideas which all merged together to create a world that was instantly gripping, and absolutely unlike anything I have ever read before.
But, while there is a lot of potential for action, and there is action, this book isn’t really about that. At least, in my mind, Absynthe felt a bit more thoughtful, a bit more measured. This world, while fantastic and captivating, is balanced by a bit of darkness as well. A lot of this book, in my mind, was an exploration of some of the results of war we rarely see in books like this. This careful exploration of poignant emotional and social themes really balanced out some of the larger-than-life worldbuilding elements, grounding them in a reality many of us will find one uncomfortable step removed from our own.
And maybe that’s where the book the was the most enjoyable for me. I enjoy stories that make me think, explorations of deep themes through the eyes of characters I can really relate to, or feel for. Here, in this world, so much is amazing and wonderful, and yet it doesn’t take long for readers to realize that things aren’t all that great. Veterans are forgotten about and go through life with conditions like PTSD, or have wounds healed with mechanical implants and devices, which present their own host of problems. People are injected with mysterious serums. The citizens of this United States are breaking into factions. Tensions are rising. People are beginning to distrust each other, and the government. There is a very pervasive feel that everything is falling apart, unraveling, and into this milieu, we have our character, one Liam Mulcahey.
Liam really stuck out to me. He, like so much of this book, wasn’t what I expected. A thoughtful character who wasn’t afraid to feel, it’s his perspective that really humanizes many of these deeper themes, and layers them into Bellecourt’s unique world in a way that felt pretty natural. Through Liam, some of the ideas, themes, aspects of the world that shouldn’t have worked, actually did work, because he made it all make sense. He was the bridge that spanned these waters, allowing readers to connect the flashy worldbuilding with these deeper issues, like the slow degradation of the social order, the unravelling of trust, the personal, human cost of war.
At its core, this book is a mystery, and it is quite fast paced at that. Liam, a war veteran, unexpectedly finds himself in the center of tension and change. He has to make pieces fit and find answers to seemingly unanswerable questions. He finds himself immersed in a situation that’s far larger and deeper than he ever imagined. Ultimately, this journey is profound, as it forces him to question everything from his leaders to his society, to his most important relationships, to himself. Nothing is what it seems to be, and the truth he finds, the truth he is chasing, is far more more pervasive than I anticipated. This book kept me guessing throughout, with no shortage of “ah ha” moments as the clues Bellecourt wove throughout his narrative clicked into place.
So, where does this leave us?
Absynthe is a fast-paced, wild ride through a stunningly crafted world, but it was the deeper themes and the sympathetic protagonist that truly captivated me. This book is as much a mystery as it is an exploration of the often-overlooked, uncomfortable human cost of some of our actions. Bellecourt managed to write a story that balanced on the knife’s edge between flashy and thought provoking, displaying, for all to see, why he is a master of his craft.
I’m a big fan of Bradley P. Beaulieu (writing under the pen name Brendan Bellecourt here), but when I heard about this book, my excitement really moved to a whole other level. I have a huge interest in books that are set in a time similar to/in the 1920s. I saw “speakeasies” and went all Liz Lemon ala 30 Rock, “I want to go to there.” Thankfully, I apparently annoyed the appropriate people the appropriate amount of times, because the next thing I knew, the author was sending me an audible code for the book.
I will say, I loved the narration on this audiobook. It was really easy for me to sink into the story. I usually listen to audiobooks while I do things around the house (when I take editing breaks during my workday, and cook dinner and the like), and I found myself actually wanting to prolong my cleaning/cooking/whatever just so I could listen to the book longer. Simon Vance is basically one of those narrators who could read a phonebook and I’d be one-more-paging that sucker until hell froze over. The combination of his dulcet voice and the story itself really delivered a one-two punch that knocked this one out of the park.
One of the first things that stuck out to me regarding Absynthe was the worldbuilding. There are so many different ideas stuck together in a world that, upon first glance, feels too busy to work but once I got into the book, I saw how well all these ideas fit together. A brief glance through reviews so far will show you that elements of this book are being compared to the Pacific Rim, “decopunk”, steampunk, alternative history, and more. There’s a lot going on, and while it can get busy at times, the author has a knack for synthesizing ideas, playing with new concepts, making things that shouldn’t work, work. Nothing in this world was what I expected it to be, and all of it was so carefully executed, I was left with a newfound appreciation of just how profoundly SFF authors can break boundaries.
There’s a real interesting synthesis of ideas here, from tommy guns and speakeasies to zeppelins and performance-enhancing biotech. There’s some aspects that will immediately put readers in the mind of the 1920s, like flapper dresses and the jazz age excitement of a big, metropolitan area. Then there’s other elements that will make you think “steampunk” or “Pacific Rim”. It was a really interesting blend of different ideas which all merged together to create a world that was instantly gripping, and absolutely unlike anything I have ever read before.
But, while there is a lot of potential for action, and there is action, this book isn’t really about that. At least, in my mind, Absynthe felt a bit more thoughtful, a bit more measured. This world, while fantastic and captivating, is balanced by a bit of darkness as well. A lot of this book, in my mind, was an exploration of some of the results of war we rarely see in books like this. This careful exploration of poignant emotional and social themes really balanced out some of the larger-than-life worldbuilding elements, grounding them in a reality many of us will find one uncomfortable step removed from our own.
And maybe that’s where the book the was the most enjoyable for me. I enjoy stories that make me think, explorations of deep themes through the eyes of characters I can really relate to, or feel for. Here, in this world, so much is amazing and wonderful, and yet it doesn’t take long for readers to realize that things aren’t all that great. Veterans are forgotten about and go through life with conditions like PTSD, or have wounds healed with mechanical implants and devices, which present their own host of problems. People are injected with mysterious serums. The citizens of this United States are breaking into factions. Tensions are rising. People are beginning to distrust each other, and the government. There is a very pervasive feel that everything is falling apart, unraveling, and into this milieu, we have our character, one Liam Mulcahey.
Liam really stuck out to me. He, like so much of this book, wasn’t what I expected. A thoughtful character who wasn’t afraid to feel, it’s his perspective that really humanizes many of these deeper themes, and layers them into Bellecourt’s unique world in a way that felt pretty natural. Through Liam, some of the ideas, themes, aspects of the world that shouldn’t have worked, actually did work, because he made it all make sense. He was the bridge that spanned these waters, allowing readers to connect the flashy worldbuilding with these deeper issues, like the slow degradation of the social order, the unravelling of trust, the personal, human cost of war.
At its core, this book is a mystery, and it is quite fast paced at that. Liam, a war veteran, unexpectedly finds himself in the center of tension and change. He has to make pieces fit and find answers to seemingly unanswerable questions. He finds himself immersed in a situation that’s far larger and deeper than he ever imagined. Ultimately, this journey is profound, as it forces him to question everything from his leaders to his society, to his most important relationships, to himself. Nothing is what it seems to be, and the truth he finds, the truth he is chasing, is far more more pervasive than I anticipated. This book kept me guessing throughout, with no shortage of “ah ha” moments as the clues Bellecourt wove throughout his narrative clicked into place.
So, where does this leave us?
Absynthe is a fast-paced, wild ride through a stunningly crafted world, but it was the deeper themes and the sympathetic protagonist that truly captivated me. This book is as much a mystery as it is an exploration of the often-overlooked, uncomfortable human cost of some of our actions. Bellecourt managed to write a story that balanced on the knife’s edge between flashy and thought provoking, displaying, for all to see, why he is a master of his craft.
April 12, 2022
Art Deco steampunk is 100% my bag right now and I absolutely adored this reimagined 1920s America. Great world building, relatable characters and all the action. Highly recommended - absolutely ready to read anything Brendan writes next!
December 22, 2021
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Absynthe by Brendan Bellecourt sounded like it was going to be exactly my cup of tea. I usually historical fantasy and alternate history, especially set during the Roaring '20s, but this just didn't quite hit the mark. It was solid, but disappointing compared to my expectations.
Absynthe by Brendan Bellecourt sounded like it was going to be exactly my cup of tea. I usually historical fantasy and alternate history, especially set during the Roaring '20s, but this just didn't quite hit the mark. It was solid, but disappointing compared to my expectations.
April 3, 2022
DNF at 65%.
I just did not care enough to finish the book, I was bored out of my mind. Not even the audiobook could save it for me, although the narrator was excellent. I liked the idea of the book and it started out strong, but after that all the different ideas and plots just became muddled and confusing without any clear red thread. Unfortunately, this one wasn’t for me!
I just did not care enough to finish the book, I was bored out of my mind. Not even the audiobook could save it for me, although the narrator was excellent. I liked the idea of the book and it started out strong, but after that all the different ideas and plots just became muddled and confusing without any clear red thread. Unfortunately, this one wasn’t for me!
December 23, 2021
Slow, contrived and far duller than it sounds. A huge disappointment
Full review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...
Full review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...
January 18, 2022
"Absynthe is a solidly imagined period piece with a lot of surprises and a unique style."
Full review at the New York Journal of Books:
https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book...
Full review at the New York Journal of Books:
https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book...
February 17, 2022
too long, not enough action for this amount of pages
November 19, 2021
Kat's Book Report - Contains Spoilers - For my own failing memory...
There are so many things I liked about Absynthe by Brendan Bellecourt (a.k.a. Bradley Beaulieu writing under a pseudonym for his first foray into Science Fiction) that when I sat down to write this, I struggled to organize my thoughts into a coherent review. I had this overwhelming urge to gush and simply list all the disparate pieces of this book that resonated with me. But upon further reflection (and after tempering my initial impulse), I realized that these various elements all contribute to a singular purpose that can be summarized quite succinctly: to present the reader with a uniquely expansive and unexpectedly harsh world that makes the book’s simple message about love and the essence of humanity that much more profound. I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
More often than not, when I find myself captivated by a speculative fiction novel, intriguing world-building plays an especially significant role. I can point to several novels that have caught my interest due to their unique and imaginative world-building, and to this day these books stand out in my memory for their ability to transport me to a world so unlike anything I might have expected. The War of the Flowers by Tad Williams and An Alchemy of Masques and Mirrors by Curtis Craddock immediately come to mind; Absynthe now falls high on this list.
Imagine if WWI had taken place on American soil, the final, definitive battle on the shores of Lake Michigan in a suburb of Milwaukee. And then imagine that WWI warfare was augmented with mechanikal exoskeletons called Hoppers and performance-enhancing biotech. Absynthe provides readers with a well-crafted and vivid “decopunk” aesthetic, inventing a world where tommy guns and flights of absynthe in jazz-filled speakeasies exist alongside automata with human intelligence, zeppelins, and bullet trains that connect Chicago with the new capital of Nova Solis. The world-building is rich and encompassing from pinstripe suits and flapper dresses to the Saint Lawrence Pact of nations allied against the US. It transports you to a world with roots in our reality, but wholly reimagined, providng ample setting for the themes of the mysterious and winding plot.
(Aside: As a Milwaukee native, this book resonated with me in a very special way. If I said this book’s setting didn’t have anything to do with my interest, it would be a bold-faced lie! I never realized how satisfying it would be to read a genre novel set in the city in which I grew up and still utterly adore. The local references to places like Lake Geneva, the Kinnickinnic River, Whitefish Bay, and Dinkel’s were like a warm hug of familiarity that I didn’t know I needed.)
But it is also a harsh world in which veterans are used and discarded, where soldiers suffer from post-traumatic stress, their mortal wounds often healed with mechanikal appendages and devices, citizens are injected with mysterious serums, and factions within the US undermine the trust of the government and each other. Bellencourt presents the evils of war and humanizes them through the struggles of his characters; Liam’s constant flashbacks, Clay’s inability to accept a life bound to mechaniks, and the revelation of Alistair’s true nature all contribute to a moral commentary on the true cost of war in the humanity that is lost in its aftermath.
The plot is a fast-paced mystery in which the main character Liam struggles to piece together the truth surrounding the tensions between, and intentions of, the government he fought for and the Uprising that is helping restore the vestiges of his shattered memory. The serums, their application, their evolution, and their interplay create an evocative SciFi plot that will have you theorizing and reading well into the night! As the truth about the serums is slowly revealed, and the pieces of the puzzle start to come together, Liam begins to question his actions and those of his leaders, the nature of his most important relationships, and ultimately what is needed to defeat the rising evil that threatens them all. His relationships are powerful in their diversity – he takes comfort from caring for his Nana, he’s devoted to his best friend Morgan, and he develops romantic feelings for Colette. But at the core of each relationship is an unconditional love, something that defines them as completely human and ultimately provides their deliverance. I found Liam’s realization and the subsequent ending heartfelt, infused with a message I think we all need right now.
Creative and intricate world-building and strong themes delivered through a griping and fast-paced plot are sure to capture any reader of Beaulieu’s debut Science Fiction novel.
There are so many things I liked about Absynthe by Brendan Bellecourt (a.k.a. Bradley Beaulieu writing under a pseudonym for his first foray into Science Fiction) that when I sat down to write this, I struggled to organize my thoughts into a coherent review. I had this overwhelming urge to gush and simply list all the disparate pieces of this book that resonated with me. But upon further reflection (and after tempering my initial impulse), I realized that these various elements all contribute to a singular purpose that can be summarized quite succinctly: to present the reader with a uniquely expansive and unexpectedly harsh world that makes the book’s simple message about love and the essence of humanity that much more profound. I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
More often than not, when I find myself captivated by a speculative fiction novel, intriguing world-building plays an especially significant role. I can point to several novels that have caught my interest due to their unique and imaginative world-building, and to this day these books stand out in my memory for their ability to transport me to a world so unlike anything I might have expected. The War of the Flowers by Tad Williams and An Alchemy of Masques and Mirrors by Curtis Craddock immediately come to mind; Absynthe now falls high on this list.
Imagine if WWI had taken place on American soil, the final, definitive battle on the shores of Lake Michigan in a suburb of Milwaukee. And then imagine that WWI warfare was augmented with mechanikal exoskeletons called Hoppers and performance-enhancing biotech. Absynthe provides readers with a well-crafted and vivid “decopunk” aesthetic, inventing a world where tommy guns and flights of absynthe in jazz-filled speakeasies exist alongside automata with human intelligence, zeppelins, and bullet trains that connect Chicago with the new capital of Nova Solis. The world-building is rich and encompassing from pinstripe suits and flapper dresses to the Saint Lawrence Pact of nations allied against the US. It transports you to a world with roots in our reality, but wholly reimagined, providng ample setting for the themes of the mysterious and winding plot.
(Aside: As a Milwaukee native, this book resonated with me in a very special way. If I said this book’s setting didn’t have anything to do with my interest, it would be a bold-faced lie! I never realized how satisfying it would be to read a genre novel set in the city in which I grew up and still utterly adore. The local references to places like Lake Geneva, the Kinnickinnic River, Whitefish Bay, and Dinkel’s were like a warm hug of familiarity that I didn’t know I needed.)
But it is also a harsh world in which veterans are used and discarded, where soldiers suffer from post-traumatic stress, their mortal wounds often healed with mechanikal appendages and devices, citizens are injected with mysterious serums, and factions within the US undermine the trust of the government and each other. Bellencourt presents the evils of war and humanizes them through the struggles of his characters; Liam’s constant flashbacks, Clay’s inability to accept a life bound to mechaniks, and the revelation of Alistair’s true nature all contribute to a moral commentary on the true cost of war in the humanity that is lost in its aftermath.
The plot is a fast-paced mystery in which the main character Liam struggles to piece together the truth surrounding the tensions between, and intentions of, the government he fought for and the Uprising that is helping restore the vestiges of his shattered memory. The serums, their application, their evolution, and their interplay create an evocative SciFi plot that will have you theorizing and reading well into the night! As the truth about the serums is slowly revealed, and the pieces of the puzzle start to come together, Liam begins to question his actions and those of his leaders, the nature of his most important relationships, and ultimately what is needed to defeat the rising evil that threatens them all. His relationships are powerful in their diversity – he takes comfort from caring for his Nana, he’s devoted to his best friend Morgan, and he develops romantic feelings for Colette. But at the core of each relationship is an unconditional love, something that defines them as completely human and ultimately provides their deliverance. I found Liam’s realization and the subsequent ending heartfelt, infused with a message I think we all need right now.
Creative and intricate world-building and strong themes delivered through a griping and fast-paced plot are sure to capture any reader of Beaulieu’s debut Science Fiction novel.
October 29, 2022
Since I read this for a book club I was more inclined to find good things in this one than I probably would have otherwise, and this wasn’t a book that really enticed me to read it since I’m more of a space opera-person. But it was interesting!
First, the good stuff:
The plot idea is great! It’s an incredibly intriguing idea with a serum that connects our minds, and turn some of us into slaves, and some of us into the controllers. And it’s action packed. My preference says it’s too much, especially in the beginning when there’s explosions ans running and you just try to understand who’s fighting who, and why. A lot of the revelations for Liam happens during the fighting so I see the point, it’s a bit much for me that’s all. All through the book I thought: “This would be a great sci-fi action movie!”
The serum’s development during the story is the best part. In sci-fi there is a lot of first contact depictions and a lot of focus on how the aliens differ from humans. But this story tells us how a different life form comes to being and how it connects and develops. Echo basically becomes the center of an “alien” hive-mind, and is slowly changing humanity into a unity, like the hive-mind in “Independence day”. It’s completely fascinating to see this from the inside! Echo’s development and relationship to humans, especially to Colette, was the high point for me. But it was unfortunately drowned by all the action. I didn’t care for Liam (or any of the other characters really), I would have loved to read this story from Collette’s or Echo’s perspective. To see this new entity come to being in detail and how it slowly changes the humans around it, that is the book I wish I had read.
On to the more problematic parts:
I’m not that into historical rewrites, well not in the sci-fi genre anyway. The whole point of sci-fi for me is the present or the future. Historical rewrites might work really well though, if it’s a clear cut reason for the historical context. “Absynthe” doesn’t have it. Except for the author maybe thinking this time period is cool, there is no reason at all for it to take place in 1928. The book’s whole set-up is how the Great War changed the characters a lot and was the setting for the advances with the serum, since it was deployed with soldiers first. However, the Great War is not WWI, but a different war, for entirely different reasons and with entirely different outcome, set during the same period. The Chicago 1928 is the same as the one from our history books except for the fact that they have androids, exoskeletons (I keep picturing the Tom Cruise movie “Edge of tomorrow” when these are described), and the serum that is the center of everything (even if no one really knows this). All I keep wondering is that if they have androids and really cool tech, why would they not have computers? It’s like they skipped 100 years of technological advancements.
I’m also wondering about the title. What has it to do with the story? Absolutely nothing. I first thought that it was the Absynthe that was the serum, you know, the green fairy drink from 1920’s Chicago is rewritten to change people’s perceptions on reality and transforms people into slaves. Cool right?? But no. The serum is something else entirely, called E. sentensis, based on the bacteria it’s made from. So where does absinthe come in? Well, they drink it 3 times. If you mix it with the serum it strengthens the effects for Liam (unclear with everyone else), that’s it. So the book cover that says: “Absynthe: some it kills. Some it transforms.” Well, that is completely inaccurate since it’s not the absinthe doing that at all…
All in all, it was a slightly frustrating book to read and it only got really interesting toward the end of the book when you learn about Echo. Except you don’t really get to know it properly anyway, because Liam is to busy fighting bad people with guns. It felt like the author wanted to do too much, and this might have been a series instead. The idea gave me thought though, and therefore the books receives a 3 instead of a 2.
First, the good stuff:
The plot idea is great! It’s an incredibly intriguing idea with a serum that connects our minds, and turn some of us into slaves, and some of us into the controllers. And it’s action packed. My preference says it’s too much, especially in the beginning when there’s explosions ans running and you just try to understand who’s fighting who, and why. A lot of the revelations for Liam happens during the fighting so I see the point, it’s a bit much for me that’s all. All through the book I thought: “This would be a great sci-fi action movie!”
The serum’s development during the story is the best part. In sci-fi there is a lot of first contact depictions and a lot of focus on how the aliens differ from humans. But this story tells us how a different life form comes to being and how it connects and develops. Echo basically becomes the center of an “alien” hive-mind, and is slowly changing humanity into a unity, like the hive-mind in “Independence day”. It’s completely fascinating to see this from the inside! Echo’s development and relationship to humans, especially to Colette, was the high point for me. But it was unfortunately drowned by all the action. I didn’t care for Liam (or any of the other characters really), I would have loved to read this story from Collette’s or Echo’s perspective. To see this new entity come to being in detail and how it slowly changes the humans around it, that is the book I wish I had read.
On to the more problematic parts:
I’m not that into historical rewrites, well not in the sci-fi genre anyway. The whole point of sci-fi for me is the present or the future. Historical rewrites might work really well though, if it’s a clear cut reason for the historical context. “Absynthe” doesn’t have it. Except for the author maybe thinking this time period is cool, there is no reason at all for it to take place in 1928. The book’s whole set-up is how the Great War changed the characters a lot and was the setting for the advances with the serum, since it was deployed with soldiers first. However, the Great War is not WWI, but a different war, for entirely different reasons and with entirely different outcome, set during the same period. The Chicago 1928 is the same as the one from our history books except for the fact that they have androids, exoskeletons (I keep picturing the Tom Cruise movie “Edge of tomorrow” when these are described), and the serum that is the center of everything (even if no one really knows this). All I keep wondering is that if they have androids and really cool tech, why would they not have computers? It’s like they skipped 100 years of technological advancements.
I’m also wondering about the title. What has it to do with the story? Absolutely nothing. I first thought that it was the Absynthe that was the serum, you know, the green fairy drink from 1920’s Chicago is rewritten to change people’s perceptions on reality and transforms people into slaves. Cool right?? But no. The serum is something else entirely, called E. sentensis, based on the bacteria it’s made from. So where does absinthe come in? Well, they drink it 3 times. If you mix it with the serum it strengthens the effects for Liam (unclear with everyone else), that’s it. So the book cover that says: “Absynthe: some it kills. Some it transforms.” Well, that is completely inaccurate since it’s not the absinthe doing that at all…
All in all, it was a slightly frustrating book to read and it only got really interesting toward the end of the book when you learn about Echo. Except you don’t really get to know it properly anyway, because Liam is to busy fighting bad people with guns. It felt like the author wanted to do too much, and this might have been a series instead. The idea gave me thought though, and therefore the books receives a 3 instead of a 2.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 14, 2021
In an alternate version of America, they are at war against a coalition of Germany, Canada, France & Britain, & led by a charismatic leader, President Leland De Pere. Liam Mulcahey, Great War veteran, remembers little of the war itself, but a meeting with an alluring heiress, Grace, in a Chicago speakeasy is the start of Liam experiencing flashbacks of his life in the Devil's Henchmen - a crack team of soldiers who communicated by telepathy via a serum. Liam learns that most of his fellow soldiers in the team are now either missing or dead, & that De Pere is hiding a big secret that he wants to stop Liam uncovering - at any cost.
This is a really intriguing set-up; I really enjoyed the 1920s flavour with the speakeasies, jazz, & flapper dresses, alongside the steampunk aspects of 'mechanika' (androids) & dirigibles. It's an ambitious cross between sci-fi & fantasy, & it works for the most part. There were one or two twists I didn't see coming, which is always good. The world-building is good & the main character, Liam, is easy to empathise with & root for. I really enjoyed reading it.
My thanks to NetGalley & publishers, Head of Zeus / Ad Astra, for the opportunity to read an ARC.
This is a really intriguing set-up; I really enjoyed the 1920s flavour with the speakeasies, jazz, & flapper dresses, alongside the steampunk aspects of 'mechanika' (androids) & dirigibles. It's an ambitious cross between sci-fi & fantasy, & it works for the most part. There were one or two twists I didn't see coming, which is always good. The world-building is good & the main character, Liam, is easy to empathise with & root for. I really enjoyed reading it.
My thanks to NetGalley & publishers, Head of Zeus / Ad Astra, for the opportunity to read an ARC.
August 13, 2023
This is a standalone novel set in a Futuristic past that takes place primarily in Chicago and Milwaukee. The Story is pretty straight forward as it follows Liam and a contingent of soldiers who are all part of a new experiment where they inject you with a super serum known as Absynthe, that is said to be able to enhance them in a variety of ways. The story kind of goes from there and is told between what is the story's present and past. This is this authors first dive into a more Urban Sci-Fi esque story and it was alright for the most part. I found myself enjoying the story for the most part. There were some nice twists and turns throughout that kept things interesting. Bellecourt's writing was very accessible and easy to follow. My one major complaint would have to be the characters. I just didn't find any of them compelling or any of their motives worth while. So that was a shame, but I have had this problem pretty consistently with this author in the past. All in all this was an alright story that was still able to keep in me intrigued till the end. If Bellecourt decides to dive back in this genre again, I am sure I will pick it up because ultimately I do end up really enjoying their novels.
January 22, 2022
[This review can also be found on my BLOG]
**I was gifted a copy by Head of Zeus in exchange for an honest review**
CW: violence, gun violence, injury, blood, death, drug/alcohol use, ptsd, war themes, sexual content
An historical sci-fi thriller that truly blew me away!
Absynthe takes place in an alternate retro futuristic version of the 1920’s America where automatons walk the streets and the biotech industry is thriving, but not everything is as dazzling as it seems. We follow Liam Mulcahey, a reclusive veteran now working as a mechanic for his friend’s family, who due to a head injury has lost most of his memories from the Great War between American and the Saint Lawrence Pact – a coalition between Britain, Canada, France and Germany.
However, upon witnessing a perplexing Uprising attack at a public event that the government all but disregards his account of and then again at a speakeasy with his friends whilst they are indulging in the hallucination inducing drink Absynthe, Liam starts to get flashbacks of his squadron, the Devil’s Henchmen, during the war and the serum they took which gave them telepathic abilities. As more starts to come back to him and his best friend’s life is threatened, Liam starts to question who he can trust and what the government is hiding.
The concepts and overarching storyline of this book were brilliantly unique and though the pacing was a little slow at times I was hooked from the first few chapters, both by Liam’s journey of uncovering his memories and the immersive setting the author has imagined. Bellecourt has beautifully paired the post-war, roaring 20’s era with a steampunk atmosphere to create an exciting backdrop for an action packed story.
Now I will admit things did get a little dense at times which alongside the slowing down of the story also led to info-dumpy moments.. There are just a lot of moving parts but I honestly feel that everything came together in such a satisfying way by the end and I enjoyed it immensely!
Along with Liam the various side characters became wonderfully fleshed out more and more as the story progressed and there was a little bit of the found family trope (one of my favourites!!) within the story too! However, it was the sci-fi elements that stole the show. I’m not going to give too much more about this away, it’s better experienced first-hand but I will say that it gave of vibes of The Matrix, Inception and Sense8!
I have never wanted a book to be adapted to screen so badly because it’s the kind you know will just turn out to be fantastic!
It requires a little bit of patience to get through but if you like settings with a steampunk aesthetics and mind-bending sciencey stories you have got to check this book out.
Final Rating – 4.5./5 Stars
**I was gifted a copy by Head of Zeus in exchange for an honest review**
CW: violence, gun violence, injury, blood, death, drug/alcohol use, ptsd, war themes, sexual content
An historical sci-fi thriller that truly blew me away!
Absynthe takes place in an alternate retro futuristic version of the 1920’s America where automatons walk the streets and the biotech industry is thriving, but not everything is as dazzling as it seems. We follow Liam Mulcahey, a reclusive veteran now working as a mechanic for his friend’s family, who due to a head injury has lost most of his memories from the Great War between American and the Saint Lawrence Pact – a coalition between Britain, Canada, France and Germany.
However, upon witnessing a perplexing Uprising attack at a public event that the government all but disregards his account of and then again at a speakeasy with his friends whilst they are indulging in the hallucination inducing drink Absynthe, Liam starts to get flashbacks of his squadron, the Devil’s Henchmen, during the war and the serum they took which gave them telepathic abilities. As more starts to come back to him and his best friend’s life is threatened, Liam starts to question who he can trust and what the government is hiding.
The concepts and overarching storyline of this book were brilliantly unique and though the pacing was a little slow at times I was hooked from the first few chapters, both by Liam’s journey of uncovering his memories and the immersive setting the author has imagined. Bellecourt has beautifully paired the post-war, roaring 20’s era with a steampunk atmosphere to create an exciting backdrop for an action packed story.
Now I will admit things did get a little dense at times which alongside the slowing down of the story also led to info-dumpy moments.. There are just a lot of moving parts but I honestly feel that everything came together in such a satisfying way by the end and I enjoyed it immensely!
Along with Liam the various side characters became wonderfully fleshed out more and more as the story progressed and there was a little bit of the found family trope (one of my favourites!!) within the story too! However, it was the sci-fi elements that stole the show. I’m not going to give too much more about this away, it’s better experienced first-hand but I will say that it gave of vibes of The Matrix, Inception and Sense8!
I have never wanted a book to be adapted to screen so badly because it’s the kind you know will just turn out to be fantastic!
It requires a little bit of patience to get through but if you like settings with a steampunk aesthetics and mind-bending sciencey stories you have got to check this book out.
Final Rating – 4.5./5 Stars
November 26, 2023
It was ok, not really into sci-fi
January 4, 2022
I really wanted to enjoy this book. I loved the premise, but the execution left so much to be desired. Let me start with a mental health trigger warning that is also a spoiler I would also like to state that I received this as an ARC from the publisher after publication in exchange for an honest review, for which I thank them.
I really didn't like the way the characters were written in this novel. Too many of them were very bland caricatures, and Liam himself is a very dull Chosen One. The entire plot revolves around trying to get information out of his head, every woman is interested in him (even the pilot we only meet for a few pages), and he's immediately good at just about everything he tries (and when he isn't it's handwaved away when he really needs to be good at it for Plot Reasons). There was also a lot that felt like it was pulling directly from other fiction, specifics behind the spoiler tag
I wanted more from this book, because the potential was there for a really fun, interesting read. The setting is fascinating, but we don't get enough of it. I really liked the idea of a woman being in charge of all the science, and I wish we'd had more of Colette than just what needed to be known for the plot. I loved Bailey and Clay's relationship, even though , and I wish we'd had more of them. There was so much potential in these characters, and I wish they'd had more life. As for the plot, it was an interesting idea but we didn't get enough of HOW and WHY it works so it was hard to stay engaged when there didn't seem to be any rules.
1.5 stars for the potential & because I cared enough to finish it
I really didn't like the way the characters were written in this novel. Too many of them were very bland caricatures, and Liam himself is a very dull Chosen One. The entire plot revolves around trying to get information out of his head, every woman is interested in him (even the pilot we only meet for a few pages), and he's immediately good at just about everything he tries (and when he isn't it's handwaved away when he really needs to be good at it for Plot Reasons). There was also a lot that felt like it was pulling directly from other fiction, specifics behind the spoiler tag
I wanted more from this book, because the potential was there for a really fun, interesting read. The setting is fascinating, but we don't get enough of it. I really liked the idea of a woman being in charge of all the science, and I wish we'd had more of Colette than just what needed to be known for the plot. I loved Bailey and Clay's relationship, even though , and I wish we'd had more of them. There was so much potential in these characters, and I wish they'd had more life. As for the plot, it was an interesting idea but we didn't get enough of HOW and WHY it works so it was hard to stay engaged when there didn't seem to be any rules.
1.5 stars for the potential & because I cared enough to finish it
January 7, 2022
Got halfway through the book and couldn't take any more.
The world-building only works if semi-sentient humanoid robots and genetic engineering are magic. They don't fit into 1920's America unless you completely ignore the technology behind them and don't mind zero internal consistency. (For an example of high-tech dropped into 1920's society check out Charles Strosse's Merchant Prices/Empire State books which do it really well - this may be why I disliked this book so much in comparison).
It read like a script for a Christopher Nolan movie (rubbish, but spectacular rubbish) - which may be a good or bad thing depending on your taste.
Overall this may have been better sold as a victorianesque "scientific romance" rather than original serious world-building SF (in which case, it's the publisher's fault rather than the author's).
Not to my taste, but some might enjoy for a light read if can over-look the massive inconsistencies.
The world-building only works if semi-sentient humanoid robots and genetic engineering are magic. They don't fit into 1920's America unless you completely ignore the technology behind them and don't mind zero internal consistency. (For an example of high-tech dropped into 1920's society check out Charles Strosse's Merchant Prices/Empire State books which do it really well - this may be why I disliked this book so much in comparison).
It read like a script for a Christopher Nolan movie (rubbish, but spectacular rubbish) - which may be a good or bad thing depending on your taste.
Overall this may have been better sold as a victorianesque "scientific romance" rather than original serious world-building SF (in which case, it's the publisher's fault rather than the author's).
Not to my taste, but some might enjoy for a light read if can over-look the massive inconsistencies.
April 19, 2022
Great story and characters but the writing was too convoluted and ultimately boring and hard to read.
It took me ages to finish it.
It took me ages to finish it.
December 29, 2021
This is my initial foray into the writing of Bradley P. Beaulieu, who has a fairly large fantasy back catalogue. However, with Absynthe, he is writing as Brendan P Bellacourt for his Sci – Fi debut. Originally touted as mixture of Inception, Deco – punk by the way of the Great Gatsby, this grabbed my interest by the throat and when I was offered a copy to review by the publishers, Head of Zeus, I literally bit their publishing hands off.
The story is set in an alternate version of the 1920 ‘s, which whilst it has familiar feel to it, such as prohibition etc, it is vastly different. This version of history is populated by advanced technology, mechanoids, hoppers and speeding trains. Not only that, there is a version of The First World War, but in this reality, America has fought a war against The St Lawrence Pact, a treatise of the other countries in the world, such as Great Britain, Germany and Canada, to name a few.
Absynthe tells the story of Liam Mulcahey, a veteran of the Great war, who is now working as a mechanic for the Aysana family. However, the Aysana family are more than just his employers, their son, Morgan is Liam’s best friend and has been a rock to Liam after he has returned from the war with amnesia and very few recollections of his time in the army.
We start the story by learning that there is civil unrest in this version of America and that the Uprising, who believe that President Leland De Pere is far from the perfect president that he portrays himself to be, is attempting to subjugate the People of that great nation. In their attempt to overthrow his rule they have attacked on a number of occasions and in a variety of methods. The worst being an attempt to poison the people. As a result, a serum has been developed and it is rolled out at a civic celebration of the scientific might of America with the unveiling of a new type of train.
Whilst at the gathering, the vaccination is rolled out to the people to protect them, and several of the celebrants are given the serum, including Liam’s friend Morgan. However, the celebration is cut short by an unforeseen attack by the uprising, where Liam witnesses something quite strange goings on.
He puts this down to the effects of his mental health difficulties as a result of the war, and dismisses it out of hand.
Later, in the week he joins Morgan and his friend at a local speakeasy for a night of carousing and cavorting. There he meets the beautiful socialite, Grace. Whilst engaging in this impromptu party, Liam is persuaded to partake in the drinking of Absynthe. The substances hallucinogenic properties affect each of the group of friends in a different way. However, whilst at the speakeasy, the club is again attacked by Uprising forces, resulting in the deaths of a number of the people that frequent the club, Liam and Morgan escape with the aid of the family Mechanoid, Alistair, who save the heir to the Aysana fortune and carries him away.
Following this, inexplicable incidents begin to occur. Morgan becomes increasingly ill, and after visiting the family doctor, they are pulled over by what they think is the police but are subsequently attacked again by forces unknown. They become wanted felons and find themselves plunged into a web of intrigue, resulting in the kidnapping of Morgan.
Liam learns that things are not as they seem, and after a mind-altering attack by unknown forces, including the right-hand man of the President himself. Liam begins to suspect that the Uprising may have a point. He is subsequently saved by Grace and is recruited by the Uprising, who agree to help him find Morgan.
In Absynthe, Brendan P. Bellacourt presents a beautifully crafted and intricate world, that it is at once familiar as it weaves in aspects of 1920’s America with what we would expect from a novel set in that period, such as women in fancy flapper dresses, speakeasys, seductive smoky jazz joints etc, with more science fiction aspects juxtaposed into the environment. Rather than being a marriage of convenience, the two are interwoven and connected gorgeously, each coinciding to give a sumptuous stylistic evocativeness to the story.
The use of the ritualistic aspects of drinking Absynthe as an almost mystical transition of two different worlds works marvelously. And yes, it does have that Matrix aspect to it, but this is an effective device which gives the story its depth.
Furthermore, there is a synthesis of different types of story here. Throughout the book there is an engaging action/adventure story, coupled with the mystery surrounding the disappearance of key members of the plot and how this impacts on the story.
There are a number of plots and subplots running throughout the book, and whilst the main story revolves around Liam’s search for Morgan, the romantic aspects of Grace and Liam, and evil conspiracies, there is also the treatment of veterans after war, which is encapsulated in Alistair’s story.
The main protagonist. Liam is not what I expected. He is not the ‘all flashy’ action hero that blazes his way through the story. He is damaged, his memories shot to pieces. He cares deeply for those around him, and is able to accept that the situation that he finds himself in is not purely black and white, good versus evil.
The device of using Liam’s gradual reawakening of his memories provides both an effective backstory to the events that are affecting the world today, but they also move the plot on effectively and shed light on the mystery that is unfolding at the heart of the story.
Absynthe captivated me with its gripping action, a beautifully intricate backdrop, mind bending mystery and fantastic characters.
The story is set in an alternate version of the 1920 ‘s, which whilst it has familiar feel to it, such as prohibition etc, it is vastly different. This version of history is populated by advanced technology, mechanoids, hoppers and speeding trains. Not only that, there is a version of The First World War, but in this reality, America has fought a war against The St Lawrence Pact, a treatise of the other countries in the world, such as Great Britain, Germany and Canada, to name a few.
Absynthe tells the story of Liam Mulcahey, a veteran of the Great war, who is now working as a mechanic for the Aysana family. However, the Aysana family are more than just his employers, their son, Morgan is Liam’s best friend and has been a rock to Liam after he has returned from the war with amnesia and very few recollections of his time in the army.
We start the story by learning that there is civil unrest in this version of America and that the Uprising, who believe that President Leland De Pere is far from the perfect president that he portrays himself to be, is attempting to subjugate the People of that great nation. In their attempt to overthrow his rule they have attacked on a number of occasions and in a variety of methods. The worst being an attempt to poison the people. As a result, a serum has been developed and it is rolled out at a civic celebration of the scientific might of America with the unveiling of a new type of train.
Whilst at the gathering, the vaccination is rolled out to the people to protect them, and several of the celebrants are given the serum, including Liam’s friend Morgan. However, the celebration is cut short by an unforeseen attack by the uprising, where Liam witnesses something quite strange goings on.
He puts this down to the effects of his mental health difficulties as a result of the war, and dismisses it out of hand.
Later, in the week he joins Morgan and his friend at a local speakeasy for a night of carousing and cavorting. There he meets the beautiful socialite, Grace. Whilst engaging in this impromptu party, Liam is persuaded to partake in the drinking of Absynthe. The substances hallucinogenic properties affect each of the group of friends in a different way. However, whilst at the speakeasy, the club is again attacked by Uprising forces, resulting in the deaths of a number of the people that frequent the club, Liam and Morgan escape with the aid of the family Mechanoid, Alistair, who save the heir to the Aysana fortune and carries him away.
Following this, inexplicable incidents begin to occur. Morgan becomes increasingly ill, and after visiting the family doctor, they are pulled over by what they think is the police but are subsequently attacked again by forces unknown. They become wanted felons and find themselves plunged into a web of intrigue, resulting in the kidnapping of Morgan.
Liam learns that things are not as they seem, and after a mind-altering attack by unknown forces, including the right-hand man of the President himself. Liam begins to suspect that the Uprising may have a point. He is subsequently saved by Grace and is recruited by the Uprising, who agree to help him find Morgan.
In Absynthe, Brendan P. Bellacourt presents a beautifully crafted and intricate world, that it is at once familiar as it weaves in aspects of 1920’s America with what we would expect from a novel set in that period, such as women in fancy flapper dresses, speakeasys, seductive smoky jazz joints etc, with more science fiction aspects juxtaposed into the environment. Rather than being a marriage of convenience, the two are interwoven and connected gorgeously, each coinciding to give a sumptuous stylistic evocativeness to the story.
The use of the ritualistic aspects of drinking Absynthe as an almost mystical transition of two different worlds works marvelously. And yes, it does have that Matrix aspect to it, but this is an effective device which gives the story its depth.
Furthermore, there is a synthesis of different types of story here. Throughout the book there is an engaging action/adventure story, coupled with the mystery surrounding the disappearance of key members of the plot and how this impacts on the story.
There are a number of plots and subplots running throughout the book, and whilst the main story revolves around Liam’s search for Morgan, the romantic aspects of Grace and Liam, and evil conspiracies, there is also the treatment of veterans after war, which is encapsulated in Alistair’s story.
The main protagonist. Liam is not what I expected. He is not the ‘all flashy’ action hero that blazes his way through the story. He is damaged, his memories shot to pieces. He cares deeply for those around him, and is able to accept that the situation that he finds himself in is not purely black and white, good versus evil.
The device of using Liam’s gradual reawakening of his memories provides both an effective backstory to the events that are affecting the world today, but they also move the plot on effectively and shed light on the mystery that is unfolding at the heart of the story.
Absynthe captivated me with its gripping action, a beautifully intricate backdrop, mind bending mystery and fantastic characters.
January 19, 2022
This is an intriguing world, clearly still fractured and struggling after the terrible events of the Great War. In this alternate United States ended up fighting a desperate war against a coalition of Britain, France, Canada and Germany and only narrowly managed to win, thanks to the valiant intervention of the now-President De Pere. Their technology is far in advance of where we were in the 1920s, as huge strides have been made in the field of virology, so that people can undergo major transformations, both physically and mentally on being injected by serums.
I particularly enjoyed the opening sequences of this book, where we are firmly in Liam’s head and he reluctantly attends a public opening for a new train as a favour to his friend – and it is Liam’s journey that powers this narrative. Personally, I would have preferred it if the narrative had kept with Liam throughout, as there were times when we were with other characters and I was conscious that I was flipping the pages wanting to get back to him.
The fast-moving, twisty plot provides a number of surprises. The worldbuilding was especially well done, so that I was able to visualise the interesting blend of art deco and steampunk, with a helping of speakeasies and vintage cars to add to the richness. This is an ambitious novel that examines the theme of power – who has it, who wants it and what some people will do for it. None of the conclusions are particularly original or world-shattering. But I like the fact that Bellacourt ends up having power as a personification – and that the damage started when initially decent people decided that the means justified the ends when they were in desperate straits.
However, if you’d rather read it as a straightforward 1920s steampunk action adventure story – fans of this genre should find it an entertaining book. While I obtained an arc of Absynthe from the publisher via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
8/10
I particularly enjoyed the opening sequences of this book, where we are firmly in Liam’s head and he reluctantly attends a public opening for a new train as a favour to his friend – and it is Liam’s journey that powers this narrative. Personally, I would have preferred it if the narrative had kept with Liam throughout, as there were times when we were with other characters and I was conscious that I was flipping the pages wanting to get back to him.
The fast-moving, twisty plot provides a number of surprises. The worldbuilding was especially well done, so that I was able to visualise the interesting blend of art deco and steampunk, with a helping of speakeasies and vintage cars to add to the richness. This is an ambitious novel that examines the theme of power – who has it, who wants it and what some people will do for it. None of the conclusions are particularly original or world-shattering. But I like the fact that Bellacourt ends up having power as a personification – and that the damage started when initially decent people decided that the means justified the ends when they were in desperate straits.
However, if you’d rather read it as a straightforward 1920s steampunk action adventure story – fans of this genre should find it an entertaining book. While I obtained an arc of Absynthe from the publisher via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
8/10
November 7, 2022
E-arc through Netgalley and Physical Copy read from library.
BOOKCITEMENT LEVEL 3.3/5
This was an interesting alternate 1920's history story with a little bit of steampunk thrown in. We follow a character called Liam, who was wounded in the war and can't remember much of anything. His adventure starts at a flash train ceremony where he witnesses a break in.
I liked elements of this story. The alternate history aspect was pretty cool, and I enjoyed that 1920's kind of feel. I also enjoyed the slight steampunk vibe that it had.
The story was pretty fast paced, and I was always interested in trying to figure out just what was going on.
I did find this story to be just a little bland. Liam wasn't the most exciting guy to follow. None of the characters really had a lot of excitement to them. I just never had much connection to anyone.
This book did move really fast, but it could almost be too fast. There was a lot to wrap your brain around, and sometimes I got a little confused as to what was happening. They just moved really quickly from one thing to another.
The story also goes back and forth in time, reliving some of Liam's war days, and it didn't always feel the smoothest.
I also wasn't that surprised by a couple of the reveals.
This book had cool ideas, but they weren't presented in a way that made it the most compelling story.
On a positive, the copy I read from was a floppy paperback, it was nice.
November 28, 2021
Already well established in the fantasy world, Bradley P. Beaulieu – writing here as Brendan P. Bellecourt – turns his attention to science fiction with Abysnthe, a wonderfully imaginative novel which blends art deco stylings with retrofuturistic technology and mind bending illusions. Liam Mulcahey remembers little of his time in the Great War, his memories fractured due to a head wound sustained during the fighting, and now years later he works as a mechanic for the wealthy family of his closest friend. When he joins Morgan and his socialite friends at a Chicago speakeasy he meets the beguiling, mysterious Grace, and partakes of the hallucination-inducing spirit absynthe. The visions Liam sees under the liquor’s influence leave him unsettled, but it soon becomes clear that they were much more than simple flights of fancy, as he finds himself caught up in secrets and conspiracies even as his jumbled memories begin to come clear.
While there are plenty of gripping action scenes full of brutal mechanika and reality-twisting illusions, this isn’t really an action-thriller. It’s more thoughtful than that, the pace and excitement of the plot nicely balancing an engaging exploration of characters dealing with physical and psychological trauma. Liam is a remarkably caring, empathetic character and really provides both the moral and emotional heart of the story, while the slow reveal of his memories means that the reader comes to terms with who he is and what’s really happening even as he does the same. This is a book that’s all about illusion and things not being quite what they seem, and the slow reveal works perfectly here – some of the bare bones are reasonably clear early on, but it’s deeply satisfying trying to work out the details along the way. With a brilliant sense of time and place, great characters and some very cool speculative concepts, this blend of alternate history and high-concept science fiction really makes for a powerful, thought-provoking novel.
Read the full review at https://www.trackofwords.com/2021/11/...
While there are plenty of gripping action scenes full of brutal mechanika and reality-twisting illusions, this isn’t really an action-thriller. It’s more thoughtful than that, the pace and excitement of the plot nicely balancing an engaging exploration of characters dealing with physical and psychological trauma. Liam is a remarkably caring, empathetic character and really provides both the moral and emotional heart of the story, while the slow reveal of his memories means that the reader comes to terms with who he is and what’s really happening even as he does the same. This is a book that’s all about illusion and things not being quite what they seem, and the slow reveal works perfectly here – some of the bare bones are reasonably clear early on, but it’s deeply satisfying trying to work out the details along the way. With a brilliant sense of time and place, great characters and some very cool speculative concepts, this blend of alternate history and high-concept science fiction really makes for a powerful, thought-provoking novel.
Read the full review at https://www.trackofwords.com/2021/11/...
June 26, 2022
I'm not even sure how to rate this. I was really sucked in at the beginning and I thought the premise was really interesting. I don't want to say that it was slow moving, because things were always happening and it feels like you are always learning more and more information, but I did find the middle to drag. And then the ending was wild, but not in a good way. I think this is like a 3.5, but I rounded down because of the ending. This might be a slight spoiler, but I think the story would have been better served if the author stayed away from labelling actions as mental health issues. Everything that happened could have been explained using the drugs, without mentioning any real-life mental health diagnoses.
May 10, 2022
I was gifted this book for my birthday and didn’t know anything about it. I ended up really enjoying it. It had a lot of good twists
January 1, 2022
This book is a standalone, Deco-Punk story told in a Prohibition-Era adjacent USA shortly after the conclusion of WW1- a WW1 fought in the USA. I enjoyed this book for it's prose, setting, plot, characterization and worldbuilding.
What is Deco-Punk? In short, an art-deco aesthetic, perhaps involving Mafias, Prohibition, Post-WW1 depression, Jazz and the like.
Basically, I'd say video games like 'Bioshock' and 'Dishonored' are Deco-Punk. Similarly, books like 'The Craft Sequence,' 'The Divine Cities,' 'Gods of Jade and Shadow' and 'Amberlough' are Deco-Punk.
Spoilers Below! You've been warned. Also, all reviews are subjective. My opinions are my own. I'm writing this review as an author critiquing another author's book, in an attempt to improve my own writing.
________________________________________
BIASES STATED
To put this review/study in proper context, you must know my starting point.
I am a fan of this author's. I signed up for an ARC copy of this book. I got my ARC copy only a week or two before release, so I didn't have time to read it given my fairly crowded reading schedule. Instead I waited for release and bought the audiobook version, and listened to that. I do not regret that purchase.
All that said, you should bare in mind that I am a fan of this author's work and that I got an ARC. I will not let my being a fan/getting a free copy influence my review, but as this is the 'biases stated' section, just remember that those biases exist.
________________________________________
WHAT IS THE TARGET AUDIENCE?
• Adult, but YA can read it.
• Alternate History Sci-Fi
• Deco-Punk, WW1, Conspiracy Fantasy
• Battle Mechs
________________________________________
READER'S EMOTIONAL RESPONSE/ FUN FACTOR
I feel as though I am in this book's target audience, as a result I had more fun reading this book than someone who is not in the target audience. That said, I feel that this book is an all-around excellently written story.
Overall, I give the story's Emotional Resonance: (4/5 Stars)
(5 Stars= Perfect, 4=Great, 3=Good/Average, 2=Fun but Flawed, 1=Not Recommended)
________________________________________
SIMILAR BOOKS
• ‘Gods of Jade and Shadow’ by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• ‘The Ruin of Angels’ by Max Gladstone
• ‘City of Stairs’ Book Review
________________________________________
CONCEPT AND EXECUTION
Spoiler time! The first third of this book is a conspiracy novel. The protagonist lives ignorant of 'The Masquerade' of a government secret. The secret is that to win World War 1 the government used a mind-control bacterium, which allows certain people to generate illusions with ESP. Since then, a shadowy cabal infected the US population with that bacterium, in a quest to replace the government and take over the world. The heroes must now pierce the illusions of everyday life (a la The Matrix), find the cabal, and free the enslaved psychics integral to their schemes.
This is a good concept.
Execution wise, I thought it was largely well-executed... with one minor problems. I liked the pacing of the first third of the book (during 'The Masquerade') and the final third (when every layer of illusion has been ripped away), but I felt that the middle third was a bit sloggy.
________________________________________
CHARACTERS AND CHARACTERIZATION:
MAJOR SPOILERS!
I really enjoyed the protagonist, Liam. Liam is a retired soldier from WW1, who suffers from major PTSD and memory loss as a result of his trauma. Liam lives with his Irish grandmother, who gives him useful advice at various points in his story. Nothing to strange about that... except it's all lies.
Early in the story, Liam pierces the veil of The Masquerade and sees through the illusions of the magic system. He realizes his 'grandmother' is a PTSD hallucination. His PTSD/subconscious interacting with the mind-control bacterium to generate this hallucination, trying to heal itself by bringing his grandmother back to 'life' to keep him company in his loneliness. And guess what: even after he knows his grandma is a hallucination, Liam still listens to his grandmother's advice. This was a great bit of characterization, showing the conflict native to Liam's personality. I simply loved the dynamic between Liam and his grandmother/hallucination.
Similarly, his 'amnesia' was caused by an enemy psychic trying to cover up cabal secrets during the war. Liam's personality at the beginning of the book is really a product of a cabal coverup. Watching Liam recover his memories and true personality as the story progresses was absolutely fascinating.
The antagonist is fascinating.
• At first, before we pierce the Masquerade, we think Grace us the antagonist, because she leads the rebellion against the government and the rebellion is the enemy.
• Then the protagonist's love interest Grace helps Liam see through the Masquerade. With Grace's aid, we learn that President De Pere is leader of the cabal, and that he killed Liam's old WW1-era girlfriend Colette.
• And finally, as the last act dawns, we learn that De Pere, Grace and Colette are all the same person. After Colette injected herself with the mind control bacteria, she suffered a personality break, and created multiple rival personalities. She is now the leader of the cabal, De Pere; the leader of the rebellion, Grace; and also the bacterium hivemind, Echo.
Personally, I thought this was a brilliant antagonist. I really liked how the merging of the theme of mental illness with the 'magic system' of mind control and illusions resulted in the multiple personalities. When every layer of Colette's madness is peeled away and revealed, was I blown away. At points I guessed that De Pere was Grace. Similarly, at points I guessed that De Pere was Colette. But I never guessed that all of them were the same person. I especially loved the twist of the hivemind of Echo- an emergent gestalt hivemind made up of everyone who is infected with the bacterium. But it was all clearly foreshadowed, so these conspiracy twists felt authentic and earned by the narrative.
And finally, the side characters.
They all had personal histories, personalities, friendships, loves, ambitions and memories. They were better than the average Fantasy side character I've read over the years. No complaints, they were great.
________________________________________
PACING AND STRUCTURE
I will be analyzing this book's structure with the three act format.
• Act 1 is when the protagonist Liam is completely trapped by The Masquerade.
o The story begins with Liam and his friend Morgan going to see De Pere at a train station for a political rally/vaccination campaign. The rally is attacked by the rebellion. Liam helps De Pere fight off the rebellion.
o Liam and Morgan go drinking at a speakeasy bar. They drink Absynthe... which has been drugged by Grace. The drugs in the absynthe restore some of Liam's repressed memories.
o Morgan suffers a negative reaction to the vaccine. His condition quickly declines, and he needs medical help. But before they can get that help, strange people attack their speakeasy. Liam and Morgan escape, but the people they're partying with die.
o The next day Morgan is taken captive by the cabal's mechs. Morgan feels forced to turn to Grace for aid.
• Act 2 is everything between when Liam has pierced the veil of the Masquerade and the reveal that Colette is De Pere and Grace.
o Grace takes Liam into her confidence, and reveals the truth of De Pere's cabal. Liam takes more absynthe, and remembers more repressed memories.
o Liam, Grace and the rebellion go under cover (using illusion psychic powers) to try to get Morgan back. They fail, but the learn more about De Pere's plans for domination.
o They try to get Morgan again and again, and fail again and again, but each time they gain some information.
o Eventually they get Morgan back, but too late: he's turning into a monster.
o And finally, after a final batch of memory-restoring absynthe, more memories are revealed. Liam finally remembers that Colette and Du Pere are the same person.
o Grace reveals that she is Colette's repressed 'good' side, as compared to Du Pere's 'Evil' side. Grace tells Liam to go assassinate herself/Du Pere/Colette.
• Act 3 is everything after that final reveal.
o The rebellion sends out assassins to go kill Du Pere and end the war...
o But on the way there Liam is told by Du Pere's second-in-command that not only does Colette have three personalities (Du Pere/Colette/Grace), but she has a fourth- the psychic hivemind Echo. Echo is the true villain, not Du Pere.
o Not only that, but when Grace told Liam to assassinate her at the end of the last act, that was really Echo. Echo wants Colette to be assassinated, because if Colette is assassinated, it will free the hive mind Echo from Colette's moral code, allowing Echo to mind control the entire planet.
o Liam then captures Du Pere, and saves both of his love interests Colette and Grace from being assassinated.
o Colette gets some therapy, and no longer has extreme split-personality syndrome.
Pacing wise, I felt act 2 lasted too long. The protagonists went through too many try-fail cycles trying to get Morgan back. First they attacked the dinner party, then they attacked the university, then the pier, then they went to Nova Solus, then they were ambushed... yada yada... it was too much. One or two try-fail cycles would have been good enough. This is a small quibble overall; the book is only 400 pages long, so having a slightly protracted middle isn't too great a problem.
('Try-fail cycles' are events when the protagonist tries to achieve something, but fails. The protagonist then repeats this plotpoint again and again, failing again and again. The purpose of an author using try-fail cycles is to build up tension so that when the protagonist finally succeeds that that success feels more 'earned.')
________________________________________
PLOT, STAKES AND TENSION
I enjoyed the plot here on both a thematic level. It had a mildly slow start, until the rebel attack on the political rally, and it was slow again when the heroes were trying to regain Morgan. Other than that, I really enjoyed almost every moment of this story.
I enjoyed the book's tension. Liam was an ethical person who refused to kill people needlessly (his enemies were mind controlled, so killing them would be cruel), so the tension was naturally raised by the fact that Liam struggled to not kill his enemies, while his enemies were actively trying to kill him. I also enjoyed the tension of the unknown: this was a conspiracy story, so unravelling the various layers of illusion, propaganda and conspiracy innately had strong tension to it.
I wasn't really sold on the book's stakes. If you read very many of my reviews you'll know that I don't generally like 'the end of the world' stakes. But that's a personal taste sort of thing; it bothered me but might not bother you.
________________________________________
AUTHORIAL VOICE (TONE, PROSE AND THEME)
I liked the author's prose. It's beautiful, but not ostentatiously beautiful. Occasionally while reading this, I was left feeling jealous at the author's skill with the pen.
The book's tone was serious, but not particularly dark/grimdark.
The book had a theme of control, both direct control (via mind control) and propaganda. It had themes of mental illness across multiple characters.
________________________________________
SETTING, WORLDBUILDING AND ORIGINALITY
I liked the setting and worldbuilding. You don't see deco-punk every day. And the whole biological mind control bacteria reminded me of Bioshock's sea slugs in a big way, along with the battle mechs in this reminding me of the Big Daddies from Bioshock.
________________________________________
AUDIOBOOK NOTES
I listened to the audiobook, and it was very good. The narrator did a good job with the accents.
______________________________________
________________________________________
SUMMARY
This is a great book, and at moments excellent. Read it if you're interested in a 1920's-inspired story with battle mechs, mind control and mental illness.
________________________________________
What is Deco-Punk? In short, an art-deco aesthetic, perhaps involving Mafias, Prohibition, Post-WW1 depression, Jazz and the like.
Basically, I'd say video games like 'Bioshock' and 'Dishonored' are Deco-Punk. Similarly, books like 'The Craft Sequence,' 'The Divine Cities,' 'Gods of Jade and Shadow' and 'Amberlough' are Deco-Punk.
Spoilers Below! You've been warned. Also, all reviews are subjective. My opinions are my own. I'm writing this review as an author critiquing another author's book, in an attempt to improve my own writing.
________________________________________
BIASES STATED
To put this review/study in proper context, you must know my starting point.
I am a fan of this author's. I signed up for an ARC copy of this book. I got my ARC copy only a week or two before release, so I didn't have time to read it given my fairly crowded reading schedule. Instead I waited for release and bought the audiobook version, and listened to that. I do not regret that purchase.
All that said, you should bare in mind that I am a fan of this author's work and that I got an ARC. I will not let my being a fan/getting a free copy influence my review, but as this is the 'biases stated' section, just remember that those biases exist.
________________________________________
WHAT IS THE TARGET AUDIENCE?
• Adult, but YA can read it.
• Alternate History Sci-Fi
• Deco-Punk, WW1, Conspiracy Fantasy
• Battle Mechs
________________________________________
READER'S EMOTIONAL RESPONSE/ FUN FACTOR
I feel as though I am in this book's target audience, as a result I had more fun reading this book than someone who is not in the target audience. That said, I feel that this book is an all-around excellently written story.
Overall, I give the story's Emotional Resonance: (4/5 Stars)
(5 Stars= Perfect, 4=Great, 3=Good/Average, 2=Fun but Flawed, 1=Not Recommended)
________________________________________
SIMILAR BOOKS
• ‘Gods of Jade and Shadow’ by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• ‘The Ruin of Angels’ by Max Gladstone
• ‘City of Stairs’ Book Review
________________________________________
CONCEPT AND EXECUTION
Spoiler time! The first third of this book is a conspiracy novel. The protagonist lives ignorant of 'The Masquerade' of a government secret. The secret is that to win World War 1 the government used a mind-control bacterium, which allows certain people to generate illusions with ESP. Since then, a shadowy cabal infected the US population with that bacterium, in a quest to replace the government and take over the world. The heroes must now pierce the illusions of everyday life (a la The Matrix), find the cabal, and free the enslaved psychics integral to their schemes.
This is a good concept.
Execution wise, I thought it was largely well-executed... with one minor problems. I liked the pacing of the first third of the book (during 'The Masquerade') and the final third (when every layer of illusion has been ripped away), but I felt that the middle third was a bit sloggy.
________________________________________
CHARACTERS AND CHARACTERIZATION:
MAJOR SPOILERS!
I really enjoyed the protagonist, Liam. Liam is a retired soldier from WW1, who suffers from major PTSD and memory loss as a result of his trauma. Liam lives with his Irish grandmother, who gives him useful advice at various points in his story. Nothing to strange about that... except it's all lies.
Early in the story, Liam pierces the veil of The Masquerade and sees through the illusions of the magic system. He realizes his 'grandmother' is a PTSD hallucination. His PTSD/subconscious interacting with the mind-control bacterium to generate this hallucination, trying to heal itself by bringing his grandmother back to 'life' to keep him company in his loneliness. And guess what: even after he knows his grandma is a hallucination, Liam still listens to his grandmother's advice. This was a great bit of characterization, showing the conflict native to Liam's personality. I simply loved the dynamic between Liam and his grandmother/hallucination.
Similarly, his 'amnesia' was caused by an enemy psychic trying to cover up cabal secrets during the war. Liam's personality at the beginning of the book is really a product of a cabal coverup. Watching Liam recover his memories and true personality as the story progresses was absolutely fascinating.
The antagonist is fascinating.
• At first, before we pierce the Masquerade, we think Grace us the antagonist, because she leads the rebellion against the government and the rebellion is the enemy.
• Then the protagonist's love interest Grace helps Liam see through the Masquerade. With Grace's aid, we learn that President De Pere is leader of the cabal, and that he killed Liam's old WW1-era girlfriend Colette.
• And finally, as the last act dawns, we learn that De Pere, Grace and Colette are all the same person. After Colette injected herself with the mind control bacteria, she suffered a personality break, and created multiple rival personalities. She is now the leader of the cabal, De Pere; the leader of the rebellion, Grace; and also the bacterium hivemind, Echo.
Personally, I thought this was a brilliant antagonist. I really liked how the merging of the theme of mental illness with the 'magic system' of mind control and illusions resulted in the multiple personalities. When every layer of Colette's madness is peeled away and revealed, was I blown away. At points I guessed that De Pere was Grace. Similarly, at points I guessed that De Pere was Colette. But I never guessed that all of them were the same person. I especially loved the twist of the hivemind of Echo- an emergent gestalt hivemind made up of everyone who is infected with the bacterium. But it was all clearly foreshadowed, so these conspiracy twists felt authentic and earned by the narrative.
And finally, the side characters.
They all had personal histories, personalities, friendships, loves, ambitions and memories. They were better than the average Fantasy side character I've read over the years. No complaints, they were great.
________________________________________
PACING AND STRUCTURE
I will be analyzing this book's structure with the three act format.
• Act 1 is when the protagonist Liam is completely trapped by The Masquerade.
o The story begins with Liam and his friend Morgan going to see De Pere at a train station for a political rally/vaccination campaign. The rally is attacked by the rebellion. Liam helps De Pere fight off the rebellion.
o Liam and Morgan go drinking at a speakeasy bar. They drink Absynthe... which has been drugged by Grace. The drugs in the absynthe restore some of Liam's repressed memories.
o Morgan suffers a negative reaction to the vaccine. His condition quickly declines, and he needs medical help. But before they can get that help, strange people attack their speakeasy. Liam and Morgan escape, but the people they're partying with die.
o The next day Morgan is taken captive by the cabal's mechs. Morgan feels forced to turn to Grace for aid.
• Act 2 is everything between when Liam has pierced the veil of the Masquerade and the reveal that Colette is De Pere and Grace.
o Grace takes Liam into her confidence, and reveals the truth of De Pere's cabal. Liam takes more absynthe, and remembers more repressed memories.
o Liam, Grace and the rebellion go under cover (using illusion psychic powers) to try to get Morgan back. They fail, but the learn more about De Pere's plans for domination.
o They try to get Morgan again and again, and fail again and again, but each time they gain some information.
o Eventually they get Morgan back, but too late: he's turning into a monster.
o And finally, after a final batch of memory-restoring absynthe, more memories are revealed. Liam finally remembers that Colette and Du Pere are the same person.
o Grace reveals that she is Colette's repressed 'good' side, as compared to Du Pere's 'Evil' side. Grace tells Liam to go assassinate herself/Du Pere/Colette.
• Act 3 is everything after that final reveal.
o The rebellion sends out assassins to go kill Du Pere and end the war...
o But on the way there Liam is told by Du Pere's second-in-command that not only does Colette have three personalities (Du Pere/Colette/Grace), but she has a fourth- the psychic hivemind Echo. Echo is the true villain, not Du Pere.
o Not only that, but when Grace told Liam to assassinate her at the end of the last act, that was really Echo. Echo wants Colette to be assassinated, because if Colette is assassinated, it will free the hive mind Echo from Colette's moral code, allowing Echo to mind control the entire planet.
o Liam then captures Du Pere, and saves both of his love interests Colette and Grace from being assassinated.
o Colette gets some therapy, and no longer has extreme split-personality syndrome.
Pacing wise, I felt act 2 lasted too long. The protagonists went through too many try-fail cycles trying to get Morgan back. First they attacked the dinner party, then they attacked the university, then the pier, then they went to Nova Solus, then they were ambushed... yada yada... it was too much. One or two try-fail cycles would have been good enough. This is a small quibble overall; the book is only 400 pages long, so having a slightly protracted middle isn't too great a problem.
('Try-fail cycles' are events when the protagonist tries to achieve something, but fails. The protagonist then repeats this plotpoint again and again, failing again and again. The purpose of an author using try-fail cycles is to build up tension so that when the protagonist finally succeeds that that success feels more 'earned.')
________________________________________
PLOT, STAKES AND TENSION
I enjoyed the plot here on both a thematic level. It had a mildly slow start, until the rebel attack on the political rally, and it was slow again when the heroes were trying to regain Morgan. Other than that, I really enjoyed almost every moment of this story.
I enjoyed the book's tension. Liam was an ethical person who refused to kill people needlessly (his enemies were mind controlled, so killing them would be cruel), so the tension was naturally raised by the fact that Liam struggled to not kill his enemies, while his enemies were actively trying to kill him. I also enjoyed the tension of the unknown: this was a conspiracy story, so unravelling the various layers of illusion, propaganda and conspiracy innately had strong tension to it.
I wasn't really sold on the book's stakes. If you read very many of my reviews you'll know that I don't generally like 'the end of the world' stakes. But that's a personal taste sort of thing; it bothered me but might not bother you.
________________________________________
AUTHORIAL VOICE (TONE, PROSE AND THEME)
I liked the author's prose. It's beautiful, but not ostentatiously beautiful. Occasionally while reading this, I was left feeling jealous at the author's skill with the pen.
The book's tone was serious, but not particularly dark/grimdark.
The book had a theme of control, both direct control (via mind control) and propaganda. It had themes of mental illness across multiple characters.
________________________________________
SETTING, WORLDBUILDING AND ORIGINALITY
I liked the setting and worldbuilding. You don't see deco-punk every day. And the whole biological mind control bacteria reminded me of Bioshock's sea slugs in a big way, along with the battle mechs in this reminding me of the Big Daddies from Bioshock.
________________________________________
AUDIOBOOK NOTES
I listened to the audiobook, and it was very good. The narrator did a good job with the accents.
______________________________________
________________________________________
SUMMARY
This is a great book, and at moments excellent. Read it if you're interested in a 1920's-inspired story with battle mechs, mind control and mental illness.
________________________________________
April 5, 2023
jezus CHRIST ??? the use of illusions and mindfuck is so wild in this book.
it starts off quite slow, but as soon as there is more information to work with it just keeps getting better and wilder. It can be a bit confusing because there is a lot of written illusion, but i think Brendan made it work really well!
it starts off quite slow, but as soon as there is more information to work with it just keeps getting better and wilder. It can be a bit confusing because there is a lot of written illusion, but i think Brendan made it work really well!
October 23, 2021
I think this one is going to be another one that you love or hate. I liked the characters and the science fiction feel but the alternative history was really weird. The flow was good and the ending was ok.
December 6, 2022
One of the pleasures of the Alternative History tale is encountering real historical figures in a different context or circumstances, seeing how the author has woven them into the story, perhaps shedding a new light on what happened in our timeline. If judged by this criterion Absynthe fails to deliver. The setting is the US in 1928, ten years after a Great War ended, but despite mentions of everyday things that you might expect - wireless, airships, biplanes, Art Deco buildings and interiors, even horse-drawn cabs - the only familiar (to the reader) historical luminary alluded to in the text is Charlie Chaplin, whom one of the characters says has a new film coming out. In Absynthe all of the important (and all the bystanding) characters are entirely fictional.
Not that it matters, for this is a much transformed US. The capital has been renamed Novo Solis, the President is one Leland De Pere, a former soldier in that Great War, which was fought against the St Lawrence Pact, a somewhat unlikely combination of Germany, Canada, Britain and France. It is a US so altered that Bellecourt’s story could have been set in a completely imaginary country (or indeed on an imaginary planet) without making any difference to it.
Viewpoint character Liam Mulcahey is a veteran of the war whose memory of it is exceedingly patchy. In the course of the book we find that during his service he was a member of an elite squad known as the Devil’s Henchmen who had been given an experimental drug that meant they each saw, heard and felt what every other member of the squad did. De Pere and his enforcer side-kick Leo Kohler were officers in the Henchmen.
Bellecourt starts his tale at the inaugural journey of a high-speed flashtrain designed by the company owned by the parents of Liam’s friend Morgan Aysana, where the President is due to give a speech. During the ceremony we gain a first glimpse of weird when Liam witnesses a man entering one of the train’s carriages not through a door but through its side panelling. An ensuing kerfuffle, subsequently blamed on a revolutionary group known as The Uprising, leads Liam into the presence of Kohler and De Pere. On discussing the incident with the President, Liam finds his memories of it being altered, ending up feeling as if nothing untoward had happened. This is only the first instance of many in the book where the power to generate and maintain illusions tips the story over into Fantasy rather than SF.
In a subsequent meeting with agents of the Uprising Liam learns of the influence on De Pere of a shadowy group of powerful forces (somewhat disappointingly made up of the usual suspects of the elite and the media and given the rather mundane appellation of the Cabal) whose operations soon plague Liam and his companions. The novel sees the gradual recovering of Liam’s memories, which are accompanied by those of project instigator Dr Colette Silva, who utilised the properties of a bacterium named Echobacterum sentensis to blend the Henchmen’s consciousnesses. These memories reveal why the Henchmen’s memories were conveniently ‘lost’ at the end of the war as well as what subsequently became of Dr Silva. Meanwhile The Cabal as an enemy is supplanted by the revelation of the emergence of a superarching consciousness known as Echo.
The world portrayed here contains an odd mixture of technology - triplanes and those horse-drawn cabs but also more advanced stuff such as the armoured body suits called hoppers that the Devil’s Henchmen fought the war in, the corresponding goliaths of the St Lawrence Pact, those flashtrains, and war casualties whose damaged bodies have been augmented by what read like steam-powered prosthetics, which include lungs. Bellecourt uses the terms mechanika and mechanikal to describe these. Medical and psychological terminology in the text postdates that of the real 1920s. Also deviating from our 1920s is the degree of agency and autonomy the female characters have. Though Dr Silva remembers some prejudice against her during her researches, the treatment of women by the author and his characters is as if they are our contemporaries. (That is of course not a bad thing in itself but it does detract from any sense of historicity.)
Sadly the text at times also resorts to cliché (a veritable flock, the frequent use of ‘very’ to emphasise a noun, ‘miracle of miracles,’) or unwarranted archaisms, (he knew not why,) and contains a large amount of obtrusive information dumping. The absinthe of the (again oddly spelled) title does appear - if only twice - but plays no material part in the plot. Absynthe is perhaps not one for purists but if your readerly tipple tends towards action adventure with a hint of mystery and laced with body-count, this could
Not that it matters, for this is a much transformed US. The capital has been renamed Novo Solis, the President is one Leland De Pere, a former soldier in that Great War, which was fought against the St Lawrence Pact, a somewhat unlikely combination of Germany, Canada, Britain and France. It is a US so altered that Bellecourt’s story could have been set in a completely imaginary country (or indeed on an imaginary planet) without making any difference to it.
Viewpoint character Liam Mulcahey is a veteran of the war whose memory of it is exceedingly patchy. In the course of the book we find that during his service he was a member of an elite squad known as the Devil’s Henchmen who had been given an experimental drug that meant they each saw, heard and felt what every other member of the squad did. De Pere and his enforcer side-kick Leo Kohler were officers in the Henchmen.
Bellecourt starts his tale at the inaugural journey of a high-speed flashtrain designed by the company owned by the parents of Liam’s friend Morgan Aysana, where the President is due to give a speech. During the ceremony we gain a first glimpse of weird when Liam witnesses a man entering one of the train’s carriages not through a door but through its side panelling. An ensuing kerfuffle, subsequently blamed on a revolutionary group known as The Uprising, leads Liam into the presence of Kohler and De Pere. On discussing the incident with the President, Liam finds his memories of it being altered, ending up feeling as if nothing untoward had happened. This is only the first instance of many in the book where the power to generate and maintain illusions tips the story over into Fantasy rather than SF.
In a subsequent meeting with agents of the Uprising Liam learns of the influence on De Pere of a shadowy group of powerful forces (somewhat disappointingly made up of the usual suspects of the elite and the media and given the rather mundane appellation of the Cabal) whose operations soon plague Liam and his companions. The novel sees the gradual recovering of Liam’s memories, which are accompanied by those of project instigator Dr Colette Silva, who utilised the properties of a bacterium named Echobacterum sentensis to blend the Henchmen’s consciousnesses. These memories reveal why the Henchmen’s memories were conveniently ‘lost’ at the end of the war as well as what subsequently became of Dr Silva. Meanwhile The Cabal as an enemy is supplanted by the revelation of the emergence of a superarching consciousness known as Echo.
The world portrayed here contains an odd mixture of technology - triplanes and those horse-drawn cabs but also more advanced stuff such as the armoured body suits called hoppers that the Devil’s Henchmen fought the war in, the corresponding goliaths of the St Lawrence Pact, those flashtrains, and war casualties whose damaged bodies have been augmented by what read like steam-powered prosthetics, which include lungs. Bellecourt uses the terms mechanika and mechanikal to describe these. Medical and psychological terminology in the text postdates that of the real 1920s. Also deviating from our 1920s is the degree of agency and autonomy the female characters have. Though Dr Silva remembers some prejudice against her during her researches, the treatment of women by the author and his characters is as if they are our contemporaries. (That is of course not a bad thing in itself but it does detract from any sense of historicity.)
Sadly the text at times also resorts to cliché (a veritable flock, the frequent use of ‘very’ to emphasise a noun, ‘miracle of miracles,’) or unwarranted archaisms, (he knew not why,) and contains a large amount of obtrusive information dumping. The absinthe of the (again oddly spelled) title does appear - if only twice - but plays no material part in the plot. Absynthe is perhaps not one for purists but if your readerly tipple tends towards action adventure with a hint of mystery and laced with body-count, this could
August 20, 2023
6.5 / 10 ✪
https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com...
Liam Mulcahey remembers little of the Great War. Having sustained a head injury at the outset, the memories are all jumbled up, coming in bits and fragments. What little he does remember manifest as dreams, or nightmares.
The United States triumphed over the members of the St. Lawrence pact—consisting of Great Britain, Germany, France, and Canada—but at a terrible cost. Crumbling infrastructure, ruined economy, and massive casualties delayed the inevitable, but eventually the East was defeated. Liam’s squad, the Devil’s Henchmen, were integral in the victory, though he can’t recall how, or why.
Now employed as a mechanic for the Aysana family—one of the State’s richest—Liam is a fast friend of Morgan, the family heir and scion. In a Chicago speakeasy, everything goes awry when, over a bottle of absinthe, Morgan collapses and the mysterious Uprising arrives. Established post-war, the Uprising has a few stated goals: undermining the US government and exposing its misdeeds. While several of his friends and patrons are killed, Liam manages to save Morgan with the help of Grace, an alluring heiress able to cast illusions.
Soon after the attack, when Morgan’s state worsens, Liam is forced to take him to the doctor, whereupon the government show up and separate the two. Liam’s only hope of retrieving Morgan lies with Grace and the Uprising, though he is uncertain on allying with them. But with more of his memories coalescing—particularly in the presence of Grace—Liam soon realizes that they very well may be the lesser of two evils, and his only true hope of seeing his friend again alive.
—
You think the wheat field is the only sort of hallucination you can have with absinthe? I’ve felt myself falling apart and being rebuilt by dwarves. Dwarves, Liam. Little ones with long beards, and golden hammers. I’ve had extended conversations with alpacas—and they did most of the talking. I’ve felt myself inside a dozen people at once. Then none at all, which is a lot scarier than you think.
—
For one of the few times I simplified my blurb to fit in all the craziness of the plot without it turning into a full-blown ramble. Now, it’s not that the story is confusing—at least, not initially—it’s just that there’s so much going on. If I were to explain everything that’s happening and the plots and mysteries and motives behind it, I feel like you might as well continue straight from my review into the book itself, else it all will go over your head. Which is the exact opposite of a review; that is, the ability to discover whether or not you WANT to read a book, without actually having to read it.
The world itself is different, that much is clear. There are mechanica—both for servants and for war, and adapted to fit everything in between. The United States now faced off against the St. Lawrence Pact members, as noted above, and won. The world itself is intricate and fascinating, though I was a bit disappointed in the scale. Bradley P. Beaulieu (here, writing under the pseudonym Brendan P. Bellecourt) usually does an excellent job with his world-building, but in this I felt that the worries of the Great War weren’t ever fully realized. It’s mentioned that the infrastructure and economy were hit hard by the War, but this is never really conveyed. As a mechanic to one of the wealthiest families in the country, Liam is privy to little enough of how the lower-class lives. I feel like more background, more on the ground, and a better overarching plot would’ve helped.
While the plot itself isn’t bad at first, I felt that it really starts to fray when the illusions came to dominate the story. It does add a wrinkle to the otherwise dime-a-dozen tale of a little rebellion out to take down the big, bad government—I felt that it all was a bit too confusing and a bit too drab when everything came together. The ending itself was interesting, though by that time I was hoping for it to pass, as I’d given up on anything truly exciting happening.
Now the characters, the atmosphere, and the setting is where the meat and potatoes of the story is (i.e. my favorite bits) (okay, mostly just the potatoes). Alastair the mechanica, Morgan the scion, Grace the heiress, Bailey and Clay the sidekicks, and Liam the lead were all excellent characters—not to mention Liam’s lovely nan—though I was especially taken with the first three we’re introduced to, in Alastair, Morgan and Liam. I would’ve read about their adventures published in a weekly, newsprint or radio serial and lapped it up.
In fact, while I had reservations about the plot, I would read any handful of stories set in this world. The Great War, mechanica, Tesla/steampunk-esque stuff has always fascinated me. Something like Wolfenstein or Absynthe, if only well, um… better? Love that. Or I feel like I would. But as ever my unrealistic expectations see the downfall of another decent read. And yet… everything that I’ve seen or read about this one says that it really is a decent read. And it is. It’s not bad, by any stretch. A little too confusing, a little too illusion-dependent, with a little too much going on for its small size. But at the heart of Absynthe lies a good story and a great cast and an excellent world. Just not all these things came together well.
https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com...
Liam Mulcahey remembers little of the Great War. Having sustained a head injury at the outset, the memories are all jumbled up, coming in bits and fragments. What little he does remember manifest as dreams, or nightmares.
The United States triumphed over the members of the St. Lawrence pact—consisting of Great Britain, Germany, France, and Canada—but at a terrible cost. Crumbling infrastructure, ruined economy, and massive casualties delayed the inevitable, but eventually the East was defeated. Liam’s squad, the Devil’s Henchmen, were integral in the victory, though he can’t recall how, or why.
Now employed as a mechanic for the Aysana family—one of the State’s richest—Liam is a fast friend of Morgan, the family heir and scion. In a Chicago speakeasy, everything goes awry when, over a bottle of absinthe, Morgan collapses and the mysterious Uprising arrives. Established post-war, the Uprising has a few stated goals: undermining the US government and exposing its misdeeds. While several of his friends and patrons are killed, Liam manages to save Morgan with the help of Grace, an alluring heiress able to cast illusions.
Soon after the attack, when Morgan’s state worsens, Liam is forced to take him to the doctor, whereupon the government show up and separate the two. Liam’s only hope of retrieving Morgan lies with Grace and the Uprising, though he is uncertain on allying with them. But with more of his memories coalescing—particularly in the presence of Grace—Liam soon realizes that they very well may be the lesser of two evils, and his only true hope of seeing his friend again alive.
—
You think the wheat field is the only sort of hallucination you can have with absinthe? I’ve felt myself falling apart and being rebuilt by dwarves. Dwarves, Liam. Little ones with long beards, and golden hammers. I’ve had extended conversations with alpacas—and they did most of the talking. I’ve felt myself inside a dozen people at once. Then none at all, which is a lot scarier than you think.
—
For one of the few times I simplified my blurb to fit in all the craziness of the plot without it turning into a full-blown ramble. Now, it’s not that the story is confusing—at least, not initially—it’s just that there’s so much going on. If I were to explain everything that’s happening and the plots and mysteries and motives behind it, I feel like you might as well continue straight from my review into the book itself, else it all will go over your head. Which is the exact opposite of a review; that is, the ability to discover whether or not you WANT to read a book, without actually having to read it.
The world itself is different, that much is clear. There are mechanica—both for servants and for war, and adapted to fit everything in between. The United States now faced off against the St. Lawrence Pact members, as noted above, and won. The world itself is intricate and fascinating, though I was a bit disappointed in the scale. Bradley P. Beaulieu (here, writing under the pseudonym Brendan P. Bellecourt) usually does an excellent job with his world-building, but in this I felt that the worries of the Great War weren’t ever fully realized. It’s mentioned that the infrastructure and economy were hit hard by the War, but this is never really conveyed. As a mechanic to one of the wealthiest families in the country, Liam is privy to little enough of how the lower-class lives. I feel like more background, more on the ground, and a better overarching plot would’ve helped.
While the plot itself isn’t bad at first, I felt that it really starts to fray when the illusions came to dominate the story. It does add a wrinkle to the otherwise dime-a-dozen tale of a little rebellion out to take down the big, bad government—I felt that it all was a bit too confusing and a bit too drab when everything came together. The ending itself was interesting, though by that time I was hoping for it to pass, as I’d given up on anything truly exciting happening.
Now the characters, the atmosphere, and the setting is where the meat and potatoes of the story is (i.e. my favorite bits) (okay, mostly just the potatoes). Alastair the mechanica, Morgan the scion, Grace the heiress, Bailey and Clay the sidekicks, and Liam the lead were all excellent characters—not to mention Liam’s lovely nan—though I was especially taken with the first three we’re introduced to, in Alastair, Morgan and Liam. I would’ve read about their adventures published in a weekly, newsprint or radio serial and lapped it up.
In fact, while I had reservations about the plot, I would read any handful of stories set in this world. The Great War, mechanica, Tesla/steampunk-esque stuff has always fascinated me. Something like Wolfenstein or Absynthe, if only well, um… better? Love that. Or I feel like I would. But as ever my unrealistic expectations see the downfall of another decent read. And yet… everything that I’ve seen or read about this one says that it really is a decent read. And it is. It’s not bad, by any stretch. A little too confusing, a little too illusion-dependent, with a little too much going on for its small size. But at the heart of Absynthe lies a good story and a great cast and an excellent world. Just not all these things came together well.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 110 reviews