A review by ielerol
In the Vanishers' Palace by Aliette de Bodard

5.0

Oh look, a Beauty and the Beast retelling, and I loved it. This version is a fairly loose interpretation. There are no roses or transformed royalty, and it's set in a post-apocalyptic fantasy world based on Vietnamese culture, but it does have a young woman giving herself up in the place of a parent to a person she believes is a monster. There's also a palace that might as well be magical, and a kind of curse from long-gone evil beings, though in this case it's the entire world that's been affected. Plus a few other essential Beauty and the Beast story beats with a new twist, and the love story hinges on the importance of consent.