Dominion of the Fallen, Aliette De Bodard | Trilogy Review | Spoiler Free | Overbooked [CC]

welcome back to dead good book reviews i’m judith 
and you’re watching another episode of overbooked  
the series where i talk about every single book 
on my shelf because i don’t have a dog to occupy  
my time so i might as well do this today i am 
talking about a trilogy i feel like i’ve been  
doing a lot of single books in this series so 
it’s nice to knock out three books all in one  
go and this slightly fuzzy trilogy behind me is 
aliette de bodard’s dominion of the fallen series
i will put the covers up later don’t worry you’ll 
see them in all of their glory before we start  
some quick disclaimers i did have a review copy 
of the third book as well as a review copy of one  
of the short stories i think comes between books 
one and two but these two books i did buy with my  
hard-earned cash regardless of where they came 
from nobody’s paying me to talk about books and  
all opinions are my own i’m also going to keep 
things spoiler free for all three books though  
if you do want to go in knowing absolutely nothing 
this is your opportunity to click away now because  
i’m going to get into the broad plot summary i 
first encountered this series before i was even  
blogging i think and it must have been when i was 
at university i can’t remember what made me pick  
it up but it

must have been because uh house of
shattered wings was the first book that i bought
and it came -not ever -but the first book that
i bought and it came out in 2015. and they then
languished on my shelves for a couple of years
until i started book blogging and i was like oh i
need books to blog about and i have some that i’ve
never read let’s read them this was before i had a
conception of a tbr really the house of binding
thorns followed in 2017 though i read that from
the library probably a year or so later and then
the house of sundering flames came out in 2019
by which point i was buddied up enough with the
publisher to be sent a review copy which made me
very very happy indeed this is an adult fantasy
sort of dystopian but not in the way that you
would normally think about it series and
probably thinking about it one of the first
adult fantasy series i really read while i was
still reading a lot of y a aliette de bodard is a
paris-based author who has written just oodles of
stuff a lot of it award-winning i have read this
series i’ve also read in the vanisher’s palace
which is a lovely beauty and the beast retelling
i’ve read her most recent is the novella fireheart
tiger which i would definitely recommend that’s
well worth reading basically she’s written a lot
and i would like to read more of it desperately
need to get to her alternate sherlock holmes
that’s like top of my list for when i am next
thinking about a book to buy this series takes
place in an alternate paris in the aftermath of a
war in heaven a magical war paris is divided into
houses which fight for dominance in the destroyed
capital the series as a whole follows various
characters in various different houses and outside
the houses as they struggle to survive this
really cutthroat environment especially since at
the start of book one the threats begin to expand
beyond what they’ve previously known paris already
wasn’t a nice place to be but oh boy does it get
worse by the third book i really love the setting
of this series if paris in the aftermath of a war
in heaven doesn’t get you excited i don’t know
what will this series made it onto my halloween
list for 2020 largely because the atmosphere in
this books are so amazing and so many things take
place in these really creepy settings that aren’t
quite haunted houses but they have that feel to
them this is the kind of series where i just want
somebody to make me an open world video game so
i can just walk around the spaces because it just
i can see it in my mind i want to wander through
it one thing that this series does really well
which i always appreciate is the contrast between
different places particularly when you’re talking
about very opulent places versus places of poverty
i think that that contrast is handled really
well and equally the contrast between different
places where different cultures are prevalent is
very very well done don’t want to spoil that for
you though i think it’s because across the board
all of the settings are described so vividly that
you really get a sense of the different locations
which helps you to contrast them in your mind it
comes more into play in the second book i think
but it’s definitely something that stuck with me
about this series i have reread this series at
least once twice in some instances some books
have had multiple rereads and each time i get
something new out of it largely i think because
each time i kind of pick a different character to
follow and to care about it’s that kind of series
where one perspective really carries you through
the book and everyone else feels a bit external
to that and then you’ll read it again and you’ll
go oh no i want to focus on this person and then
that person carries you through but all of the
characters are great i really like the different
voices of the characters the different backgrounds
that they have and i also really appreciate
all their different plot threads throughout
the books what i like is there’s a lot of very
different character development across the series
everyone’s on a very different journey and you get
to see and experience those differences and how
people can grow in very different ways i think
there’s probably at least one character that
everyone would enjoy there is lgbt representation
of different kinds in this book including an mlm
relationship having read some more of aliette
de bodard’s work outside of this series since
i first read it i can see that that’s something
that she always likes to include in her books and
you very much get a sense of how important that
representation is in her writing so if you’re
looking for an author who writes this kind of
thing who you can then go let me go and read
all of their other stuff you can when i think back
on these books they feel very distinct to me which
is interesting because it is following the same
characters in the same setting i suppose i more
mean that they’re quite contained as opposed to
feeling like one narrative spread across three
books i don’t know if that was just because i read
them quite separately the first time i read them
or whether it genuinely is kind of three distinct
narratives i’d need to do a fourth reread to know
in some ways i think that’s a big pro because
you can read each book separately not everyone
has the time or inclination to read a series back
to back maybe you like a book that feels a bit
separate and ends itself in a good way but equally
it can be a bit confusing i was looking back at my
original review for the house of sundering flames
and i basically say i really enjoyed this book
couldn’t remember anything the moment i put it
down though and that does feel true for this
series if you ask me to tell you exactly what
happens i could give you some big plot moments
and some visuals that have really stuck in my mind
but i could not tell you beat for beat the story i
mean that’s in part because my brain was all over
the place back then and i’ve never claimed to have
a good memory but equally i do think this is just
one of those series that really benefits from both
rereading and when you do read it taking it slow
and maybe finding someone to read it with you who
you can kind of digest things with maybe that’s
something that’s just me and my terrible memory
maybe that’s something that you keep in mind
if you want to buy a book am i going to want
to reread it i think this series has a lot of
rereadability partly because i’ve forgotten
everything that happened so it feels new again but
also you do get more out of it on a second read
if you aren’t a big rereader and you are planning
on reading this i think my suggestion would be to
maybe give yourself a crib sheet and just keep a
vague note of who’s who and who belongs to what
house i think it would help i have a few things
that i would maybe compare this to that i’ve read
i don’t think i have anything that feels quite the
same but i wondered about jade city by fonda lee
just for the importance of the city as part
of the story city of lies by sam hawke is a
fantasy mystery and i really liked how various
elements of that story come in quite late in
the game which is definitely something that
happens with this series and finally i wondered
about chorus of dragons uh series just because
i think that’s a really good fantasy series and
i honestly can’t remember why i wrote it
in my notes as something to compare it to
but i’ve mentioned it now so there you go should
you read this series i would say definitely yes
for most people it’s not going to be for everyone
and i think that aliette de bodard’s writing isn’t
everyone’s cup of tea i would say read book one
and see how you feel about it and if you like book
one you will definitely like the other books and
if you’re less sold on that you might not want to
bother but as i say if you do choose to read this
take it slow keep an eye on who’s who and what’s
what and you will have a great time and just
enjoy that gloriously creepy setting and if at the
end of the book you’re like i have no idea what
happened then come tell me about it because same
comment below if you have any other atmospheric
books you want me to read i know i asked for that
quite often but i am always interested in more
atmosphere in my life while you’re down there
commenting you can also subscribe because it
makes me feel loved and appreciated that’s all
from me and i will see you in the next one it’s
gonna be some bloopers now paris is divided into
i was looking back at my original review for
the house of sundering that sundering flames