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A review by reliures
Opium and Absinthe by Lydia Kang
4.0
Historical mystery taking place at the turn of the 20th century in New York where Tillie, a young woman from a rich family founds her life inexplicably changed when her sister is murdered by what could be a vampire while she finds herself increasingly addicted to various drugs.
I liked this historical novel. The author did a great job recreating the New York of 1899, the Gilded Age of old fortunes and the nouveaux riches. It also showed women’s conditions in that era where personal dreams of a professional career was discouraged or even forbidden, as domestic life were the only things a woman could do in western society during that time.
One other thing I liked is the inclusion of Dracula as a cultural objet during that period, with quotes being used throughout the story, and the public’s hysteria surrounding the release of the book and vampirism in general.
I liked the main character, her thirst for knowledge and ambition to become something other than what a patriarchal society expected her to be. Her fall into drug addictions was well portrayed in a realistic and detailed way, it’s not surprising since the author is also a medical physician. However I felt her recovery was a bit rushed, as in I wish there were more pages dedicated to that part.
Likewise the plot felt uneven and I felt the last 100 pages were also rushed in terms of the resolution of the mystery and each character’s arc. Some of the dialogue and interactions felt a bit YA too.
The romance between the main character Tillie and the side character Ian was cute but mostly boring and I didn’t care for it. Most of the other characters were pretty nasty in their behaviour and I do wish there was more female friendships especially with Tillie.
I did like the reveal of the murderer, I was surprised by who did it since I had another character in mind.
Overall a good book despite some pacing problems.