A review by leonoor
Opium and Absinthe by Lydia Kang

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.75

The pacing was off. The midsection of the story was quite slow and uneventful, whereas the whole ending of the book was wrapped up in 30 pages. The author used two cliches in this last part:

having the evil villain explain in detail why they did what they did, and the protagonist fainting at the end of the story so others can fill in what happened after they wake up

. It feels like many details in the slower part of the book are unnecessary and don't make much sense. Some characters feel like caricatures of themselves. 
Overall, this book feels rushed and not quite put together. Still, I appreciate the details about opium use and I think the setting of 1899's New York was quite nice.