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A review by chirson
In the Vanishers' Palace by Aliette de Bodard
3.0
I read this book courtesy of the author via NetGalley, in exchange for a review.
In the Vanishers' Palace has been described as a sapphic retelling of The Beauty and the Beast. This is true, though it focuses on the parts of the book I liked the least, at the expense of those I liked best. This novella tells the story of Yên, a scholar (and teacher) and daughter of a village healer, and Vu Côn - a dragon, and mother to two teenagers just coming into their own powers. All this happens against the backdrop of a devastated, post-apocalyptic (postcolonial) world of danger, disease and human unkindness.
The worldbuilding is superb. The Vietnamese cultural and linguistic inspiration is rendered in exquisite and beautiful detail, and combined with science fictional ideas that would be enough for a whole saga of novels. The descriptions of words and their power were worth the admission price all on their own. They were spellbinding.
I liked the family relationships, too. The bonds between Yên and her mother, and especially between Vu Côn and her children are written well and when the latter receives narrative attention, the book becomes quite gripping.
Unfortunately, (and YMMV here,) the sapphic aspect of the book didn't command comparable attention from me. I found the plotting and pacing, particularly with regard to the romantic storyline, to be relatively uninteresting. I didn't see much chemistry between the characters (despite occasionally great descriptions of desire). To me, their relationship lacked depth and the emotions they experienced didn't ring true or seem compelling. I really wanted to care about the romantic storyline, but I didn't.
I wish some aspects of the world and particularly characters actions and emotions had been explained a little more clearly. Occasionally, the story seemed to assume certain actions and decisions have obvious motivations, when that was not quite the case; at other moments, characters reacted with shock and surprise to actions that seemed entirely in character based on everything we (and they) knew.
All in all, I am glad I read the novella for its descriptions and language, but I wish the plot had been stronger.
In the Vanishers' Palace has been described as a sapphic retelling of The Beauty and the Beast. This is true, though it focuses on the parts of the book I liked the least, at the expense of those I liked best. This novella tells the story of Yên, a scholar (and teacher) and daughter of a village healer, and Vu Côn - a dragon, and mother to two teenagers just coming into their own powers. All this happens against the backdrop of a devastated, post-apocalyptic (postcolonial) world of danger, disease and human unkindness.
The worldbuilding is superb. The Vietnamese cultural and linguistic inspiration is rendered in exquisite and beautiful detail, and combined with science fictional ideas that would be enough for a whole saga of novels. The descriptions of words and their power were worth the admission price all on their own. They were spellbinding.
I liked the family relationships, too. The bonds between Yên and her mother, and especially between Vu Côn and her children are written well and when the latter receives narrative attention, the book becomes quite gripping.
Unfortunately, (and YMMV here,) the sapphic aspect of the book didn't command comparable attention from me. I found the plotting and pacing, particularly with regard to the romantic storyline, to be relatively uninteresting. I didn't see much chemistry between the characters (despite occasionally great descriptions of desire). To me, their relationship lacked depth and the emotions they experienced didn't ring true or seem compelling. I really wanted to care about the romantic storyline, but I didn't.
I wish some aspects of the world and particularly characters actions and emotions had been explained a little more clearly. Occasionally, the story seemed to assume certain actions and decisions have obvious motivations, when that was not quite the case; at other moments, characters reacted with shock and surprise to actions that seemed entirely in character based on everything we (and they) knew.
All in all, I am glad I read the novella for its descriptions and language, but I wish the plot had been stronger.