Name: In The Vanishers' Palace
Author: Aliette de Bodard
Publisher: JABberwocky Literary Agency, Inc.
Date published: October 2018
Genre: Fiction, fantasy, romance, science fiction, retellings
Pages: 198
Rating: 4/5
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...
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...
- From Goodreads.
This was a surreal, unique, creative and inventive story that I very much enjoyed reading. It was quite difficult to grasp what was happening at times and some of the explanations could have been clearer, but overall it was very interesting and thought-provoking.
The writing style used was very complicated and descriptive, with language that at some points was very beautiful and added a lot of emotion to what was happening, but at some points just added a little too much confusion and simple language might have been preferable in those places to help with comprehension of what was happening.
The story had a very exciting plot with very clever foreshadowing that almost made me
gasp out loud when I made the connection. It made for a very thrilling
climax and I felt it had a very satisfying ending.
However some points in the plot seemed to happen suddenly with little build up. Perhaps a little slower pacing and more development in places could have been beneficial. Maybe if the book had been longer, more time could have been spent on build up and explaining the world of the story.
I loved the characters, they all felt real and had an important part to play, and I thought the tension and connection between Yên and Vu Côn was very well written.
Overall, this was a very enjoyable twist on the Beauty and the Beast tale, with very fascinating world buidling, a thrilling plot and a great romance. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a unique female/female love story, and I will certainly be reading it again.
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