In four weeks, North America-based fans of Aliette de Bodard will be able to get the recently-unveiled new editions of the Dominion of the Fallen series! All three novels are getting re-published by JABberwocky, with great new covers by Tara O’Shea, on March 10th.
Here’s the synopsis for the BSFA Award-winning first novel, THE HOUSE OF SHATTERED WINGS…
Paris, turn of the century.
The Great War between magical Houses of Fallen angels has devastated the city. The Seine runs black with ashes, the great monuments are blackened ruins, and the Houses still fight. It is a quiet war of alliances and intrigues played in worn drawing-rooms and once-elegant gardens.
Silverspires, once the greatest House, is now nothing more than a minor player in those intrigues.
Philippe, a young man from the colonies of the East, is caught harming a helpless Fallen, and held prisoner in House Silverspires. His path intersects with Isabelle, the naive Fallen he has wounded; Selene, the insecure Fallen head of the House; and Madeleine, a washed-out alchemist addicted to angel drugs.
Together, they will either save the House, or cause its final, irrevocable Fall…
The other two novels in the series are: THE HOUSE OF BINDING THORNS and THE HOUSE OF SUNDERING FLAMES.
But wait, there’s more! To mark the re-release, de Bodard is running a pre-order campaign: if you buy any of the three novels, in any format, you will get an eBook of the author’s short novel OF BIRTHDAYS, FUNGUS, AND KINDNESS. Full details of the pre-order campaign can be found here.
The Dominion of the Fallen series is still available in the UK, published by Gollancz.
Here are just a few of the great reviews the series has received…
‘Will grab readers and force them to pay attention to the amazing writing and the phenomenal characters. de Bodard will sweep you up into the dark and dirty world Paris has become. The characters are very vivid and will stay with you until long after the last page, as each of them is fighting and longing for something. The writing style rendered the characters’ feelings and emotional turmoil beautifully. Watching Philippe and Isabelle work through their “connection” is fascinating and lovely. There’s so much going on, and every character has their own past, their own tragic history. It’s a whirlwind, it’s heartbreaking and it’s one of the best fantasy novels of 2015.’ — RT Book Reviews (Top Pick August 2015) on THE HOUSE OF SHATTERED WINGS
‘A gripping tragedy of forlorn individuals caught up in an angelic version of the Cold War… The story holds up well as a standalone, with clear possibilities but no pressing need for a sequel. De Bodard aptly mixes moral conflicts and the desperate need to survive in a fantastical spy thriller that reads like a hybrid of le Carré and Milton, all tinged with the melancholy of golden ages lost.’ — Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) on THE HOUSE OF SHATTERED WINGS
‘De Bodard… has spun a fascinating Paris of decay and cruelty. Phillippe is a marvel of a character, unreliable as a narrator but compelling in his flaws and his deep well of homesickness.‘ — Library Journal (Starred Review) on THE HOUSE OF SHATTERED WINGS
‘A beautifully crafted novel full of complex characters, set in a post apocalyptic Paris – the image of which is truly haunting… vivid and fast-paced battles and intense political manoeuvrings… with carefully crafted characters both with layers and depth, De Bodard reflects the best and worst of human nature in her novel… an intriguing mystery, elegantly written… Something any avid fantasy reader with an open mind will devour!’ — Guardian on THE HOUSE OF SHATTERED WINGS
‘De Bodard’s writing is very precise, like a well-oiled machine. The tempo is piston perfect, with the prose style having a strong and steady rhythm throughout. The emotional journey is relatively predictable (especially when we get into a marriage sequence), but the narrative is not. In other words, you can pretty much tell that the big emotions are coming, but the how and the why is what keeps you on edge. This is not a villains book; this is a powerful sequel that shows us that the incredibly complex world of the last novel is even more involved than we first expected. Strong stuff which you won’t stop reading till the end.’ — Starburst on THE HOUSE OF BINDING THORNS
‘The author spins a tale that’s rich, emotional and gripping, and delivers that rare thing: a superior sequel… This is an incredibly rich novel. Even as the scheming, double-crossing and action set pieces unfold, the author never loses sight of the people whose lives are on the line… There’s just so much going on here: social commentary, myths and fairytales that often feel under-represented in genre fiction, a gripping genre adventure and an affecting love story. The author has gone from strength to strength and we can’t wait for this story to continue.’ — SciFi Now (5/5*) on THE HOUSE OF BINDING THORNS
‘Truly beautifully balanced: between new and old, birth and death, beauty and ugliness, inside and outside, beginning and, yes, ending. It walks the line, and walks it fine.’ — Tor.com on THE HOUSE OF BINDING THORNS
‘If you’ve loved the previous entries in this series, consider it a must read. If you haven’t, know that it delivers an intoxicating blend of gothic mystery, apocalyptic fantasy, and Vietnamese myth—meaty, singular, and satisfying.’ — B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog on THE HOUSE OF SUNDERING FLAMES
