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(Well, I read it on Friday.)
A gorgeous, unusual, post-apocalyptic F/F science fantasy riff on “Beauty and the Beast.”
Yen is a young scholar living with her mother, the town healer, in a world that was ruined and then abandoned by the mysterious Vanishers. When her mother makes a desperate attempt to save a dying patient, the dragon Vu Con, answers her call… and takes Yen back with to her beautiful and deadly home, full of magic and science and alien geometries.
This short novel is amazingly inventive at every turn, with magic made of visible words, alien viruses, and medicine understood in both ancient and futuristic terms. The central romantic relationship is F/F, but romance is only one aspect of the web of relationships: familial, friendship, surrogate family, teacher-student, wary co-existence. The base culture is Vietnamese, with both Eastern and Western folklore and fairytale elements. It’s set in a very dark world, but is ultimately about people (and spirits) grappling with the damage of the past and trying to change things for the better in the future. I liked it a lot.
In the Vanishers’ Palace
A gorgeous, unusual, post-apocalyptic F/F science fantasy riff on “Beauty and the Beast.”
Yen is a young scholar living with her mother, the town healer, in a world that was ruined and then abandoned by the mysterious Vanishers. When her mother makes a desperate attempt to save a dying patient, the dragon Vu Con, answers her call… and takes Yen back with to her beautiful and deadly home, full of magic and science and alien geometries.
This short novel is amazingly inventive at every turn, with magic made of visible words, alien viruses, and medicine understood in both ancient and futuristic terms. The central romantic relationship is F/F, but romance is only one aspect of the web of relationships: familial, friendship, surrogate family, teacher-student, wary co-existence. The base culture is Vietnamese, with both Eastern and Western folklore and fairytale elements. It’s set in a very dark world, but is ultimately about people (and spirits) grappling with the damage of the past and trying to change things for the better in the future. I liked it a lot.
In the Vanishers’ Palace
