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Thank you to NetGalley and Peachtree for allowing me to read this ARC!

Content Warning: minor violence, alcohol.

Sybil and Esme live in Severon, a decadent, sprawling city full of nightclubs, art, and beauty. For the two girls, however, life there is not all it seems: they're struggling, barely supported by their meager jobs, each of them dreaming of a future where they can spread their wings. Sybil longs for adventure, for something beyond the boredom of her humdrum daily life; Esme, on the other hand, is only too content to work at a library and have a home filled with cats. Despite their differences, they're best friends, and when they're drawn into the world of Fae by the beautiful, mysterious Maeve, it's together. Maeve promises them riches that they can't even fathom, if they do one thing for her: steal the royal jewels from the Fae Queen.

It was the intriguing setting of The Absinthe Underground that truly made me decide to request an ARC. The story (partly) takes place in the city of Severon, inspired by Belle Epoque Paris. It's a unique idea for a story, especially when most fantasy books seem to draw their inspiration from medieval Ireland or England. Although it didn't up being quite to my tastes, I would love to see more people following Pacton's lead and giving us stories with unusual settings!

Our two heroines, Sybil and Esme, are complete opposites, but despite their differences (or perhaps because of them), they're inexplicably attracted to each other. Unfortunately, I say inexplicable because aside from small things like enjoying each other's company and finding one another attractive, there's very little character development for either of the girls -- and this impacts their relationship, too. Although I liked both of them well enough and found their narration pleasant, their individual storylines and characterization are remarkably one-dimensional. They both have a set of traits and characteristics that the author has decided for them, and they never veer far from these predetermined boxes. This ends up limiting the narrative and its ultimate conclusion. To make matters worse, the writing tells us and doesn't show us, and this prevents you from feeling totally immersed in the world.

Don't get me wrong -- their relationship is sweet, and I did enjoy their moments of flirtatiousness very much. But the lack of growth is disappointing especially because the two girls are likable. Another problem that surfaces is that tonally speaking, The Absinthe Underground reads more as middle-grade than YA (in spite of the many, many references to alcohol and drinking, which I found slightly odd). It's a little jarring, as Sybil and Esme are referred to as being seventeen several times, but they come across much younger in their POVs. This isn't necessarily a problem but, for me, it occasionally made the story disjointed.

The primary problem, however, is that everything is so convenient. This is low, low stakes, which isn't always a problem, but for a heist in Fae, it seems a little lackluster. Somehow, someway, everything always works out for Sybil and Esme, to the point where you begin to wonder what's the point of reading anyway, since you know everything will work out in the end. Some people enjoy stories like that, and I have no doubt that there will be many readers who appreciate The Absinthe Underground, but it was boring for me to watch them get into sticky situation after sticky situation only for their problems to be miraculously solved. It gets into unbelievable territory towards the end. Before the last act, I was planning on giving out two and a half stars, but that felt a bit too generous by the last page. It also suffers from everyone being painfully transparent, and you have to either believe that Sybil and Esme are extremely naive, or extremely stupid.

Ultimately, this story just wasn't for me. Again, I have no doubt that many readers, especially young ones, will find a lot to love here, but it simply wasn't my cup of tea.

Book Review: False Witness by Karin Slaughter

 

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Content Warning: violence, death, sexual assault, rape, pedophilia, murder, drug addiction/abuse, parental abuse.

Leigh has spent her whole life trying to run from her past. She and her sister, Callie, did something when they were teenagers that has been haunting them ever since, and although Leigh has built a life for herself up from the ground as a successful defense lawyer and a wife and mother, she knows it's only a matter of time before her life implodes. And this possible destruction of everything she's worked for comes in the form of a high-profile client accused of a violent rape. This client makes it clear to Leigh that he knows exactly what happened twenty years ago, and that he's going to make her life a living hell. Forced to seek out Callie, who she has been estranged from, the two sisters will have to face a reckoning and, in the process, confront their own demons.

When people say that Karin Slaughter is one of the best thriller writers of this generation, they're not exaggerating. Although I've only read one of her previous novels, Pretty Girls, it's clear from the get-go that Slaughter possesses a talent that makes everything she puts out intensely and frighteningly readable. False Witness, like her other works, is dark, heavy, and in spite of the aforementioned readability, filled to the brim with topics that are often difficult to read about. However, she manages to pull off writing about this sort of stuff with grace and class, and though the material is graphic (and rather graphically written about), it never feels exploitative. 

The two main characters, Leigh and Callie, are sisters, and it is this bond that drives the entire novel forward. Their relationship is deeply complicated, with Leigh feeling more like Callie's mother than her sister, mostly due to their abusive mother, while also dealing with guilt from something that Leigh believes is her fault that led to Callie's heavy drug abuse and the subsequent destruction of her entire life. Callie, on the other hand, deals with everything with a careless attitude that belies the turmoil she's experiencing inside. Slaughter perfectly captures a sister relationship, with all its complexities, anger and love. 

The stakes are extremely high, and there's not a moment where you're allowed to forget it. I was tense reading this, wondering what was going to happen next, if Callie and Leigh were going to be able to pull off their next crazy stunt. This book is primarily a study of womanhood, sisterhood, and how sexual violence pervades women's lives, from childhood until old age. It could be depressing and, yes, it sometimes is, but throughout Slaughter manages to make this a beautiful and moving story about the devastating effects of sexual abuse and the end somehow leaves you with hope.

Overall, I'd highly recommend it, and I will definitely be seeking out more of Slaughter's books in the future.