Aliette de Bodard is such a phenomenal writer and storyteller. I enjoyed this series immensely (as well as her other books and novellas) as it is rich in vivid imagery, culture, plotlines, plot twists, character arcs and growth, diversity, complexities and more. Fans of fantasy and even those venturing into the genre, try this one out. It's stunning and adventurous.

5 Star - fantastic novel and perhaps even better than The House of Shattered Wings - Aliette de Bodard delivers another winner!

This series is captivating and inve3ntive. I look forward to seeing more from de Bodard.

I know this review is terribly late; I salved my conscience by buying a copy as well. Aliette de Bodard has built a fascinating world in this post-apocalyptic London, and it's so refreshing to get Vietnamese influences running through a story like this -- it might be set in France and involve angels of a rather Western bent, but it also features dragons of a rather more Eastern variety.

I don't think you can really read this without The House of Shattered Wings; you need the background for Madeleine and Philippe. I was surprised, though, at how interesting I found Asmodeus. I wasn't too taken with him before, but this book does show another side to him. There's also a lesbian couple, Françoise and Berith, and their story is new here, but adds more to the world.

If The House of Shattered Wings didn't work for you, I suspect that The House of Binding Thorns won't, either. I found it bleakly beautiful, and really enjoyed the additions to the world-building and the way the characters grew and changed, or at least revealed other aspects of themselves. It also won't work for you if you're not a fan of something that falls squarely into moral grey areas: you could have believed Silverspires were the good guys, in the previous book, but now the house is Asmodeus', and for all that you kind of find yourself rooting for him, he's still not a pleasant person.

[Review live from 21st July 2017.]

I struggled a lot with this one and I feel that's due to two main things: one was a reading slump the likes of which I've never really experienced (I don't think I've ever really felt this much of a slump, to the point of near indifference); the other was the fact that for the vast majority of the book, the main POV character is Madeleine and hers was the perspective that really dragged down my overall enjoyment of The House of Shattered Wings, so I would be lying if I didn't say that I very nearly gave up on the book when I saw that. However, let it not be said that I'm completely heartless or a quitter (after all, I so rarely give up on anything when it comes to books) and by the last 25%, I really was enjoying myself quite a bit more. De Bodard manages to tie in everything in a very unexpected climax and actually, I would again be lying if I didn't admit that my interest in any further books in this setting has most definitely been piqued.

As the title suggests, The House of Binding Thorns is all about Hawthorn. After the events of the last book, loyalties are being tested and characters trying to rebuild from the ashes find themselves being asked to pay too great a price for their hearts desires. There is scant mention of Silverspires here and actually I quite enjoyed the attention shifting away from them. If there is any intention of a third book, then de Bodard clearly will be able to choose from quite the array, be it Lazarus (the House ruled by a human rather than a Fallen) or the new one introduced in this book, a newcomer to the world of intrigue, politics and death that is Paris after the magical war. There is also a larger focus on the dragon kingdom, something I definitely enjoyed. I liked the descriptions of the palaces and its inhabitants, I liked the links between it and the world of south east Asia (most notably Vietnam), I liked that de Bodard made them all very fierce contenders with the power and magic and influence of the Fallen-ruled Houses. In that respect, it's a very interesting clash of cultures, one I really enjoyed reading about. There are a lot of nuances here, about being an immigrant and hiding from the dominant culture, about the lives of the Houseless (also mostly Vietnamese immigrants) and the squalor of living in what amounts to slums, while those who do have have a House find that, if nothing else, they at least have protection and a hot meal, both things that de Bodard immediately paints as being vital to survival in Paris.

There are new characters introduced in this book, alongside old faces and again, bar Madeleine, I did like them. There's Philippe again, living with the weight and the guilt of the choices he made at the end of the last book and though he plays a far less prominent role in this than in the first book. There are new characters from the dragon kingdom and I liked the exploration of the differences between their magic and that of the Fallen, something that is exemplified masterfully in the ending of the book. A part of me feels that the setup is very much towards these two worlds working together to rebuild Paris, to show cooperation and to heal the wounds that the power struggle left wide open.

It's also interesting to see de Bodard tackle relationships (both platonic and romantic) between humans and Fallen -- where this is mostly just touched upon in the first book with Philippe and Isabelle (and his nature isn't one I would strictly call human), the existence of Berith and Françoise is one that leaves a lot of questions unanswered. We know from the first book that humans can wield Fallen magic through angel essence (and its addiction and side effects are still a key point in this sequel), but what about long-term exposure? Both Selene's and Asmodeus' lovers are Fallen, but could they (would they) fall in love with a human? I also liked the fact that this human/Fallen affair is tackled through the eyes of lesbians, with all the prejudices that come of it. Françoise's struggles with the Annamite community I found to be incredibly interesting (and heart-rending), in a way that I don't see a lot of fantasy explore. I really hope that any sequels that may or may not happen do still follow her, even if she isn't as much of a central character.

I do wish I could have given this book a higher rating. The pacing is much better than The House of Shattered Wings, there is far less of that repetition that really ground my gears and perhaps without the reading slump I would have easily given this a 4 star rating. Madeleine is far too prominent for me to be able to truly enjoy the book and although I was initially interested in her story and how she would cope with the aftereffects of the angel essence addiction, by the end I dreaded every time she appeared in the chapter. For a book that's ultimately not that long, this really hindered my enjoyment of it. Would I still recommend the two Dominion of the Fallen books? I would, it's an interesting concept, it's a really interesting setting and most of the characters feel genuine and complex, with conflicting desires and goals. My reservations about Madeleine aside, I would still pick up Aliette de Bodard's next book.

The House of Binding Thorns is the second installment in author Aliette de Bodard's Dominion of the Fallen series. In a Paris that never was, a city of magicians, alchemists and Fallen angels struggles to recover from a devastating magical war that left the city in shambles. The House of Hawthorn, led by a Fallen Angel named Asmodeus, is where this story begins. But, it also includes the Dragon Kingdom, which is an under the Seine River, that gets plenty of storyline as well.

In the first installment, The House of Shattered Wings, the author did all of the world building, so if you haven't yet read that book, I recommend that you do in order to understand how we got to this point in the series. In the previous installment, the author introduced readers to Madeline, an alchemist with an addiction to angel essence. We were also introduced Philippe, who is neither a man, nor a Fallen, yet possibly just as powerful as one. Both characters return to fight yet another battle that will encompass them both before things are finished.

Other Major characters include: Houseless Annamite Françoise (who wields rather peculiar and powerful Fallen magic), and dragon prince Thuan (with a talent for getting into major trouble).

Madeleine, who staggered away from House Silverspires at the end of the last installment, is back to where she originally began. House Hawthorn. Broken of her angel addiction, forcibly, Madeleine is once again bound to the House of Hawthorn and Asmodeus who she has a fearful relationship with. Madeleine ends up being sent to the Dragon Kingdom under the Seine River by Asmodeus. When
she arrives in the Viet Kingdom, things are not so impressive or clear. Madeleine is a character who may not like Asmodeus and the way he deals with things, but she seems to be the only one willing to do the right thing when things are most bleak.

Elsewhere, Philippe is finding his way in the city that was broken by a war that hit Paris 60 years ago. He has access to magic, but refuses to be used by any House ever again. Especially after losing Isabelle. He uses what magic he has to help the homeless that have been caught in a never ending struggle for survival. Philippe's entire storyline revolves around finding a way to bring her back. In the end, it brings him to Houseless Annamite Françoise and her lover, a Fallen named Berith, who may hold the key to bring Isabelle back to life.

Asmodeus is a powerful force that lurks behind every one of these characters in one way or the other. It is he who finds himself under attack by outside forces looking to take advantage of every crack of perceived weakness. It is he who ends up sending a delegation to the Viet Kingdom of Dragons for not only a peace accord, but a replacement for his consort who fell in the last installment. But, the rong have major issues, including a major plague of angel essence that has caused factions to fight against each other for supremacy.

Asmodeus is a villain, yet he is an impressive one. He is a character who you will love to root against time and time again. He is a schemer, a Fallen who has made more than his fair share of mistakes, and caused untold pain and suffering to many, many who stood in his way. Even though one might cheer for his destruction, you can't help but feel just a bit for him, and hope that he comes out on top. One might think that Asmodeus is as uncaring as they come, but under his dark exterior, lies someone who needs a bit of love and understanding.

The second book continues quickly from the previous book and plows right ahead with the scheming of the houses to come on top. This one also has the dragons dealing with schemes and plots and they are working on an alliance with the House Hawthorn. No matter what happens in the books past events always shape both people and future plans. Overall I enjoyed the book and the worldbuilding but for the most part no one ends up with a completely happy ending. I think it brings home the fact that the Houses provide safety in the world but not much happiness.

Aliette de Bodard burst onto the SF/F scene with her novel THE HOUSE OF SHATTERED WINGS, an urban fantasy that introduced an alternate Paris ravaged by a war between Houses of Fallen angels. Now she returns to that world in THE HOUSE OF BINDING THORNS, delving more deeply into the political structure of the Houses and the personalities behind them…especially House Hawthorn and its mercurial leader Asmodeus.

While the first book was largely set in House Silverspires, THE HOUSE OF BINDING THORNS is set in House Hawthorn, the strongest and most feared of the Fallen Houses in Paris. I was particularly excited about this since Hawthorn – and Asmodeus – looms large in the mind of Madeleine in the first book, and I wanted to see if it lived up to her memory. Madeleine is a lot of things, but she’s not necessarily wrong about Hawthorn: it is just as terrible and dark as she remembers. But it is also more nuanced, and there’s more to Asmodeus than she would care to admit. Dragged back to Hawthorn against her will, Madeleine occupies a liminal space in the House: she is one of its dependents, but she’s also poised on the edge of knife as someone who opposed Asmodeus’ rise to power. The human alchemist who barely escaped Hawthorn with her life on the night Asmodeus took power is going to have to toughen up if she wants to survive…and she’ll need to kick her addiction to angel essence to do it.

The scheming and plotting of the Houses reveals the seedy underbelly of their political structure: while some House leaders may present themselves as more benevolent than others, all Houses are the same in the end. They will jockey for position, fighting tooth and claw for power that will ensure their dominance…but also ensure the safety and stability of their human dependents. In a city crumbling around them, humans have no safe place to turn lest they be plagued by gangs or used as pawns in Fallen skirmishes. Joining a House is the lesser of two evils, a moral concession that recurring character Philippe understands all too well.

An Annamite (or Vietnamese) man who’s less human than he appears, Philippe came to Paris decades ago as a result of Fallen conquest. His jaded, cynical perspective of the Houses illustrates how the Fallen dominate all those around them, choking out other forms of magic with angel essence in the same way an invasive weed takes over a garden. While this commentary is far from subtle, I appreciated the exploration of white cultural dominance and colonialism on Annamite culture. De Bodard is able to weave together a complex plot, several tangled mysteries, and deep philosophical questions with ease, and she’s earned herself at least one dedicated fan as a result.

As much as I enjoyed the Hawthorn scenes and the political commentary, the dragon kingdom definitely stole the show for me. Paris has been left crumbling after the war, with all manner of debris and fallout making their way into the waters of the Seine where the dragons make their home. Their kingdom is a study in opposites: ornate Vietnamese inspired architecture and art juxtaposed with the slow decay of the kingdom and its people. The dragons are under siege from the Fallen, both directly and as a result of the pollution from their pointless war. But young dragon Thuanh will do anything to save his people from extinction and bring stability to his fractured kingdom, even if it means allying himself with one of the Houses. Even if that House is Hawthorn. I adored Thuanh, with his self-assured yet shy way of dealing with politics and diplomacy. It’s also refreshing to see queer characters and relationships normalized amongst both the Fallen and the dragons.

Complex, creative, and diverse, THE HOUSE OF BINDING THORNS is an impressive sequel that tugged on my heartstrings and made me think deeply about racial and cultural politics. It’s that rare beast: a sequel that outshines an already impressive series debut. Highly recommended.

House of Binding Thorns
Aliete de Bodard
A world of angels and demons exists in a war-torn Paris around the turn of the twentieth century. Those who must, seek to live in one of the Houses led by a Fallen. A power struggle between them means a constant flux. Newly Fallen are used for their magic. No one is safe. Under it all the dragons keep their kingdom unseen to prying eyes in the River Seine but they are being destroyed as well.
After the terrible events of The House of Shattered Wings we find Madeline has returned to the House of Hawthorn where she suffered so much before being taken in by Silverspires. She is once more under the control of the Head of the House Asmodeus who will control her both in life and death. Her addiction to angel essence, drawn from the Fallen after they die, makes her fatally weak. Her friend Elphon has been resurrected by Asmodeus but retains no memory of his previous life, the knife twists a little more. Selected to be part of a delegation to the dragon kingdom Madeline is worried she might not survive and added to this the newly made Elphon is also to accompany her.
Thuan is part of the retinue of House of Hawthorn and to all observers he is training to be a complete dependent of the House. But Thuan is a dragon from the kingdom under the Seine. He is trying to find the source of the angel essence that his taking over and killing his brethren. He’s a spy and he is putting his life on the line for his family and his world. Thuan has made friends in the house who treat him as a surrogate son but he may have to betray them at any time. When he first encounters Asmodeus Thuan is overwhelmed by the Fallen’ s raw power and he cannot begin to imagine how much his future will be tied to his master’s.
Phillipe, who was at the heart of the previous book has suffered a terrible loss. Working as a Doctor to the poor of Paris he nurses a hope of resurrecting his love but at what price will this come? Encountering another fallen who is surviving outside of the protection of any House he is offered a bargain but it means he will come to be noticed by the House and being noticed is never a good thing.
This does a very good job as a follow on to House of Shattered Wings. With new characters and new problems alongside our original protagonists this makes a very intriguing and pacy adventure with the denouement being both satisfying and leading to the next book. The story feels fresh and we do get invested in the trials of the characters. Its descriptively dense with some excellent word pictures creating a world at once so familiar and so different to ours. The underwater world where everyone can breathe it as if it is air is beautifully thought out and just when you forget they are under the river something happens that breaks them and you out of complacency. There are no saints in this book of angels but there are certainly characters we can identify with and this empathy is half the battle in getting the reader onside.
I think this is an excellent series with lots of variety and it feels more inventive than many books I come across. It’s an exciting world to fall into and I am looking forward to the next book.

The House of Binding Thorns, Aliette de Bodard’s novel set in a turn-of-the-century Paris devastated by a magical war, is the follow up to The House of Shattered Wings, which won the 2015 British Science Fiction Association Award. The books are set in an alternate Paris, where dragons and other sea-creatures drawn from Vietnamese mythology control the river Seine, and the Fallen, ruthless angels expelled from heaven, control everything else.
The reader is enveloped in gossamer threads of dread, as she reads about the struggles of various characters to escape domination and cruelty. Both the dragon kingdom and the Houses of the Fallen offer nuanced gradients of aggression; there is no refuge for the powerless. A pregnant Vietnamese woman, an immortal from Asia who lost most of his power, and a French woman who is addicted to the magic found in angel bones, all try to find their way among the shifting alliances, subterfuges, and occasional rewards of a decaying and rotting city. This is low fantasy: magic mixed with political machinations, the ethereal mixed with the pain of labor.
With the plot occasionally taking a backseat to setting, there is nothing for it but to give yourself over to the heavy, evocative atmosphere, and let it subjugate you with its hypnotic cloud of magic. Ms. de Bodard’s observant eye captures the subtleties of various cultures, genders, and fantastical creatures in a believable and visceral way.

Aliette de Bodard’s novel The House of Binding Thorns is an intense read filled to the brim with complicated characters and the relationships they have with one another. This second book manages to be both sequel and standalone amd f you wanted to read only this book without starting The House of Shattered Wings, you couldprobably manage it without being too confused.

But then, why would you want to miss out on the way that the characters from the first book have changed in the time between the two books?

For me, part of the enjoyment in this story came from retracing my steps.

It came from following familiar characters — some of whom were secondary or antagonistic in the first book — around the remnants of a once-great city. It came from the return to the kingdom of dragons underneath the river and the mysteries surrounding the Fallen that stand opposite them as enemies.

One of the best things about de Bodard’s writing that isn’t limited to The House of Binding Thorns is how she writes these rich descriptions of characters, locations, and well — magic. I’ve been thinking it to myself as I go through this book, but I can almost believe in magic as laid out here.

Reading the descriptions the magic that dragon-in-hiding Thuan does in order to find the source of the angel essence causing an epidemic harming his people was something out of this world. de Bodard’s writing makes it easy to visualize magic at work in her world and it’s amazing to read. Honestly, I can’t wait to get the audiobook because that will just make the magic even more realistic for me.

Another wonderful thing about reading The House of Binding Thorns is the way that de Bodard’s characters all make you feel something about them. I can’t remember one of her characters that left me feeling neutral towards them.

I found myself wanting to protect Madeleine as she fought against the political tide as well as an addiction to angel essence that will most certainly lead to her early death.

My complicated “I’d hit that but he’s awful” feelings toward Asmodeus from the first book are still here and seriously, I’ve read a ton of books that happened to have fallen angels or demons named Asmodeus (heck, I’ve even written one of my own), but de Bodard’s Asmodeus is my favorite. He’s a lot like a fractured mirror: you can sort of see what you’re looking at but getting closer (and touching it) will surely hurt you.

I’m also a huge fan of some of the characters we get to know in The House of Binding Thorns like Françoise and her lover Berith (who make me feel all the things, by the way) and Thuan (whose reaction to meeting Asmodeus for the first time made me cackle).

Maybe it’s because I’m a soft-hearted reader, but by the halfway point of this book I was ready to fight for these characters. I’ve been on the edge of my seat with anxious worry for hours and I can’t get enough of it.

The House of Binding Thorns is basically a character-driven murder mystery that just happens to center magic-users, angels, and dragons. Thuan’s quest to find out why his people are consuming angel essence is tied to his role as a not-so-secret prince. With Berith and Françoise, there’s a narrative of forming a family out of whatever you can and clinging to it the entire time.

Other characters and their arcs within the novel are driven by other things. By love By fear. By loneliness. By revenge. By loyalty to the long dead.

That’s what makes this book such an experience for me.

By the time that I finished The House of Binding Thorns, I was a bit of a mess. So much happens — especially in the last third — that I almost felt like I was in the middle of a hurricane being smacked around by all of the feelings and the incredible worldbuilding. It’s a brilliant, beautiful work of fiction and while it can hurt to read it and worry about the characters you’ve come to love over several hundred pages, there’s also hope to be had.

The House of Binding Thorns is an incredible book in a series that I can’t get enough of. If you enjoyed works like Susan Ee’s Penryn and the End of Days series or Kaori Yuki’s Angel Sanctuary, this book will be right up your alley. Trust me.

Aliette de Bodard is a skilled writer and world-builder and The House of Binding Thorns fulfills the promises (and curses) of the first book. If I have one criticism of her work, it's that I would love to see women characters with agency, as heroes of their own stories rather than side characters in the mens'. It's an odd criticism to make if you've ever read de Bodard's short fiction, which almost always features a complex woman main character.

Aliette de Bodard combines the whimsy of Charles Perrault with the darkness of Grimm and the melancholy of Oscar Wilde's fairy tales, and gives it a modern bent. I have been a fan of fairy tales since I was small, and her stories give me goosebumps. Her latest is just beautiful. If you love the shadows and light of fairy tales, you do not want to miss a single thing de Bodard has written.