Having finished the 3rd book in the trilogy, rather than do a review of just the book, I thought I would give my thoughts on the series as a whole. It's not really like anything else out there that I know of, and it is highly, highly underrated.
My consistent opinion of de Bodard's writing is that, while she's a talented writer in general, her settings are simply superb. The Dominion of the Fallen is set in an alternative version of de Bodard's native Paris. In this world, Paris is divided among rival Houses of fallen angels. House Silverspires is headed by Lucifer, House Hawthorne is headed by Asmodeus, etc. Each House has its share of Fallen, as well as mortal dependents, some of whom are magicians able to wield power borrowed from their House's Fallen. The Houseless, meanwhile, generally just keep their heads collectively down. The Houses are rivals, but they are not at open conflict - there was open war among them several decades before, and Paris (and much of the world) is still devastated. The whole thing has a very post-World War I Art Deco feel, combined with some Fallout-style post-Apocalyptia.
The characters featured are many and varied. Some are Fallen, of varying degrees of amorality. Some are servants of the Houses, of varying ranks. Some are Houseless - mostly Annamite (Annam being an archaic name for Vietnam, and de Bodard herself being French-Vietnamese). The Annamite community in Paris is mostly descendants from colonial forces conscripted and brought to Europe to fight in the inter-House war. Among them is the closest thing to a protagonist the series has: Phillipe, an Immortal exiled from the Court of the Jade Emperor in far distant Annam. Oh, and there's also Dragons. In Vietnamese mythology (as far as I've gleaned from de Bodard's writings) dragons are river spirits, and some of them (coming along with the conscripted Annamites) established a kingdom under the polluted waters of the Seine. The Vietnamese culture and mythology mixed in is probably my favorite part of the whole thing.
Each book is more-or-less independent. There's no reason to read them all in one go, in that they don't tell a single overarching story, but absolutely read them in order - each book ends with a fairly major paradigm shift that plays a huge part in the next book in the series. They're mystery novels more than anything else. Each one opens with some big happening, and the rest of the book is mostly about the characters (and reader) trying to figure out what exactly happened, and why.
There are a number of short stories tied into the series as well, which I have not read - I'm saving those for a rainy day, and very much looking forward to them. The setting is, as I said, just spectacularly good, and provides a great backdrop for who knows how many stories.
The first book is The House of Shattered Wings, followed by The House of Binding Thorns, and concluding with The House of Sundering Flames.
Bingo categories: SFF Novella for the shorts, Local to You if you happen to live in or near Paris, Published in 2019 for House of Sundering Flames, 4+ word titles, last book (again for Sundering Flames)
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