Dragon prince Thuan has returned to the imperial court beneath the Seine to celebrate Tet with his family, bringing his fallen angel husband, Asmodeus, with him. Rather than convivial feasting and time spent with family, Thuan is roped into investigating a murder and a conspiracy to overthrow the empress.

Although the description makes this sound like a heavy read, it's actually kind of a sparkling little novella, full of wit and (slightly dark) humor. It's a lovely way to spend a couple of hours and I look forward to future entries in the series.

Received via NetGalley.

Of Dragons, Feasts and Murders by award-winning author Aliette de Bodard was a 2020 Locus Award Finalist for Best Novella. Anyone who has read her Dominion of the Fallen series loves the dark Gothic world of a war-torn Paris ruled by Fallen angels, and the shape-shifting Annamite dragons living under the Seine.

Ruthless, bloodthirsty, and feared by all, Asmodeus is the most memorable Fallen, and his happy marriage is a delightful surprise. His sweet, bookish husband, dragon prince Thuan, is clearly the love of Asmodeus’ life. It’s no wonder they are featured in this spin-off novella; the pair have undeniable chemistry.

In this novella, the couple visit Thuan’s home under the Seine for the Lunar New Year, though Asmodeus isn’t particularly thrilled by the celebration, or by being away from House Hawthorn. A murder outside their quarters in the imperial citadel of the dragon kingdom is just the distraction Asmodeus needs. He is less thrilled by a request for their aid in uncovering a plot to overthrow the Empress - which would ultimately result in the deaths of everyone in Thuan’s family. The dragon prince hates court politics, but his family loyalty is strong.

A secret society of ambitious officials is planning to ruin the festivities and ensure the downfall of the dynasty, and they’re willing to bribe, threaten, and kill anyone who gets in their way.

Throughout their investigation, we see the love and fierce devotion between the co-rulers of House Hawthorn, as well as their complex relationship as a Fallen and a dragon prince. The clothing is elegant, the setting is surreal, and the characters are complicated and engaging. I will gladly read anything by this author, but especially stories in this world.

That title is so fun, and this stand alone novella was just that!
This was a fun cozy mystery with a dragon prince, fallen angel, and an underwater palace complex.

Great fun! Murder and tea. Lovely descriptions of an undersea palace. Wish there were more descriptions of food.

Aliette de Bodard's world is full of eastern mythology, fallen angels and post apocalyptic worlds and is hard to descripe.
It can be brutal and beautiful and the characters are all grayscale. There is an immortal dragon prince and his sadistic fallen angel husband, that you can't help love and the setting is an rotting underwater kingdom far from it's former glory. It is best not to say to much it might ruin the readers enjoyment.
Of, Dragons, Feasts and Murders, is and interlude from the authors Dominion of the Fallen series, featuring some of the same characters. Reading this novella lead to me reading every Aliette de Bodard book I could get my hands on, I adore her world building, inspired by precolonial vietnam and post apocalyptic Paris

A short story, it was really enjoyable. I've not read all the books in this series, but that didn't cause me too many problems jumping in - I was a bit confused at times about some of the politics, but that wouldn't necessarily have been fixed by reading all the titles!

My Thoughts:

- Even though this is part of a series, it works fine as a standalone, and in some ways makes a nice lead-in to the rest of the series itself. Now, would you get more out of this novella by reading the rest of the series? I’m assuming so. There were definitely some instances that I thought would’ve benefited from me having read the previous books in the series, like the romance. I just didn’t get the spark between the love interests or what held them together, but I’m assuming that was established in early books and their dynamic just held through this one. For the most part, though, the world was sufficiently explained and explored, and I could follow along without too much trouble. This novella does a fantastic job of introducing the reader to this world in small, bite-sized chunks while still being able to pique one’s interest. First, dragons. I just feel like I should throw that out there, because that’s important in and of itself. More than that, the main character, Thuan, is a royal, so there’s a lot of social games that come into play and political struggles, etc. It’s all about knowing how the game was played. Since I didn’t know the world, I found this interesting!

- The mystery was fun, with some unexpected turns, but the journey seemed more personal than anything. It was a self-awakening within a mystery within political drama, so there were plenty of fun layers to delve into! It was almost more interesting not having read the series and not knowing Thuan’s relationship to his family or his home before starting this book, because I was able to see his character grow through his interactions with everyone. There were parts of the mystery that felt a little easy, but just taking the trip with the characters was enjoyable. I didn’t guess the ending, per se, but I did guess the culprit ahead of time. However, these characters were so fun that I was fine with just going through the motions with them.

“Corpses don’t really have stories to tell, unless that dreadfully bored husband of yours has a way to raise the dead.”

As it happened, he did. It was a costly spell that relied on the victim being a Fallen, which wasn’t going to work there. Thuan debated lying about it, and decided not. It would be easy enough to see Asmodeus wasn’t doing necromancy. “I’m afraid not,” he said. “But he’s full of nasty surprises.”

Mostly the nasty ones that came at the end of a blade when one least expected it.

This is a fast-paced novella chock full of intrigue, murder, and the fantastic. De Bodard thrusts the reader into her Dominion of the Fallen universe head-first and expects them to sink or swim to keep up. Personally, I found it to be an energetic experience; as this was my first introduction to her world, there was something new on each page to keep me eagerly flipping the page for more. An underwater Vietnamese dragon city below Paris? Crab shifters? Possible poisonings? I was here for it at every turn.

Truly, though, it’s not the worldbuilding that carries this novel. It’s the two main characters: Thuan, a dragon shifter prince, and Asmodeus, a Fallen angel. Their relationship is complex and charming, with Thuan’s bookish nature often grating against the impetuous, violent ways of Asmodeus. Being surrounded by Thuan’s extended family is something of a challenge for Asmodeus, given that he’s more of a “solve problems by stabbing” sort of person. Here, however, he must exercise at least a small amount of diplomacy if they’re meant to find the murderer hiding in a house of conniving dragons.

I’m eager to read more of Aliette de Bodard’s work, especially the books focused on Asmodeus and Thuan.

Thank you to SFWA for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was a decent read. I wasn’t aware that this was part of a series, so it took me a bit to become familiar with the world. Overall, I did enjoy it. I liked the characters and the world the author is building. I recommend.
**I voluntarily read and reviewed this book

This is a really fun standalone novella from the Dominion of the Fallen World series. You don't need to read the other books in the series in order to understand this one, which is great because I haven't done that although I really need to.

This novella is beautifully written with fantastic characters -- I adore the two husbands interactions and want to know more about how they met and married -- and the worldbuilding was so interesting as well. The murder mystery elements were really interesting too and I was caught up in the plot very quickly.

I will definitely be looking into the rest of this series !

I have never read this author before, but the blurb sounded interesting and I thought this would be a UF murder mystery. Well, there are a couple of deaths, but it's more a political intrigue story.

Because this was built on an existing series there wasn't any intro for newbies. It can be understood based on similar stories, but was murky for me. I'm also not into polictical intrigue. The two main characters had no chemistry. From this, I could not see why they were together and I didn't care if one or both of them got killed.

So, I do not recommend this to anyone not already invested in the series or these characters. Even if one was, I don't see how this glimpse into Thuan and Asmodeus' life would be a pay off in anyway.

I received my copy from netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

I haven't read the other books of the series but that didn't get in the way of my enjoyment. A quick read and so much fun. I was very interested in the world and its mythology, and I loved the dynamic between the characters.

This novella is set after the three books, but a new reader can read this and not be lost in the setting. Newlyweds have returned the family palace of dragon partner in the marriage. The fallen angel half has found a murdered servant and now they have been drawn into solving the murder before Tet. A solid murder and a glimpse into how life was for Thuan before he married Asmodeus. I hope there will be more small slices of life stories to come.

I love this author's work, this novella included. A quick and fascinating read, and really distinctualizes itself from other fantasy books.

Good story, one that will be appreciated by fans *The Dominion of the Fallen*. Not sure how much it would be appreciated by those who haven’t read the series proper - it doesn’t feel like something that would be a good intro to de Bodard’s writing. But I enjoyed reading it.

7 out of 10 stars
Of Dragons, Feasts, and Murders is a novella about a shape-shifter dragon prince named Thuan and his demon husband, Asmodeus who went to Thuan's home for vacation. They intend to stay celebrating Lunar New Year but suddenly found themselves in the presence of unknown corpse murdered in the court. Thuan must find a way to solve and find the murderer before his underwater kingdom collapsed to ruin.

This novella is a tie-in for Dominion of the Fallen series, and as I turned out haven't read the series, this novella is a bit confusing. The characters and their relationship feels too brief and not explored properly. Also, there are some context I didn't get from reading this novella alone. This book could not stand as a standalone by itself, so I think I might read Dominion of the Fallen later.

What I like the most from this novella is representation. Some characters are Viet. It's quite rare to find a fantasy book of Viet's culture in english. This book is LGBT friendly, the main lead are a married gay couple and we can spot some other homosexual characters along the story. The relationship feels genuine and the banter amusing. Unfortunately I can't catch the context of most conversation as it tied with Dominion of Fallen series. Thus, the dialogues feels excesive.

Because the page counts are very brief, the worldbuilding is not really prominent. There is a court at underwater kingdom and the people are either dragons, fishes or other animal shifters. There's not much info after that. Perhaps it's explained more in the series.

Premise of this story is simple and so does the excecution of the story. Elements of the story such as worldbuilding idea and character designs are interesting and have potentials. Unfortunately the story drags a lot and there are many unnecessary scenes. Overall, I like this novella it still enjoyable to read. But because I can't grasp most of infos from the series, it disturb my immersion to the story. Hence 7 stars.

Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for granting me an eARC of this book. All opinions stated bellow are mine.

I have already read and loved a few of Aliette de Bodard's work, but this is the first book I've read in her Dominion of the Fallen series. After reading this one, the rest of the series has made if to my have-to-read list.

This is a murder mystery set in a world mixing western angels (especially of the fallen type) and eastern dragons, and it did not disappoint me. The world is colourful and imaginative, and the author manages to flesh it out nicely even in such a short work. While it is a story set within a series, which means a lot of information is taken as known from previous books, this work can be read as a standalone and the descriptions are enough to get a good impression of the setting.

The main characters Thuan and Asmodeus are the perfect example for "opposites attract". I loved both of them, and "watching" their interactions with each other and the other protagonists, especially Thuan's grandmother, was a lot of fun.

This story was a delightful read, and has cemented Aliette de Bodard as one of my favourite authors.

Starting to think Aliette de Bodard's writing is not for me, and that saddens me, because the blurbs always sound so good. But as with the previous book I've read by this author, In the Vanisher's Palace, the setting, mythology and political systems were so fascinating, but I can't connect to any of the characters. It doesn't help that this definitely doesn't work as a standalone, but honestly, that's never been a problem for me. There's countless series I jumped into via interesting sounding side novellas. But the worldbuilding is so dense in this, it's almost inpenetrable without previous knowledge.

Like I said, I couldn't connect to the characters, and felt no chemistry between the main couple. Thuan feels like a character I would love in a different book, because I do love me some kind bookish people. Asmodeus, on the other hand, is not. Can't say I'm a fan of his particular archetype.

All in all, I might've enjoyed it more if I've read the previous books, but since this is the second book in a row by this author I had the same issues with, probably not.

I have some broad knowledge of the Dominion of the Fallen setting, but the books still wait for me on my kindle. I thought “Of Dragons, Feasts and Murders” might be a good taster of the series. I don’t yet know whether it is, but I know I’m intrigued and want to read the whole series even more.

What strikes me most after a few days mulling over the book, is the mixture of tones. On one hand, there is a fair share of playfulness and humour in the setup of “a couple goes to visit the family of one of the spouses... except they’re an imperial dynasty”, as well as the dynamic between Thuan – a bookish dragon prince who abhors political games and left his family’s domain behind – and Asmodeus – a charming and murderous fallen angel (it's a bit like if “Hannibal” featured a non-abusive relationship and was a rom-com).

On the other hand, we have the backdrop of a struggling kingdom and topics of inequality, justice, political unease, oppression. While on their visit, Thuan and Asmodeus are thrown into a murder investigation that’s quickly revealed to have wider implications. In the course of the investigation, Thuan struggles with loyalty to his family and his desire to be left in piece, as well as some blind spots resulting from his privileged upbringing.

Those two aspects mesh together pretty well, although I was occasionally confused about how seriously I should take stuff like Asmodeus’ propensity for murder (in the end I think he’s far more discriminate and restrained than Thuan gives him credit for) or one character advocating executions as a way of restoring order (but the ethos of the book ultimately leans towards kindness, not despotic rule).

The style of the book is detailed but very clear and the plot strikes a great balance between the intrigue and personal scenes between Thuan and Asmodeus. I greatly enjoyed how much of the book was dialogue driven, with a lot of space devoted to the way things are phrased, what is said and unsaid, the characters trying to parse what the other party is communicating and untangle the complex webs of meaning. Because of that the book felt tense even though there wasn't a lot of action as such.

This is a short and entertaining read, a hybrid of crime story and romance (in typical romance fashion Thuan and Asmodeus experience some conflict and while their marriage is never really threatened, both of them seem to grow a little by the end and learn to appreciate the other’s perspective on the situation) with some pleasantly weighty socio-political considerations. I am eager to dive into the main series.

Of Dragons, Feasts, and Murder features - one stressed out dragon prince, one equally stressed and completely slightly murderous fallen angel who wants to GO HOME NOW but will stay for his husband, and a whole lotta WHO KILLED THE DRAGON??

Ever since their dynamic began in The House of Binding Thorns( book #2 of The Dominion of the Fallen series), I have wanted Asmodeus and Thaun to have their own book. I thought the trilogy had ended with The House of Sundering Flames so imagine my EXCITEMENT, when I heard this novella was releasing. It was one of my most anticipated 2020 releases and it didn’t disappoint.

“Asmodeus looked as though he was going to stab the dragon and walk over her corpse, which would definitely not improve anything”

I loved everything about this novella- from the plot to the characters and back to the world building. Aliette de Bodard writes fantasy so exquisite. The worlds she crafted of not just a war thorn Paris but of the underwater dragon kingdom, come alive before your eyes. Being French and Vietnamese she’s incorporated her own different mythologies into each books and I loved reading about them.

In terms of the plot and characters. I loved the mystery, it was so entertaining. I had no clue who the murderer was but with Asmodeus on Thuan’s team- I must say I felt sorry for villain. Thuan was his usually sweet self and Asmodeus tried to kill a dragon or six. I found it very VERY entertaining how much Thuan’s grandmother loved Asmodeus.

In addition to characters to die for and fantastic world building, I loved how the novella really highlighted how much Thuan and especially Asmodeus actually care about each other.

Of Dragons, Feasts, and Murder was a captivating addition to the dominion of the fallen series and I highly recommend it.