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A review by thebookishunicorn
In the Vanishers' Palace by Aliette de Bodard
4.0
"What happens now?"
Cold seized Yên's fingers, and descended all the way into her spine. "Everything," Vu Côn said, and her smile was dazzling.
"Everything." Yên mouthed the syllables again, felt them like saltwater on her tongue, like a spell, slowly coming together to changed the ruined world they lived in. "I think I'd like that."
This f/f Vietnamese retelling of Beauty and the Beast is a book I didn't know I needed in my life until now. I am a fan of all of the retellings authors are putting out but a lot of them still adhere to the original straight relationships. It was so refreshing to read a LGBTQ+ relationship without any of the usual tropes one sees.
The post apocalyptic-fantasy world blend that de Bodard created is really fresh in our fantasy saturated market right now. At first you think it is just a fantasy version of Vietnam, but some of the magic is explained by science while other magic is just magic. The prose reads slightly whimsical/magical and it added a lot to the story, especially the descriptions of the magic being a combination of different words. It was an interesting take since a lot of authors go for either one or the other when explaining their magic system.
Cold seized Yên's fingers, and descended all the way into her spine. "Everything," Vu Côn said, and her smile was dazzling.
"Everything." Yên mouthed the syllables again, felt them like saltwater on her tongue, like a spell, slowly coming together to changed the ruined world they lived in. "I think I'd like that."
This f/f Vietnamese retelling of Beauty and the Beast is a book I didn't know I needed in my life until now. I am a fan of all of the retellings authors are putting out but a lot of them still adhere to the original straight relationships. It was so refreshing to read a LGBTQ+ relationship without any of the usual tropes one sees.
The post apocalyptic-fantasy world blend that de Bodard created is really fresh in our fantasy saturated market right now. At first you think it is just a fantasy version of Vietnam, but some of the magic is explained by science while other magic is just magic. The prose reads slightly whimsical/magical and it added a lot to the story, especially the descriptions of the magic being a combination of different words. It was an interesting take since a lot of authors go for either one or the other when explaining their magic system.