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hyenapunk's review against another edition
5.0
Fellas, is it gay if you stick Lucifer's sword in an angel's chest?
ecarper's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
4.75
If the first book was a murder mystery that spoke about colonialism, then the second one builds on it to include the secondary impacts, based on the opium wars. I liked the mystery surrounding the essence and the intrigue within dragon kingdom and Hawthorn more in this book and it was nice to see old characters develop further. I loved the introduction of new characters, including Françoise and Thuan. I’m excited to see how Thuan grows in the next and final book now that he’s begun to change the harmful House system
riverwise's review against another edition
3.0
I was not quite won over by the first book in this series. Sometimes, it was a struggle, but there was enough there to make me want to read the next volume. And here it is. Sadly, I have much the same reaction, and I could almost copy my previous review over. Once again, there are a lot of machinations and intrigues that our characters are only partly privy to, if that, meaning that the first half of the book ends up as a load of disconnected scenes where nothing much seems to happen. We spend a lot more time in the dragon kingdom under the Seine this time, which is a good thing, as it is evocatively described and a genuinely unsettling location, fishscales and all. This stands in contrast to the Paris of the books, which should be a real winner - one of the most beautiful cities in the world ruined by magical war, peopled by enigmatic Fallen angels? I'm in. But somehow, this just doesn't come across on the page. It should be the defining feature of the books, a landscape that becomes a character like Gormenghast, but it is annoyingly vague throughout. This and its predecessor are decent books, but they could have been great, and they fall short of that. A frustrating read, but not a futile one.
krayfish1's review against another edition
4.0
Much better than the first book. It has actual plot! I believe in the characters' motivations!
During the climax of the book I felt like we had too many characters to keep track of, but during the rest of the book it felt like the right amount of characters. I like where Philippe ends up at the end of this book much better.
During the climax of the book I felt like we had too many characters to keep track of, but during the rest of the book it felt like the right amount of characters. I like where Philippe ends up at the end of this book much better.
n8b's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
meganlynae's review against another edition
4.0
This book gives a sense of what it is like in both the role of the leader and the dependent, better than the previous book. I really enjoyed the scenes in the dragon kingdom in the Seine!
tanekaberi's review against another edition
4.0
Enjoyable listen. Characters are complex and world building is top notch - if a bit gloomy (even for Gothic tastes I think). Plot is intriguing - group politics, interpersonal relationships, personal history and societal change all in the mix. Recommended.
schomj's review against another edition
4.0
No heroes, which makes the villains... still villainous, but you have to root for someone, right?
Read this for the world-building and the character explorations, and don't worry too much about the plot. There are about eleventy billion different storylines that all get wound together at the end... and then released, so new patterns can form.
It took me months to finish, because everything is so grim and convoluted, but I'm glad that I allowed myself to take such a slow pace -- it was totally worth it. Very excited to see what AdB brings us next!
Read this for the world-building and the character explorations, and don't worry too much about the plot. There are about eleventy billion different storylines that all get wound together at the end... and then released, so new patterns can form.
It took me months to finish, because everything is so grim and convoluted, but I'm glad that I allowed myself to take such a slow pace -- it was totally worth it. Very excited to see what AdB brings us next!
bookgazing's review against another edition
4.0
The House of Binding Thorns is the second entry in Aliette de Bodard’s invigoratingly different Dominion of the Fallen series. In a dystopian, post-WWI Paris Fallen angels have organised themselves into complex, political Houses; full of dependants who are magically linked to the leader of the House. A powerful clan of Vietnamese dragons lives under the Seine, besieged by illness and rebellion. Massed around these two linked societies, are the Houseless - a web of outsiders, and hungry gangs, who have created their own separate, intricate communities.
In this strong sequel to The House of Shattered Wings, de Bodard follows two familiar characters – Madeleine and Philippe – who have been thrown into unfamiliar surroundings, and also introduces a whole new cast of characters. Madeline, an older apothecary who is addicted to angel essence, now lives in House Hawthorn; dependent to Asmodeus a man she fears. Meanwhile, Philippe has broken his magical link to House Silverspires, and spends his time treating the Houseless while searching for a way to bring his best friend back from the dead. This new life brings him into contact with the Houseless angel Berith (a transgender woman) and her wife Francoise. P.S. I loved these ladies.
Together with Thaun, a spy for the dragon court, all of these characters find themselves embroiled in a political battle even the highest of beings do not fully comprehend.
Aliette de Bodard packs her world with a cast of people, and a set of relationships, that readers are unlikely to encounter, in such numbers, in much mainstream fantasy. And it’s not only the creation of an original magical world, and the diversity of the characters, which sets this series apart. It’s the way the world operates, the real-life underpinnings that de Board’s fantasy world is built on, and the way she puts life on the page when other writers would hide it behind a screen. De Bodard is as confident writing the bloody, every-day difficulty of birth as the fantastical pain of a character being skewered by a magical tree, and her skill at bringing emotional and physical reality to her fantasy world enriches her story. The House of Binding Thorns offers all this rich, wonderful world-building alongside a set of connected, thrilling plot-lines. It really is a book that has it all.
In this strong sequel to The House of Shattered Wings, de Bodard follows two familiar characters – Madeleine and Philippe – who have been thrown into unfamiliar surroundings, and also introduces a whole new cast of characters. Madeline, an older apothecary who is addicted to angel essence, now lives in House Hawthorn; dependent to Asmodeus a man she fears. Meanwhile, Philippe has broken his magical link to House Silverspires, and spends his time treating the Houseless while searching for a way to bring his best friend back from the dead. This new life brings him into contact with the Houseless angel Berith (a transgender woman) and her wife Francoise. P.S. I loved these ladies.
Together with Thaun, a spy for the dragon court, all of these characters find themselves embroiled in a political battle even the highest of beings do not fully comprehend.
Aliette de Bodard packs her world with a cast of people, and a set of relationships, that readers are unlikely to encounter, in such numbers, in much mainstream fantasy. And it’s not only the creation of an original magical world, and the diversity of the characters, which sets this series apart. It’s the way the world operates, the real-life underpinnings that de Board’s fantasy world is built on, and the way she puts life on the page when other writers would hide it behind a screen. De Bodard is as confident writing the bloody, every-day difficulty of birth as the fantastical pain of a character being skewered by a magical tree, and her skill at bringing emotional and physical reality to her fantasy world enriches her story. The House of Binding Thorns offers all this rich, wonderful world-building alongside a set of connected, thrilling plot-lines. It really is a book that has it all.