In the Vanishers’ Palace, Aliette de Bodard
Received to review via Netgalley
I wanted and expected to love this story. It’s a queer retelling of Beauty and the Beast, based on Vietnamese folklore with sci-fi elements as well, and dragons. There’s even a sci-fi library that I really want to exist. I pre-ordered it, requested it on Netgalley, and generally waited on tenterhooks. How did I find it? Well.
It opens promisingly enough: Yên, the daughter of a healer, is traded to a dragon in exchange for her healing powers. It’s clear they live in a post-apocalyptic universe, with viruses wracking the human population and contagion spreading from person to person. As a failed scholar, she’s just not valuable to her village, and so she’s traded away in order to save one of the leaders’ daughters. Off she goes to live with Vu Côn, the dragon, to look after her children — and it turns out that Vu Côn lives in a palace made by those who wrecked the world and disappeared, and the children aren’t any ordinary dragons.
After the start, though, I rarely felt like I understood what was happening or why. Or rather, I could give you a running summary for the whole story, but I felt all adrift; I didn’t know why things were happening, I didn’t catch the undercurrents, and the relationship between Vu Côn and Yên came completely out of nowhere from my point of view. I do like a story where I have to work for it, where I have to figure out where I stand and how this world is different to ours, but I don’t think that was the problem. It was more the characters and their motivations that never worked for me (or when they did, it was only for a few pages). The setting itself was fascinating, but. But.
I seem to be fairly alone in that, looking around at bloggers I trust, which makes me almost reluctant to admit that I just really did not get it. And it makes me reluctant to give this a poor rating, but… my ratings have to be my ratings, not how I think I ought to rate a book.
It’s clear there’s plenty here that’s enchanting other people, and in many ways I’m an aberration. I’ll be passing on my copy to my sister and seeing if it ticks her boxes!
Despite the fuss over this author, I’ve tried and failed to read two of her works. So you are not alone. She’s just not my cup of tea, or her style of writing isn’t.
I’ve enjoyed some of her other books! But this one, nope. Made a whistling noise as it flew over my head.
Oh I’m sorry this didn’t work for you 🙁
I feel bad. 🙁
I get it. I think my review was based more on the setting and lovely use of language, but I wouldn’t argue with any of your points.
Good to know it makes some sense, heh!
We can’t all love all the books, but I’m sorry this one didn’t work for you. It’s not my new favourite AdB, but I did enjoy it a great deal (although – as is often the case – I now want to know So Much More about the world).
imyril recently posted…Mission Status Update: what awaits us out there?
I actually agree on wanting to know more about the world!
Sometimes it happens…I feel a bit awkward when I don’t connect with a book and think “Did I read the same one as everyone else??” But I think it’s good to share our honest thoughts anyway, at least for the sake of readers who have different tastes or readers who feel the same way but don’t write about it.
Yep! It’s tempting to sort of join in the hype, but… more important to be honest.