SF/F Review: The House of Binding Thorns (Dominion of the Fallen #2) by Aliette de Bodard https://t.co/5pRPvErn9D Short Review: 8/10 (1/4)— garik16 (@garik16) August 24, 2017
Short Review (cont): 2nd in Series but mostly stand-alone, this tale of Fallen Angels in Paris & Vietnamese Immortals (2/4)— garik16 (@garik16) August 24, 2017
Short Review (cont): & Dragon Spirits under the Seine, focusing on the "bad guys", has fascinating characters and a solid story (3/4)— garik16 (@garik16) August 24, 2017
The House of Binding Thorns is ostensibly a sequel to Aliette de Bodard's House of Shattered Wings. It follows up on threads from that book and obviously takes place in the same universe, but it CAN be read Stand-Alone. You'll benefit from reading the first book - the background of the setting is arguably established better in that book and one of the main characters' plotlines follows directly from that book, but the main plot of this book is wholly distinct from HoSW.
I read the House of Shattered Wings last year and I had mixed feelings about that book. I LOVED the Worldbuilding - Fallen Angels! A Vietnamese Immortal cast out from the Court of the Jade Emperor! Dragon Spirits! Alchemists and Magicians! Oh and LGBTQ characters treated as the norm. The World was one of the most unique I've read about in the past few years. But the storyline kind of petered out at the end, with the several character threads not all coming together to form a combined resolution but instead for one of these threads to provide the conclusion and the rest to all just peter out.
That's not the case with The House of Binding Thorns - here the four main story threads all wind in and out of the main plotline, with each remaining interesting throughout and none seeming wasted in the finale. Despite the story focusing in large part on what was presented in book 1 as the "Evil" House Hawthorn, the story is not ultradark and bad characters show new dimensions that make sense and make them more interesting. This book really makes great use of that great worldbuilding, which makes it a very strong read.
Long Review continues after the Jump (Minor Spoilers for House of Shattered Wings):
----------------------------------Plot Summary--------------------------
Once Again this Story takes place in an alternate early 1900s Paris, where many Angels have fallen from Heaven (and are thus known as "Fallen") and have used their power to take control of much of the City, with groups of Fallen aligned in Houses. Before the first book, much of the City has been torn apart by a war between the Houses, and those individuals unlucky enough to be "houseless" are left to suffer and struggle for their lives.
But the Fallen are not the only magical and immortal power in Paris. Under the Senne exists a "Dragon Kingdom," ruled by Vietnamese Dragon Spirits and containing other Vietnamese immortal spirits, which tries to remain hidden from the rest of Paris but possesses great power.
But the Dragon Kingdom's time hidden may have come to an end, and Asmodeus, the "evil" (known for inspiring fear in both followers and enemies) Fallen head of House Hawthorn, has set his sights on the Dragon Kingdom, sending envoys to seek an alliance. One of these envoys is Madeleine, the Alchemist who he took back from House Silverspires at the end of the last book, who is addicted to the deadly Angel Essence and fears that Asmodeus will kill her at any moment. But while Asmodeus has interests in the Dragon Kingdom, the Kingdom also has an interest in him as well - as someone has been dumping Angel Essence into the Seine, causing addictions in the Kingdom. To discover whom, a Dragon Prince named Thuan is acting as a spy within Hawthorn - but what he finds will have implications beyond the House.
But the book follows two other characters as well: Francoise is a pregnant Annamite (Vietnamese) woman in love with a Houseless Fallen named Berith...who just happens to be the sister of Asmodeus. And Phillippe, the main character of the first book, is hiding amongst the Annamite community as a doctor as he attempts to find a way to resurrect Isabelle from that book. Their tales will find them both intertwined with Hawthorne, to their great regret.
But the story will reveal that the House may not be as cruel as it seems, and that darker and perhaps more dangerous powers are threatening both the Kingdom and the House
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Yeah that's a lot of plot summary I know. But the main point is that this really really works. Phillippe and Francoise's storylines are mostly incidental to the main story arc, but both characters' tales intersect and affect the main plotline enough that they don't feel like wastes of time. More imporantly perhaps, all of the characters are really interesting mixes and types that really you don't see in a lot of literature.
It's kind of odd that a story that is ostensibly about the House that is considered "Evil" winds up ending in a really hopeful manner, but it really does (whereas book 1, dealing with the good house, ended rather darkly with that House's partial destruction). The storyline never gets boring, although one main plot point has a really predictable solution, and it reads really well.
The book isn't perfect. Madeleine is the primary main character, and the early parts of the book often feature the other POV characters popping in only rarely, which is a bit jarring. The book gets better about spreading the viewpoints around later on though.
Of note: I listened to this as an audiobook - whose reader really attempted to pull off all the French and Viet accents for each relevant character. I assume this was done with the author's permission and guidance but it was still pretty distracting for me.
Anyhow, this book is definitely worth recommending and certainly different from most fantasy out there today.
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