Aliette de Bodard The House of Shattered Wings

An epic murder mystery set on the crumbling streets of a Paris torn apart by a magical war . . . 'Lyrical, sophisticated, lush, suspenseful' Ken Liu Paris in the aftermath of the Great Magicians War. Its streets are lined with haunted ruins, Notre-Dame is a burnt-out shell, and the Seine runs black, thick with ashes and rubble. Yet life continues among the wreckage. The citizens retain their irrepressible appetite for novelty and distraction, and The Great Houses still vie for dominion over France's once grand capital. House Silverspires, previously the leader of those power games, now lies in disarray. Its magic is ailing; its founder, Morningstar, has been missing for decades; and now something from the shadows stalks its people inside their very own walls. Within the House, three very different people must come together: a naive but powerful Fallen, an alchemist with a self-destructive addiction, and a resentful young man wielding spells from the Far East. They may be Silverspires' salvation; or the architects of its last, irreversible fall . . . Readers can't put down The House of Shattered Wings : ' An intense, beautiful, brutal journey written with an eye for the stunning, vivid detail and the cruel demands of duty, loyalty, and leadership' Kate Elliot ' I was absolutely gripped by this novel the whole way . It is such a beautiful, powerful, genuinely haunting fantasy' Goodreads reviewer, 'Incredibly atmospheric: you can almost see yourself walking the streets of Paris , seeing the polluted, black Seine for yourself, surrounding Notre Dame and Des Magasins' Goodreads reviewer, ' A fascinating take on fallen angels in 1930s Paris . . . I was quite taken by the prose and the world building in this as well as rich and complex characters ' Goodreads reviewer, ' A suspenseful supernatural narrative focusing on fallen angels as they fight for power in a post-apocalyptic Paris that boasts brilliant worldbuilding, powerful prose and a cast of terrifically conflicted characters' Goodreads reviewer,