A review by claire_loves_books
The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard

2.0

It felt pretty slow going, the lack of information about what was going on made it feel like not much was really happening other than people dying, it was frustrating to read as more people died and yet none of the characters really seemed that invested into finding out what was going on. I didn't actually like any of the characters, it was hard to care about the story when I didn't really care about the characters. It's not really clear when it's set (society seems to have reached 1920s level and then fallen) but I don't really get a sense of the lack of technology (lighting doesn't seem to be a problem for example). That every building in paris is decaying seemed bizarre as well, I get the magic areas being in decline but generally when people live in a building they scrape the mould off the walls.

The houses seem pointless, they don't seem to do much other than bicker with each other and harvest magic- how do they sustain themselves, they seem to have quite a few human dependants who they're feeding but it's not really clear where the food an other resources are coming from.