The House of Shattered Wings

By: Aliette de Bodard

Narrated by: Peter Kenny

Length: 14 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's Summary

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....

©2015 Aliette de Bodard (P)2015 Orion Publishing Group

Dark, An Acquired Taste

I did not enjoy the book; it was so dark and grim with no respite for warmth, light, love or victory. The characters were not well developed, if at all and there's no sufficient explanation as to the emergence and state of being of the world so described in the story. As a reader, you're left with so many unanswered questions, unable to comfortably connect all the characters; it is almost as if you were eavesdropping or merely stumbled upon a discussion or tale which you were never intended to be privy to. This is a story with no proper beginning or end and one you'll either hate or struggle to like.
This is not a book I'd recommend or read ever again.

Bloody great!

Lovely world building, a murder mystery that rattles along and a satisfying if bittersweet ending.

Narration was good and understandable at X1.5 playback speed.

Good concepts, garbled story.

In the hands of a more creative or experienced author, this collection of good ideas and research could have risen above the disjointed soap-opera offered.

A haunting, darkly beautiful story

It took me a couple of attempts to get a start on this audiobook as it seemed to throw so much lore and histories into the first few 'pages' (possibly just me and my moods rather than an actual issue) and a pretty gruesome attempted 'harvesting' as the backdrop but once I buckled down into it it became a beautiful, haunting story. It was dark beginning to end without mercy, but I loved every heart breaking second and every moment of suspense.

There were a few moments where I got a little lost in some of the lore, but it didn't stop me from being able to understand the story in any way.

Overall, a very strong story with excellent characters and a ruthless, haunting vibe throughout.

Not much to invest in.

Downloaded this mainly on the strength of it being a Peter Kenny narration. As always his performance is excellent.

Was a bit dissapointed with the book as a whole though. Didn't particularly like any of the characters, although in fairness I don't think the reader is expected to. The main disappointment was the plot. It didn't really go anywhere. The main plot was ultimately the development of various characters but I didn't really care...

Enjoyable Series

The premise is great, as are the characters & setting, but some of the internal monologue is ordinary in comparison... most annoying of all is the fact the tension - as enjoyable & necessary as it is - is based upon a series of easily forgiven misunderstandings that could be avoided or remedied quote simply.
All that said, we'll worth a read / listen.

Required heading

I kinda struggled with this one. Great ideas but I got distracted & lost the plot often.