This book is beautiful. It has unique world-building, fascinating Vietnamese influences, frank discussions of consent and destiny, insights into the damage done by colonialism, amazing LGBTQ and non-binary representation, beautiful descriptive passages, and a whole lot of flawed, complex characters.

BUT.

For some reason I just couldn't connect with it. I didn't find the main characters to have much chemistry, and I'll echo other reviewers in preferring not to have the words 'cold' and 'slimy' involved in sex scenes. I didn't think the story had much in common with Beauty and the Beast, barring the initial set up. The world-building is also extremely confusing. I never understood what the Vanishers were or why they left - it almost feels like this is a sequel to another series that I'd need to read for context.

I think this is a great book that some people will utterly adore, and I urge anyone who likes unusual fantasy to give it a try. It's not for me, but I will continue to recommend it highly to my friends.

I've read quite a lot by Aliette de Bodard, so I was very pleased to get approved for a pre-release copy of this by Netgalley. Well, it was pre-release when I got it, even if it's taken me forever to get around to actually reading it and then even longer to review it! That shouldn't be taken as a comment on the quality of the story, just on sudden craziness in my life and inability to settle down and actually read stuff.

Anyway, on to the story. The basic premise of In the Vanisher's Palace is that it's set on a world where aliens had ravaged everything and the characters we come across now are literally living in the ruins of what has been left behind. One of our main characters (Yên) is the daughter of the local healer, who is dealing with all sorts of odd illnesses caused by mutating viruses, and they live in a community where being useful is the key to survival. Yên herself is a scholar and not particularly good at anything else, so when attempts to heal the daughter of one of the community's leaders fail to be effective and more stringent measures are needed, she gets traded away to the dragon Vu Côn in exchange for a more effective treatment.

Vu Côn is one of the last dragons living and takes Yên to her palace, the abandoned ship of one of their former alien conquerors (the Vanishers), a place that literally does not obey the rules of physics. Rather than being killed in a bloody and violent manner, as Yên is expecting (and as was her potential fate in the outside world for the crime of not being useful to the community), she's given the job of tutor to Vu Côn's teenage children and also find herself unexpectedly attracted to said dragon.

Anyway, no secret has been made of the fact that this is a Beauty and the Beast re-telling in any of the publicity for In the Vanisher's Palace, so you can probably figure out roughly how it all works out. Finer details would spoil the story, so I just urge you to check it out if you like stuff that's inspired (as much of de Bodard's work is) by her Vietnamese heritage. To be honest, as is often the case with novellas, I get frustrated by the fact that they just don't on for as long as I would like and this is also the case here - there's enough world-building for a novel at least and it's constrained down to support the fairy-tale storyline instead. That's probably why I didn't give 5 stars in the end.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Yên is not important in her village. Her mother is a healer who knows magic but Yên has no powers herself; all she does is teach the village children but knowing about long-dead scholars isn’t considered important in a devasted world where everyday survival is hard enough.

When another girl – the daughter of a village elder – falls sick and the healing skills of Yên’s aren’t enough to help her, the elders decide to call the dragon and offer Yên’s life in exchange. Much to Yên’s surprise, the dragon doesn’t want to kill or torture her. Vu Côn wants her as teacher for her children. Still, things aren’t easy for Yên. She struggles to deal with the unfairness of her situation, the separation from her mother, Vu Côn’s distant behaviour and living in a palace where a wrong step can mean death.

It’s no new revelation that fairy tales often aren’t very good when it comes to consent. Apart from the often-discussed Sleeping Beauty, there are also rows of kings, promising their daughter to whoever completes a quest – without any mention if the daughter is OK with that. Retellings often avoid this issue by having the couple know – and love – each other already and the prince/tailor/penniless adventurer uses the quest to win over the dad who wouldn’t have agreed to the marriage otherwise over. In the Vanisher’s Palace is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast and it’s not news that consent is also a complicated issue in this story. But instead of avoiding the issue by adding something or changing parts of the story, consent becomes a major part of it.

Yên is relieved when it turns out that Vu Côn doesn’t mean to harm her. She’s even attracted to her. But she still sees her as the person who tore her from her home and is now keeping her a prisoner. With time she realises that Vu Côn didn’t have much choice: Yên couldn’t have stayed in her village and has no chance of surviving on her own in the post-apocalyptic world the story is set in. It takes her some time to see that not everybody is against her (an understandable fear, since apart from her mother, she hasn’t met many people who were truly on her side).

But Vu Côn keeps making decisions for her. She keeps information concerning Yên and her family from her and also doesn’t tell the whole truth about what is going on in the palace. And Yên can’t simply switch off her mistrust, so both have a lot to learn (and unlearn).

In the Vanisher’s Palace is a romance but one set in a post-apocalyptic world. So, while Yên and Vu Côn do get their happy end, there is no magical solution that turns the world in a better place again. Things still look rather dark at the end, and I prefer my romances a bit more light-hearted. I want to make clear that this isn’t the ‘fault’ of the book. An ending with a magical cure-all solution wouldn’t have fitted the story – and the fascinating world de Bodard created – at all. And after all, the fact that it was a post-apocalyptic story was made clear in advance, so I knew I wouldn’t get a typical ‘And they lived happily ever after’-ending. I gave the book a try anyway because the premise sounded fascinating. And I did love how this version of Beauty and the Beast was interpreted and how the relationship developed. Yên and Vo Côn, as well as the other characters, were great. But in the end, I couldn’t completely forget that it’s still a genre that’s not my cup of tea at all. If it is yours I can wholeheartedly recommend this story.

This is billed as a retelling of Beauty and the Beast but to be honest I don’t think the connection does this credit. It’s a slim tale of honour and love and duty, set in an amazing futuristic vision, tinged with an ‘exotic’ Vietnamese setting, and full of fantasical imagery brought to life with Aliette de Bodard’s delicately wonderful use of language.

Phew – that’s a lot to squeeze in to 200-ish pages! Recommended :)

This was just plain lovely.

In the Vanishers’ Palace is, at its core, a delightfully queer retelling of Beauty and the Beast set in alternate Vietnam. Yên is a failed scholar, assisting her healer mother, but thought to be fairly useless. When her friend and a daughter from an important family, Oanh, falls gravely ill, she is exchanged for a cure from the dragon, Vu Côn, expecting to be killed, but instead becoming a teacher to her children.

I admit I went into this book more than a little hesitant. A romance between a dragon and a young woman who is sold to her? It sounded like it could end up all sorts of creepy, even though the friend who recommended it to me assured me it isn’t. And luckily, the issue of consent in such a situation is explicitly addressed and handled both delicately and well. So no fears there.

The characters weren’t as developed as I would have liked, but the prose is good and the setting more than made up for it. There’s a slight whiff of sci-fi and biotech. The titular Vanishers’ palace is strange and dangerous and wonderful as is the magic, and the Vietnamese setting is way more than just window-dressing. The characters clearly speak a different language, with different pronouns and means of address based on the person they are speaking to, which is a nice twist and done well. However, as always with novellas, I wish there was just a little more time spent exploting the setting and especially the characters.

In a way, parallels could also be drawn between the Vanishers and colonialism - they came, took over, exploited the land and its people, then went away and left everything broken behind them.

I read this book courtesy of the author via NetGalley, in exchange for a review.

In the Vanishers' Palace has been described as a sapphic retelling of The Beauty and the Beast. This is true, though it focuses on the parts of the book I liked the least, at the expense of those I liked best. This novella tells the story of Yên, a scholar (and teacher) and daughter of a village healer, and Vu Côn - a dragon, and mother to two teenagers just coming into their own powers. All this happens against the backdrop of a devastated, post-apocalyptic (postcolonial) world of danger, disease and human unkindness.

The worldbuilding is superb. The Vietnamese cultural and linguistic inspiration is rendered in exquisite and beautiful detail, and combined with science fictional ideas that would be enough for a whole saga of novels. The descriptions of words and their power were worth the admission price all on their own. They were spellbinding.

I liked the family relationships, too. The bonds between Yên and her mother, and especially between Vu Côn and her children are written well and when the latter receives narrative attention, the book becomes quite gripping.

Unfortunately, (and YMMV here,) the sapphic aspect of the book didn't command comparable attention from me. I found the plotting and pacing, particularly with regard to the romantic storyline, to be relatively uninteresting. I didn't see much chemistry between the characters (despite occasionally great descriptions of desire). To me, their relationship lacked depth and the emotions they experienced didn't ring true or seem compelling. I really wanted to care about the romantic storyline, but I didn't.

I wish some aspects of the world and particularly characters actions and emotions had been explained a little more clearly. Occasionally, the story seemed to assume certain actions and decisions have obvious motivations, when that was not quite the case; at other moments, characters reacted with shock and surprise to actions that seemed entirely in character based on everything we (and they) knew.

All in all, I am glad I read the novella for its descriptions and language, but I wish the plot had been stronger.

As someone who actively advocates Asian-inspired fantasies, no one is more disappointed in me for not liking this book... than, well, myself. I really, really wanted to love this. I was so excited to dive in!

But... nothing worked for me. In the Vanishers’ Palace is easily the weirdest book I’ve read this year. It’s messy and confusing and ugh, I need some time to process all of this.

Quick thoughts:
- All sorts of weirdness going on.
- What was really the plot here? And how is this a retelling of Beauty and the Beast? It all seemed farfetched to me.
- Beastiality that I 100% could not appreciate. Dragon sex??? Algae aftertaste from a kiss??? Oily???
- The characters had no personality at all.
- Absolutely no chemistry between Vu Côn and Yên. Their relationship was so poorly developed.
- A ton of cringing on my part.
- I was happy to see an all-Vietnamese cast.
- The magic system was confusing for me, too.
- The Vanishers???
- I swear, I tried really, really hard to like this bUT I JUST CAN'T.

Full review to follow!

The most recent novel from Aliette de Bodard (The House of Shattered Wings, The Tea Master and the Detective) puts a high-fantasy spin on the already magical story of Beauty and the Beast. The characters are complex, each with layered perceptions of themselves and their place in this broken world. The magic is beautiful, the palace itself is a mindblowing entity, and the originality is evident on every page.

In the Vanishers’ Palace will transfix you from the start, weaving a deftly written adaptation of Beauty and the Beast into a magic-filled world burdened with the evil remnants of a dark pass. It’s so much more than a retelling of a classic story. Bodard has made it her own with enthralling prose and an inspired version of dragons that shows much more than their scaly exteriors would betray. Prepare to be swept away.

Full review at: https://reviewsandrobots.com/2018/10/22/in-the-vanishers-palace-dragons-love-magic/

I’d previously read – and loved – Ms. de Bodard’s reimagining of Sherlock and Watson, so when I saw she had a Beauty and the Beast retelling coming out, I was ridiculously excited – and even more so when I saw the gorgeous cover. Ms. de Bodard has a way of condensing a familiar story down to its bones, and then rebuilding it in a way that’s both familiar and unfamiliar. What we end up with, in this case is a delightfully queer Vietnamese-flavored post-apocalyptic fairy tale – with dragons!

The Vanishers came, destroyed the earth with pollution and genetic modification viruses, and then left suddenly (as the name suggests). The people left survive in small villages, with survival of the healthiest being the rule. Yên is the daughter of the village healer and the schoolteacher, but after showing no aptitude for magic and failing the scholar examination, she knows it’s only a matter of time before she’s banished or killed. When her mother calls upon the old spirits to heal the daughter of one of the village elders, the dragon Vu Côn answers, and demands a life as payment. The elders offer up Yên, and so she becomes the teacher to the twins in Vu Côn’s palace, a Vanisher relic that thumbs its nose at physics and seems more likely to kill its inhabitants than protect them. An attraction simmers between the girl and the dragon, but Vu Côn thinks her attentions are unwanted and Yên considers herself a prisoner and beneath the dragon’s notice.

“She wore flowing silk: a stark, black cloth of a shade that Yên had only seen in Vanishers’ cloth, with not one clearer patch to mar the deep color. When she moved, it was as if the night sky shifted and spread around her. What would it be like, to have those sleeves enfold Yên—those long, thin fingers wrapped around Yên’s shoulders? Yên found her breath catching in her throat again.
Beautiful. No. No. She couldn’t afford to think of the dragon that way. She was Yên’s master, Yên’s executioner. There was no future in desire or love.”


Vu Côn is fascinating – selfless, in the sense that she’s seemingly the last spirit to take any interest in humans, but also arrogant in that she thinks she knows what’s best for everyone (without actually asking them), and in believing in her ability to control a situation – or her own emotions. I loved the relationship between Vu Côn and the twins. They’re poised on the brink of adulthood, and it was sweet to see the powerful dragon struggle tread the line between treating them like the children she remembers and the adults they will become. Honestly, the twins stole the show in any scene they were in. Yên, for her part, is brave – first fighting for her place in the village and later standing up to Vu Côn. Their relationship is slow and fraught with problems. Ms. de Bodard doesn’t shy away from the problems inherent in their relationship (prisoner/captor, mortal/dragon, young/ancient, powerless/powerful). One of the more fascinating themes was when it’s morally acceptable to keep information from someone – if the knowledge won’t change anything but will only hurt them?

There’s so much more, too. There’s a lyrical quality to the story that’s simply magical. Things involving the village smell like mold and decay, the Vanishers’ magic is full of knives and destruction, and Vu Côn is swamps and deep rivers. The pacing is tight without feeling like the story’s rushing along. The worldbuilding in general, and the magic system in particular, is fascinating. In the end, though, it’s the characters that really made the story shine for me.

Overall, this was an absolute delight and I’d recommend it to anyone looking for an original and immersive fairy tale retelling.

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

This is billed as a F/F Beauty and the Beast retelling where the Beast is a dragon and definitely the bare bones of the B&tB story are there, but this is very much its own story. I for one was very thankful for that because I'm always afraid with B&tB retellings that they are going to stay too close to the original and it will be too Stockholm Syndromy for me, but this one was really cute and I liked the way it developed and moved away from the standard story as it went on. The world is very interesting and the characters were enjoyable. I would definitely recommend it for anyone who is looking for a short F/F story with a fairytale twist.

Who can resist an f/f reworking of Beauty and the Beast featuring a dragon (!!!!)? Certainly not me, and I'm very glad I picked this one up. This particular story is based on Vietnamese myth and culture as well, which is a nice change from "generic European myth and culture". I will admit that I did not fully understand some of the worldbuilding involving the Vanishers, but for me, the most important aspects were the character interactions and growth, which were everything I want out of a BatB storyline. My only quibble was that the author wrote out the honorifics (I'm not sure if that's the correct word - the way the characters refer to each other, such as "elder aunt" or "younger sister") in English. I think I would have preferred them to be in Vietnamese, but in the grand scheme of things, that is not a big deal at all.

Overall, an awesome story by an awesome writer.

This review is based off an ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

WOW. Simply fabulous. Teacher and daughter of her village's healer Yên is not special. She reads, she yearns, she aches to be more, but she is simply a good teacher and a quick study. In a world that has been ruined by the Vanishers - creatures that revel in destruction and who have now moved on to other worlds to destroy - Yên is just trying to survive and make something of her simple life. But the world is sick and death is barely a step away. The village's sacrifice, Yên is sold to Vu Côn, the last dragon. Yên's fight for life and love is only just beginning.

This is a beautiful story. Rich, descriptive language and joyously dark worldbuilding make this a colorful tapestry of words - enjoyable and entertaining to read. A great scifi/fantasy. I thoroughly recommend it.

In the Vanisher’s Palace is imaginative. It is vivid and colorful. The book draws on Vietnamese language, culture and style. The author is herself a Franco-Vietnamese woman who has a strong rating on Goodreads. All that being true, I’m not sure why I had a difficult time with this book. I have a couple of theories.

Number 1 – the source material. It is a loose re-telling of Beauty and the Beast. I love Belle as much as the next girl, but I think we’re all adult enough to admit that story is problematic at best. A young woman of promise is abducted and falls in love with her captor. Ms. de Bodard does a good job of trying to ameliorate these issues that are hard boiled into the plot. Her Beauty and Beast (in this case a dragon/woman hybrid) have an immediate attraction. This lays to rest ideas of Stockholm syndrome, but in the process some of the tension is lost. In fact, the characters become romantically involved very early in the book. Then there is the dragon sex. Maybe some readers will like it, it’s just not my jam. I like the dragons though! The castle is also mind bending and a real plus!

Number 2 – I had trouble understanding what was going on sometimes. I’ve encountered this with some other fantasy books. The reader is thrust into a situation where the learning curve is high, and there is not enough opportunity to familiarize yourself with what is going on. In this case, there was a history of “Vanisher’s” who at some point left the planet after first abusing the population and ruining the environment. But you’re never quite sure what was going on with them, how are they connected to the current cast of characters, and what exactly went on here. I need to have a more concrete understanding of a book by at least 50% and in this case I didn’t.

I think this book could be appreciated by other readers. I am not the right person for this one. My thinking is a little too linear I think to appreciate what the author was going for.

Song for this book: The Light Before We Land by The Delgados

A f/f retelling of Beauty and the Beast in a Vietnamese setting, with a shapeshifting dragon doctor. ‘Beauty’ acts as the governess for her adopted children, in a mysterious castle which was designed as a dangerous trap from a race of people who inflicted viruses on the world. Really unique and interesting, and it definitely stands out from the other multiple retellings of this fairy tale.

This heavily Viet inspired fantasy written by a French author is utterly unlike anything I have read before. I heard it talked about as a f/f Beauty and the Beast retelling where the beast is a dragon, and while that summary piqued my interest, I also think that this book is so much more than that.

True, one of the main characters is a dragon, who can shift forms to look human. But the way she thinks is incredibly other, consistently so, which I liked. I also loved her two wards and the secret they carry.

The Vanishers were once a race of creatures who used the world to their own ends and didn't care who else or what else they hurt before they disappeared, leaving a world filled with diseases and magic that those left don't quite understand.

Yên's family suffers one such disease when the book opens, before she is sold to Vu Côn in exchange for healing. The Vanisher's palace, where she comes to live, is so confusing to read, which I think is exactly the point, but I will admit to finding that at times off putting. Which, again, was likely the point.

Although this is a romance, the plot and various friendships were more fleshed out than the eventual couple who ended up getting together by the end. But it was honestly difficult to understand what their relationship could be like as not enough time was given in the story to establish how they could work together.

Ahoy there me mateys!  I received this fantasy/sci-fi eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  So here be me honest musings . . .

in the vanishers' palace (Aliette de Bodard)

Title: in the vanishers' palace

Author: Aliette de Bodard

Publisher: JABberwocky Literary Agency, Inc.

Publication Date: TODAY!! (paperback/e-book)

ISBN: 978-1625673985

Source: NetGalley

I have read some of the author's short stories and enjoy her writing style.  This is a beauty and the beast retelling based on Vietnamese myths and culture.  The story is an interesting blend of fantasy and sci-fi.  The tale takes place in a world destroyed by an alien race called the Vanishers.  The Vanishers used Earth as a plaything and left chaos behind.  Humans are barely surviving in the barren wasteland.  Disease, starvation, and lack of resources are the norm.  In order to have a place in society, members must have viable skills to keep their place.  Life is harsh and unfair.

 Yên lives in one such settlement.  She is a failed scholar and barely adequate healer's apprentice.  Her position in the village is due to her mother's skill as a healer.  But one day, a prominent leader's daughter is diagnosed with a fatal disease.  Should she die, both Yên and her mother's places are forfeit.  So Yên's mother makes a magical bargain with a dragon for the girl's life.  Only the price of the healing turns out to be Yên's servitude to the dragon.  Yên is taken to the Vanishers' palace to be a teacher to the dragon's two children.  Only Yên is drawn to the dragon.  What will become of her?

I have to say that this was just an okay read for me.  I had a hard time getting drawn into the story.  I liked many of the individual elements but the story didn't end up being an cohesive whole.  I loved the "word" magic.  I loved the f/f relationship.  I loved Yên's mother.  I enjoyed the blend of sci-fi and fantasy elements.  I liked that Yên stood up for herself and demanded to be allowed to make her own choices.  And yet the excitement was lacking. 

Part of that may have been the dragon's aloof nature.  Part of that was the many descriptions of the odd architecture and nature of the palace itself.  I didn't really even feel the fairy tale retelling vibe.  But overall, I am not sure what the disconnect was.  I just did not love this story like others by the author.  This story does seem to be loved by many of the crew.  So while this story was not mesmerizing, I am glad to have read it.  And I still will be readin' more of the author's work.  

So lastly . . .

Thank you JABberwocky Literary Agency, Inc.!

Goodreads has this to say about the novel:

From the award-winning author of the Dominion of the Fallen series comes a dark retelling of Beauty and the Beast.

In a ruined, devastated world, where the earth is poisoned and beings of nightmares roam the land...

A woman, betrayed, terrified, sold into indenture to pay her village's debts and struggling to survive in a spirit world.

A dragon, among the last of her kind, cold and aloof but desperately trying to make a difference.

When failed scholar Yên is sold to Vu Côn, one of the last dragons walking the earth, she expects to be tortured or killed for Vu Côn's amusement.

But Vu Côn, it turns out, has a use for Yên: she needs a scholar to tutor her two unruly children. She takes Yên back to her home, a vast, vertiginous palace-prison where every door can lead to death. Vu Côn seems stern and unbending, but as the days pass Yên comes to see her kinder and caring side. She finds herself dangerously attracted to the dragon who is her master and jailer. In the end, Yên will have to decide where her own happiness lies—and whether it will survive the revelation of Vu Côn’s dark, unspeakable secrets... 

To visit the author’s website go to:

Aliette de Bodard – Author

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in the vanisher's palace - Book

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Yer Ports for Plunder List

Previous Log Entries for this Author

the tea master and the detective (On the Horizon - Fantasy eArc)

I loved this book. It's set in a dark and gritty post-apocalyptic alternate Earth where an alien(?) race, the Vanishers, ravaged the land and left behind all sorts of terrible viruses which devastate the surviving humans. Humanity clings to survival, but communities don't have the resources to support people they deem insufficiently useful. Amidst all this, failed scholar Yên is traded to the dragon Vu Côn in exchange for Vu Côn's healing services.

This is a unique and beautifully written retelling of Beauty and the Beast. The original tale has some problematic elements, as there's a strong undercurrent of Stockholm Syndrome and it's easy to fall into a pattern of justifying abusive behavior as a sign of "love." Aliette de Bodard handles all of this extremely well, as Yên wrestles with deciding what she wants and bristles at how Vu Côn doesn't allow her to make many choices. Meanwhile, Vu Côn is well aware of how power inequality makes the issue of consent very tricky and wrestles with the issue of setting appropriate boundaries.

All in all, this is an imaginative and carefully thought out tale and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I struggled with reading the story and I wanted so badly to love this since it is a retelling of beauty and the beast in a vietnamese setting but while I loved the beautifully written lyrical prose, it fell short.

2.5 ⭐

4.75 Stars

Imagine a post-apocalyptic Vietnamese f/f retelling of "Beauty and the Beast" with a dragon-lady Beast and you'd find yourself in the world of In the Vanisher's Palace. Yên, a young woman who has failed her university entrance exams, lives in a world ravaged by cruel colonizers called the Vanishers, who broke and despoiled the Earth and then abandoned it. Poisons and viruses sweep the Earth. Healers, who use what weak magic they possess, try in vain to heal. Yên's mother, Kim Ngoc, desperately tries to save a young woman, Oanh, by summoning a dragon healer from the spirit realm. The dragon, Vu Côn, takes the form of a cold and proud woman. She heals Oanh but claims Yên as her price for being summoned. Yên is drawn with her into the spirit world of the Vanisher's Palace, meeting Vu Côn's children Thông (genderless) and Liên (female), and rather than being devoured, as she had expected to be, finds herself a governess to these two strange children. Increasingly attracted to one another, Vu Côn and Yên struggle with the boundaries of their relationship. Among the interesting subjects tackled in this novella is the issue of consent. As Vu Côn points out to her children, can a slave or servant ever truly grant consent? Even if freed, is sex given out of gratitude or obligation or out of genuine affection? Though a romantic relationship evolves between these two women, Vu Côn's secrets threaten to sabotage Yên's trust. Additionally, Vu Côn's high-handed decision-making infuriates Yên, who is evidently clever enough to be tutoring Vu Côn's children but not enough so to be informed of major choices being made about her own life, family, and health. Yên is not without her own flaws, however, and is too bound by her own prejudices. Both will have to change in order to achieve the sense of equality needed in a true relationship.

This is another fascinating Aliette de Bodard story, with strong female characters and interesting perspectives on consent, colonialism, and racism. I just wish we had had a bit more background on the Vanishers.


I received a Digital Review Copy of this book from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Welcome to a broken post-apocalyptic world ravaged by the shape-shifting mythical and mysterious race of Vanishers. A superior race of immoral creatures who have departed but left in their wake a world racked with viruses, illness and mutation. Their devastation has effected all life forms. The dire consequences unfold in a third world type of small village with Oanh, the daughter of the village's Head Elder, lies afflicted on her death bed. The village Healer is summoned in the hope of a cure. Tagging along is the Healer's daughter, Yen … a teacher and failed scholar who apparently has little "value" to the village. In a desperate measure the healer summons with magic the Dragon, Vu Con. Although the magic of the Dragon saves Oanh, a price needs to be exacted. In exchange for Vu Con's aid a villager must be surrendered. Having no value to the village the Head Elder decrees that Yen will go.
De Bodard weaves a tapestry of lyrical prose into an enchanting tale …. reminiscent of the French fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast". Yen finds herself imprisoned in the Vanisher's Palace … whose architecture is unworldly and any attempt to visualize results in a vertiginous mind muttering experience … Yen finds it impossible to traverse the bizarrely constructed corridors.
She anticipates either torture or death at the hands of the shape-shifing Vu Con. But instead, is charged with the education of the Dragon's two children … Thong and Lien. She remains distraught and fearful for her future.
Thanks to Netgalley and Jabberwocky for providing this excellent Advance electronic E-Book in exchange for an honest review.