A review by cassanette
The House of Binding Thorns by Aliette de Bodard

4.0

Take what you need, kill the rest. How very like a House, or perhaps it was merely the language of power, spoken in different tongues but ultimately always the same.

★★★★¼

It's a really good book with many concepts thrown together. No, not thrown together, that suggests chaos and brute force, and the structure of The House of Binding Thorns is anything but. Very different threads are elegantly weaved together, by what I can only imagine is actual magic, into a whole that is coherent and rich. Bodard's prose is lyrical and haunting, it flows perfectly and stays with you after closing the book.

It offers, among others, thought-provoking commentary on the destructiveness of colonialism, depiction of a healthy sapphic relationship, pregnancy and motherhood, as well as dealing with addiction, struggle for power and a clash of cultures.

The characters were much more fleshed out this time around, in my opinion. Philippe remained my favourite but I also found myself caring a lot about Madeleine, who I didn't care that much about in the first book, and whose storyline here was emotionally raw and deeply satisfying. New characters were also well-developed and easy to root for. I loved the glimpse into the Annamite community - a strong contrast with the Fallen way of life.