Since the beginning of 2016, I have been reading and reviewing one book a month based on the results of a poll on PatreonAll of these monthly reviews can be viewed here.

It’s impossible to keep up with all the books, and even aside from there always being more books to read than time to read them in, I’ve missed out on some books I was especially eager to read the last couple of years due to moving so many times—so I thought it would be great to start the new year by catching up a little! The January poll selections are books that I’d like to read before the next book comes out later this year (I’m not positive the sequel to the first book on the list will actually be published this year, but in any case, I’d like to read it). The choices for the January book were as follows:

The first monthly book of 2017 is…

The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard
The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard

Multi-award winning author Aliette de Bodard, brings her story of the War in Heaven to Paris, igniting the City of Light in a fantasy of divine power and deep conspiracy…

In the late Twentieth Century, the streets of Paris are lined with haunted ruins. The Great Magicians’ War left a trail of devastation in its wake. The Grand Magasins have been reduced to piles of debris, Notre-Dame is a burnt-out shell, and the Seine has turned black with ashes and rubble and the remnants of the spells that tore the city apart. But those that survived still retain their irrepressible appetite for novelty and distraction, and The Great Houses still vie for dominion over France’s once grand capital.

Once the most powerful and formidable, House Silverspires 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 angel; an alchemist with a self-destructive addiction; and a resentful young man wielding spells of unknown origin. They may be Silverspires’ salvation—or the architects of its last, irreversible fall. And if Silverspires falls, so may the city itself.

Aliette de Bodard is an excellent writer, and this sounds fantastic. I’m excited about reading it this month!