The House of Binding Thorns

Starred review from February 13, 2017
Meddling gleefully in the affairs of devils and dragons, this affective sequel to 2015’s The House of Shattered Wings touches the heart as often as it cuts throats. In this alternate timeline, the Great War of the early 20th century was fought by competing houses of fallen angels and witches, and 60 years later, Paris is still a shambles. Disgraced alchemist Madeleine has returned to House Hawthorn, but she fears torment at
the hands of
its master, Asmodeus. She joins a delegation to the underwater Annamite dragon kingdom to secure a marriage alliance. Berith, Asmodeus’s sister, tries to shelter her pregnant mortal lover, Françoise, from a rival house as members of the local Vietnamese community are conscripted into a draconic rebellion. Philippe, a Vietnamese former immortal, mourns the fallen angel Isabelle and searches for a way to resurrect her. Having fully crafted her world, de Bodard is now completely in control: she can move swiftly from gentle poetic touches to bloody Grand Guignol gestures, and she sure-handedly holds the reader by exposing the vulnerabilities and needs that drive even the seemingly all-powerful figures of rebel angels and ancient serpents to surrender to a higher collective power. In this world lacking signs of heaven, redemptions are painful but possible.

March 15, 2017

Madeleine was forced to return to House Hawthorn, ruled by the fallen angel Asmodeus, after the destruction of House Silverspires (depicted in House of Shattered Wings). Given one last chance to pull herself out of her spiral of addiction to angel essence, she is sent on a diplomatic mission to the dragon kingdom under the river Seine. The dragons, once thought to be pure myth, are becoming a force to be reckoned with in Paris, even as the houses governed by the Fallen continue to fight among themselves. This ambitious fantasy series explores a Paris partly in ruins, dominated by fallen angels. While de Bodard touched on the dragon kingdom in the first book, here she further explores their efforts to challenge the houses above, and draws on her own Vietnamese background for the unique culture of dragons as well as immortals, such as returning character Phillippe. She also fills in corners of her Parisian landscape, showing the vulnerability of life for those living outside the houses. VERDICT The large cast of characters gives this series entry less emotional heft than the initial volume, but it is still a fascinating world with a welcome diversity of cultures and sexualities.--MM

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