The Roaring ‘20s, robots, a reshuffled geopolitical landscape, and people with extra-normal abilities. That’s a fairly interesting combination as the starting point or backdrop of a novel. That’s what readers have when they open the pages of Absynthe, the science fiction debut of Brendan P. Bellecourt, the open pseudonym for Bradley P. Beaulieu, best known as a purveyor of Epic Fantasy tales.
The Great War has been over for years, and a brave new world forged. Technology has delivered the future promised at the turn of the century: automata provide, monorail trains flash between mega-cities, medicine is nothing short of magical.
Liam grew up poor, but now working for one of the richest families in Chicago, he reaps the benefits of his friendship with the family’s son and heir. That’s why he’s at Club Artemis. It’s a palace of art-deco delights and debauchery, filled to bursting with the rich and beautiful – and tonight they’re all drinking one thing. Absynthe. The green liquor rumoured to cause hallucinations, madness, even death.
While the gilded youth sip the viridescent liquid, their brave new world is crumbling beneath its perfect surface. Their absynthe is no mere folly. Some it kills, others it transforms. But in Liam something different has taken place. A veil has lifted and he can see the world without its illusion – and it isn’t the perfect world the government want the people to believe.
Our protagonist is the “shell shocked” veteran of the Great War (which in this world, was fought on US soil between the United States and the St. Lawrence Pact, consisting of Germany, France, Great Britain and Canada)). Liam Mulcahey who now lives with his grandmother, Nana. His memories of the war which concluded a decade prior to the start of the novel are fleeting at best, but he makes his way day-to-day as a mechanic with his robot (or as referred in this world, mechanika) companion Alastair, both of whom are employed his friend Morgan’s father. When they are attending a speech given by the President Leland De Pere (who also served with Mulcahey in the Great War), the militant group the Uprising attacks. Saved by a mysterious woman named Grace, Liam undergoes something of an awakening. His memories begin to return in flashes and he recalls that not only was he in a unit with his good friend Morgan, but they were granted extra-normal mental abilities due to injections of a special bacteria. Their powers include casting illusions and telepathically connection with his military unit. As it so happens, Grace has similar powers.
After the Uprising’s attack, Liam is swept up in the conflict between the Uprising and president De Pere. His memories continue to return in bits and pieces, he finds himself powerfully attracted to Grace, and often on the run from or on the run to saving his friend Morgan. His returning memories coupled with what he learns from Grace make Liam question who he is, question what the mechanika are, and question his one-time trusted leader Leland De Pere.
Bellecourt/Beaulieu sets quite a few pieces in motion, with a really interesting character journey, a cracking plot, and some really deep themes. The distrust of government has long been a theme of science fiction, but I don’t know, maybe in the last 5 years or so this seems even more of a theme of real life and there was a great deal of resonance. Setting the novel in a world perhaps adjacent to our own, but with strong echoes, allows Mr. B. to examine some of those themes in rather interesting and entertaining ways. Liam’s PTSD is a potent and well-realized element of the novel that largely brings much of the other plot strands and themes into focus. His life has become a puzzle, and the clouded memories (or stolen memories?) as a result of his time in the war, make it difficult for Liam to settle into himself. That said, his haze of memories makes for a smart and effective storytelling device for the reader, we learn things at nearly the same pace Liam learns them.
This book is being labeled as “Decopunk” which is a “-punk” I’d never known about until picking up Absynthe. For me, I get a strong Steampunk/Dieselpunk feel, thought that’s probably because of the anachronistic technology that makes this world go. The lovely, eye-catching cover speaks to the theme and aesthetic. I couldn’t help but feel resonance between the setting of this novel and the immensely popular and immersive Bioshock games. As I was writing this review, I even found some strong resonance with a potent novel I reviewed recently, The House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward.
As you can likely surmise at this point, I enjoyed the hell out of this novel. Mr. B. has a knack for creating living, breathing, immersive worlds and that skill is on full display here in Absynthe. He also manages to create lightning rod characters who force you to give them attention. Lastly, his storytelling is so good because he manages to have such balance between those two important elements of storytelling – that is, the characters and world don’t overtake each other and work harmoniously together.
Whether or not you’ve read any of the fantasy novels he’s written as Brad Beaulieu, Absynthe is a novel well worth your time.
Highly recommended
© 2021 Rob H. Bedford
DAW Books | December 2021
Trade Paperback | 406 Pages
https://quillings.com/2021/11/08/introducing-brendan-p-bellecourt/
Excerpt: https://www.tor.com/2021/11/10/excerpts-absynthe-brendan-bellecourt/
Review copy courtesy of the publisher, DAW Books
