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A review by bookgazing
The House of Binding Thorns by Aliette de Bodard
4.0
The House of Binding Thorns is the second entry in Aliette de Bodard’s invigoratingly different Dominion of the Fallen series. In a dystopian, post-WWI Paris Fallen angels have organised themselves into complex, political Houses; full of dependants who are magically linked to the leader of the House. A powerful clan of Vietnamese dragons lives under the Seine, besieged by illness and rebellion. Massed around these two linked societies, are the Houseless - a web of outsiders, and hungry gangs, who have created their own separate, intricate communities.
In this strong sequel to The House of Shattered Wings, de Bodard follows two familiar characters – Madeleine and Philippe – who have been thrown into unfamiliar surroundings, and also introduces a whole new cast of characters. Madeline, an older apothecary who is addicted to angel essence, now lives in House Hawthorn; dependent to Asmodeus a man she fears. Meanwhile, Philippe has broken his magical link to House Silverspires, and spends his time treating the Houseless while searching for a way to bring his best friend back from the dead. This new life brings him into contact with the Houseless angel Berith (a transgender woman) and her wife Francoise. P.S. I loved these ladies.
Together with Thaun, a spy for the dragon court, all of these characters find themselves embroiled in a political battle even the highest of beings do not fully comprehend.
Aliette de Bodard packs her world with a cast of people, and a set of relationships, that readers are unlikely to encounter, in such numbers, in much mainstream fantasy. And it’s not only the creation of an original magical world, and the diversity of the characters, which sets this series apart. It’s the way the world operates, the real-life underpinnings that de Board’s fantasy world is built on, and the way she puts life on the page when other writers would hide it behind a screen. De Bodard is as confident writing the bloody, every-day difficulty of birth as the fantastical pain of a character being skewered by a magical tree, and her skill at bringing emotional and physical reality to her fantasy world enriches her story. The House of Binding Thorns offers all this rich, wonderful world-building alongside a set of connected, thrilling plot-lines. It really is a book that has it all.
In this strong sequel to The House of Shattered Wings, de Bodard follows two familiar characters – Madeleine and Philippe – who have been thrown into unfamiliar surroundings, and also introduces a whole new cast of characters. Madeline, an older apothecary who is addicted to angel essence, now lives in House Hawthorn; dependent to Asmodeus a man she fears. Meanwhile, Philippe has broken his magical link to House Silverspires, and spends his time treating the Houseless while searching for a way to bring his best friend back from the dead. This new life brings him into contact with the Houseless angel Berith (a transgender woman) and her wife Francoise. P.S. I loved these ladies.
Together with Thaun, a spy for the dragon court, all of these characters find themselves embroiled in a political battle even the highest of beings do not fully comprehend.
Aliette de Bodard packs her world with a cast of people, and a set of relationships, that readers are unlikely to encounter, in such numbers, in much mainstream fantasy. And it’s not only the creation of an original magical world, and the diversity of the characters, which sets this series apart. It’s the way the world operates, the real-life underpinnings that de Board’s fantasy world is built on, and the way she puts life on the page when other writers would hide it behind a screen. De Bodard is as confident writing the bloody, every-day difficulty of birth as the fantastical pain of a character being skewered by a magical tree, and her skill at bringing emotional and physical reality to her fantasy world enriches her story. The House of Binding Thorns offers all this rich, wonderful world-building alongside a set of connected, thrilling plot-lines. It really is a book that has it all.