Amberlough by Lara Elena DonnellyMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
I read this one since it is nominated for a Nebula award. As a story, the book is excellent. It doesn't grab you immediately but does it soon enough. The story is pretty straightforward in terms of good vs. evil, but has a lot of poignancy. You really get to know and like the sympathetic characters--they are very complex and fully human. Through them you get to know what Amberlough is like as a place--I imagine it as some kind of cross between New York City and New Orleans. Flawed and corrupt, but the interstices allow all kinds of people to thrive.
It's speculative fiction, I guess, but mostly what is speculative about it is that it doesn't conform to Earth's boundaries. Gedda is definitely in Europe somewhere, and it operates a lot like the European Union. The Ospies aren't overt Nazis, they are more like the authoritarian parties and rulers currently on the ascendance in the world. All the culture is European, right down to port bars. Nothing fantastical about it. Us, in a different place.
It's probably a contender, and definitely a really good first novel, but probably won't win the Nebula. Still, I enjoyed reading it and would read more of Donnelly.
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