SciFi/Fantasy Novella Review: In the Vanishers' Palace by Aliette de Bodard

Full Disclosure:  In the Vanishers' Palace was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley in advance of the novella's release on October 16, 2018 in exchange for a potential review.  I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way (if I'd not liked the book, I just would not have reviewed it). 

  In the Vanishers' Palace is the newest novella from SF/F author Aliette de Bodard (who I've previously reviewed on this blog here and here).  The author described it as "dark retelling of Beauty and the Beast where they are both women & the Beast is a dragon, inspired by Vietnamese myths" and to some extent, that's a pretty accurate summation of what you're getting here.  But that's an oversimplification that doesn't do justice to the story.  What this story definitely is though is an utterly charming and wonderful novella that I quite wholly recommend.


Quick Plot Summary:  Yên and her mother are outcasts in her village because of their lack of "use" in this postapocalyptic world - broken after the deadly Vanishers left the planet they devastated behind.  But when her mother is required to heal the daughter of the village leader of a Vanisher disease, she is forced to use her magic to summon a Dragon....and the price of said healing is Yên herself.  

 Yên is thus taken back by the Dragon, Vu Côn, to her Palace - a structure of bizarre geometries left behind by the Vanishers.  Yên knows she should be frightened of the Dragon...but instead finds herself more and more attracted to Vu Côn, and the attraction might be mutual.  But as Yên tutors the dragon's two strange children, she finds herself missing her former home as well, and finds herself torn in two between her attraction to the deadly dragon and the few friends and family she left behind....

Thoughts:  I really loved In the Vanishers' Place, and I really needed it given how things are going right now.  I really can't use any word to describe it other than "lovely" - de Bodard creates a world very different from nearly anything else I've read (other than her own work - her style and Vietnamese influences are clear), and doesn't hold hands for a reader who will be unfamiliar with the concepts and mythology being referenced in the worldbuilding - and it all works incredibly well.  Her descriptions of this world, of the Vanishers' place, are fascinating and man would I love to see this story fully illustrated.

But its the characters who make this story, and the love that blossoms between all of them.  And I'm not just talking about the principal romance between Yên and Vu Côn - which is extremely well done of course, feeling real and beautiful.  But this book also features the love formed between a parent and her children - whether that is a parent and her biological daughter - Yên and her mother - a parent and her adopted children - Vu Côn and the twins - or between a teacher and her students (multiple groupings).  It's as much a story about people discovering what they mean to each other, forming bonds, and learning what responsibilities and obligations those bonds entail as anything, and the result is just.....well, lovely.