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A review by noirverse
Opium and Absinthe by Lydia Kang
2.0
This started strong, but the story eventually fell apart for me. I liked the atmosphere Kang brought with her prose, and the main character was enjoyable, but so much of the plot felt like it needed another round of editing. What stood out to me the most was the pacing issues and contrived coincidences. Tilly does a whole lot of nothing for significant parts of the book until the plot pushes her into action once again, which got old towards the end.
As for the other characters, I liked them, but most of them didn't really stand out. Ian was one of the best characters, though, and I liked his romance with Tilly. The ending was alright, but I am a bit salty that James gets away with zero comeuppance after being so awful for a huge chunk of the book. I'm willing to try another book from Kang, as I think I started out with the wrong book for me, and I'd like to see what she could do with a different premise.
As for the other characters, I liked them, but most of them didn't really stand out. Ian was one of the best characters, though, and I liked his romance with Tilly. The ending was alright, but I am a bit salty that James gets away with zero comeuppance after being so awful for a huge chunk of the book. I'm willing to try another book from Kang, as I think I started out with the wrong book for me, and I'd like to see what she could do with a different premise.