Aliette de Bodard

Once one of the most powerful Houses in Paris Silverspires is in decline. Its founder, Morningstar, is missing. Selene, his last pupil, has taken over. For years she has led the House, protected it and its dependents and schemed and plotted on its behalf. Since the end of The Great War that is all the houses do, scheme and plot and pull at one another. No body wants an outright war, the Great War destroyed too much, contaminated too much, but every one is still locked in a struggle to show more survive, to stay on top.
Into this atmosphere of constant political scheming comes Philippe and Isabelle. He has lived in Paris since leaving his Vietnamese homeland, he has fought for the houses, against his will. He knows what they are capable of and wants nothing to do with them. Instead he has survived out among the gangs of Paris, where might makes right. Isabelle is newly Fallen. Full of power but so vulnerable until she learns control and skill. And in a world where Fallen blood and bones can be turned into magic power boosters she needs the protection and guidance of a House.
I first came across de Bodard when I read Obsidian and Blood, a collection of her Aztec stories. And I thoroughly enjoyed them. Since then she has written many fascinating short stories and you should probably go check them out if you haven't read any already. She has a wonderful way of writing, I could read her all day long.
Unfortunately I started reading this book when I didn't have the time, and so was only able to read a chapter or so a day for a while. Once I got a bit of free time however I devoured it, and I think it is a book that I would reread. I loved the world that de Bodard has created here. It is a world without and good choices, just the least worst. All of the main characters struggle with this, and the world in which they live where survival is such a struggle. In order to survive you must seize and keep power. And being in power means that you must take that power away from someone else.
Philippe, and that is not his real Viet name, is introduced to us when he is at the bottom of the pile. Exiled from his home, with no real supports in Paris, an outsider with no power. But is he really that powerless?
In order to live Isabelle must ally herself with a House, but the Houses are inextricably linked to corruption and ruthlessness. If they had not been so in their past they would have been torn down by the others. To ally herself to that is to become a part of the power struggle and all that entails; torture, betrayal, murder and more.
Isablle and Philippe are linked, but opposed. Philippe is so utterly against the Houses he cannot really understand how anyone can support them.
It is a great way of looking at power dynamics and colonialism and racism and how they are all tied up together. Power corrupts, as we all know, the more power the more corruption... but there is also a look at how the lack of power is just as damaging. If you have no options in your fight for survival are you more open to doing the "wrong thing" because it is the only thing you can do?
I think this is the first book in a trilogy, but it can be read as a standalone novel, if you don't mind certain aspects being left open to interpretation. show less

I'm fond of de Bodard's writing style. Though I bounced off the first book in this universe, [b:The House of Shattered Wings|23601046|The House of Shattered Wings (Dominion of the Fallen, #1)|Aliette de Bodard|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1431963046l/23601046._SY75_.jpg|43203048], it did not stop me from enjoying this novella. De Bodard is an anthropologist by training, and I think it leads her to bring a thoughtful and wide-ranging approach to her show more world-building. It feels both more comprehensive then the average fantasy and less exhausting than the average Sanderson. Undoubtedly, it's one of the reasons I keep coming back to her writing, but the other aspect that draws me in are her diverse and interesting characters.

'Thuan,' Asmodeus said. His voice was quiet, matter of fact. It was that, more than anything else, which made Thuan look up with his heart in his throat--the very idea that something was serious enough that his husband wouldn't have any sarcasm for it.

'What?'

'You have one extra child among your charges.'

Both this and the prior novella, [b:Of Dragons, Feasts and Murders|53349060|Of Dragons, Feasts and Murders (Dragons and Blades, #1)|Aliette de Bodard|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1646119412l/53349060._SY75_.jpg|82150404], center upon a gay couple that comes from fairly extreme backgrounds--not quite Romeo and Juliet, but something near. Thuan is a dragon prince, and Asmodeus a fallen angel, although, again, don't let that sideline you (I have something of a prejudice against heavenly hosts). In both novellas, the couple is residing with Thuan's family for both social and policial reasons, and court politics are a component of both books. Though the prior novella became bogged down in court details, this focuses more on the murder and the characters involved, so I felt greater tolerance for it.

I liked it. I think de Bodard gives just enough background into the history of the leads and their respective societies that I was curious, but not overwhelmed, and dives into the action relatively quickly. And despite being told the was Asmodeus was a bit of a bastard, it was rather sweet to see the level of care and concern he took for the ghost. Even more fascinating was how de Bodard took it to another level with the couple's relationship. Oh yes; and a decent mystery, if a bit super-villian for my taste. But still good. show less

A worthy climax to a staggeringly good trilogy. Come for the discourse on how power corrupts by amplifying your flaws and the examination of healthy boundaries in friendships, stay for the conflicted romance between the murder angel and the do-gooding dragon. Expect de Bodard to blow up everything she has built (yes, all of it. And more).

No dragon kingdom this time around, but plenty of dragons (including dragon riding, dragon kissing and baby dragons, my life is complete).

Full review

Or, de Bodard does Dantès. Not that A Fire Born of Exile is the first science fiction novel to be inspired by The Count of Monte Cristo. Gwyneth Jones’s excellent space opera, Spirit, also borrowed the plot from Dumas’s novel.

In A Fire Born of Exile, a naive scholar was tricked into expressing sympathy with the rebels during the Ten Thousand Flags Uprising and promptly executed by being thrown out of an airlock. But against all odds she survived. Ten years later, using the name Quỳnh, show more the Alchemist of Streams and Hills, she arrives at the Scattered Pearls Belt to exact her revenge. The official who sentenced her to death is now prefect of the Belt, and Quỳnh’s lover of the time, who did nothing to save her, is now a general.

Minh is the daughter of the prefect and completely under the thumb of her overbearing mother. She is being groomed to become a scholar and follow in her mother’s footsteps, but she doesn’t really want to do that. In the panic following an incident at the Tiger Games, bandits try to kidnap Minh but she is saved by Quỳnh. The two become tentative friends.

Hoà is a technologist, low caste, who bumps into Quỳnh at her dead sister’s shrine, and it turns out Quỳnh knew her. The two are immediately attracted to each other. Hoà has been contracted by Minh and her friends to fix the mindship Flowers at the Gates of the Lords (or rather, Hoà’s sister has, but she’s ill so Hoà, who has no skill in Mindship repair, has to do it instead - with help from Quỳnh). Flowers at the Gates is actually Minh’s Great Aunt and the head of the family lineage, meaning she has control of all the family funds. But she was badly damaged during the Ten Thousand Flags Uprising.

Quỳnh easily unseats the general by revealing an ex-lover who was a serial killer known to, and ignored by, the authorities. The prefect is a much harder target. Quỳnh has evidence of punishments that were over and above what the law decreed, such as execution instead of exile, including her own execution, but that’s not enough. She tries to manipulate Minh into declaring unfilial piety, but Minh is too browbeaten. There’s Flowers at the Gates too, of course, who is head of the family, but will she be fixed in time?

Quỳnh underestimates the prefect’s power, but the prefect in turn underestimates Flowers’, er, power. It comes to a head when an Imperial Censor visits to make the prefect the head of the lineage.

Dantès had it much easier than Quỳnh, and not just because the prefect comes across more like Malificent than Danglars. There’s plenty more going on in A Fire Born of Exile, and it’s all built up from the relationships between the various characters. I liked the novel preceding this one, The Red Scholar’s Wake, a great deal, but I liked this one more. I’m frankly surprised A Fire Born of Exile didn’t make any award shortlists. Recommended. show less