The House of Binding Thorns
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4.0 • 3 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
The multi-award-winning author of The House of Shattered Wings continues her Dominion of the Fallen saga as Paris endures the aftermath of a devastating arcane war . . .
As the city rebuilds from the onslaught of sorcery that nearly destroyed it, the great Houses of Paris, ruled by fallen angels, still contest one another for control over the capital.
House Silverspires was once the most powerful, but just as it sought to rise again, an ancient evil brought it low. Phillippe, an immortal who escaped the carnage, has a singular goal - to resurrect someone he lost. But the cost of such magic might be more than he can bear.
In House Hawthorn, Madeleine the alchemist has had her addiction to angel essence savagely broken. Struggling to live on, she is forced on a perilous diplomatic mission to the underwater dragon kingdom - and finds herself in the midst of intrigues that have already caused one previous emissary to mysteriously disappear . . .
As the Houses seek a peace more devastating than war, those caught between new fears and old hatreds must find strength - or fall prey to a magic that seeks to bind all to its will.
'A superb blend of intrigue, mystery and magic and urban fantasy; it's brilliantly written; and the story is gripping' Civilian Reader
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
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, Fran oise, 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.
