The House of Shattered Wings
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Narrated by:
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Peter Kenny
About this listen
Multiaward-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 20th century, the streets of Paris are lined with haunted ruins. The Great Magicians' War left a trail of devastation in its wake. The grands 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 who 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 naïve 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.
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- Unabridged
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Princess Aurelia is a prisoner to her crown and the heir that nobody wants. Surrounded by spirits and banned from using her blood-magic, Aurelia flees her country after a devastating assassination attempt. To escape her fate, Aurelia disguises herself as a commoner in a new land and discovers a happiness her crown has never allowed. As she forges new bonds and perfects her magic, she begins to fall for a man who is forbidden to rule beside her.
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Not Understanding All the Praise
- By GPChlorine on 08-23-19
By: Crystal Smith
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I, Strahd: The Memoirs of a Vampire
- Ravenloft: Strahd, Book 1
- By: P. N. Elrod
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Some of the parchment pages were the color of cream, thick and substantial, made to last many, many lifetimes. Other pages were thin and desiccated, positively yellow from age, and crackled alarmingly as Van Richten turned them over. There were no ornate illuminations, no fussy borders, only lines of plain text in hard black ink. The flowing handwriting was a bit difficult to follow at first; the writer's style of calligraphy had not been in common use for 300 years. No table of contents, but from the dates it looked to be some kind of history.
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Love it...just one complaint....
- By Ryan Conrad on 03-15-14
By: P. N. Elrod
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Cruel Beauty
- By: Rosamund Hodge
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Knowelden
- Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom - all because of a reckless bargain her father struck. And since birth, she has been training to kill him. Betrayed by her family yet bound to obey, Nyx rails against her fate. Still, on her 17th birthday, she abandons everything she's ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, disarm him, and break the 900-year-old curse he put on her people. But Ignifex is not what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle - a shifting maze of magical rooms - enthralls her.
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Seemed promising; ultimately hollow
- By barefoot rabbit on 04-03-14
By: Rosamund Hodge
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Crimson Bound
- By: Rosamund Hodge
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Knowelden
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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When Rachelle was 15, she was good - apprenticed to her aunt and in training to protect her village from dark magic. But she was also reckless - straying from the forest path in search of a way to free her world from the threat of eternal darkness. After an illicit meeting goes dreadfully wrong, Rachelle is forced to make a terrible choice that binds her to the very evil she had hoped to defeat.
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Interesting and boring
- By Jessica on 11-03-16
By: Rosamund Hodge
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City of Bones
- The Mortal Instruments
- By: Cassandra Clare
- Narrated by: Mae Whitman
- Length: 13 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder - much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing - not even a smear of blood - to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?
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Six of one, half-dozen of the other
- By B on 06-04-14
By: Cassandra Clare
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Witches Steeped in Gold
- By: Ciannon Smart
- Narrated by: Nicola Lambo, Tamika Katon-Donegal
- Length: 15 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Iraya has spent her life in a cell, but every day brings her closer to freedom - and vengeance. Jazmyne is the queen’s daughter, but unlike her sister before her, she has no intention of dying to strengthen her mother’s power. Sworn enemies, these two witches enter a precarious alliance to take down a mutual threat. But power is intoxicating, revenge is a bloody pursuit, and nothing is certain - except the lengths they will go to win this game.
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Cant wait for book two
- By Stuffing's Mommy on 04-22-21
By: Ciannon Smart
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Markswoman
- Asiana, Book 1
- By: Rati Mehrotra
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Kyra is the youngest Markswoman in the Order of Kali, a highly trained sisterhood of elite warriors armed with telepathic blades. Guided by a strict code of conduct, Kyra and the other Orders are sworn to protect the people of Asiana. But to be a Markswoman, an acolyte must repudiate her former life completely. Kyra has pledged to do so, yet she secretly harbors a fierce desire to avenge her dead family. When Kyra's beloved mentor dies in mysterious circumstances, and Tamsyn, the dangerous Mistress of Mental Arts, assumes control, Kyra is forced on the run.
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Everything I look for in a fantasy series!
- By Shawscribbles on 02-11-18
By: Rati Mehrotra
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The Whitefire Crossing
- The Shattered Sigil, Book 1
- By: Courtney Schafer
- Narrated by: Andy Caploe
- Length: 17 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Dev is a smuggler with the perfect cover. He's in high demand as a guide for the caravans that carry legitimate goods from the city of Ninavel into the country of Alathia. The route through the Whitefire Mountains is treacherous, and Dev is one of the few climbers who knows how to cross them safely. With his skill and connections, it's easy enough to slip contraband charms from Ninavel - where any magic is fair game, no matter how dark - into Alathia, where most magic is outlawed.
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Loved the plot, loved the characters
- By Amazon Customer on 09-22-12
By: Courtney Schafer
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The Alchemy of Stone
- By: Ekaterina Sedia
- Narrated by: Eileen Stevens
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Mattie, an intelligent automaton skilled in the use of alchemy, finds herself caught in the middle of a conflict between gargoyles, the Mechanics, and the Alchemists. With the old order quickly giving way to the new, Mattie discovers powerful and dangerous secrets - secrets that can completely alter the balance of power in the city of Ayona. This doesn't sit well with Loharri, the Mechanic who created Mattie and still has the key to her heart - literally.
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Steam Punk with a fizzle
- By Janice Budd on 12-29-11
By: Ekaterina Sedia
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The Ninth Rain
- The Winnowing Flame Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Jen Williams
- Narrated by: Jot Davies
- Length: 20 hrs and 6 mins
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Jen Williams, acclaimed author of The Copper Cat trilogy, featuring The Copper Promise, The Iron Ghost and The Silver Tide, returns with the first in a blistering new trilogy. The great city of Ebora once glittered with gold. Now its streets are stalked by wolves. Tormalin the Oathless has no taste for sitting around waiting to die while the realm of his storied ancestors falls to pieces - talk about a guilt trip. Better to be amongst the living, where there are taverns full of women and wine.
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Couldn’t put it down!
- By Renae on 09-09-22
By: Jen Williams
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The Hidden City
- The House War, Book 1
- By: Michelle West
- Narrated by: Eva Wilhelm
- Length: 27 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Orphaned and left to fend for herself in the slums of Averalaan, Jewel Markess - Jay to her friends - meets an unlikely savior in Rath, a man who prowls the ruins of the undercity in search of artifacts and treasure. Nursing Jay back to health is an unusual act for a man who renounced his own family long ago, and the situation becomes stranger still when Jay begins to form a den of other rescued children in Rath’s home. But worse perils lurk beneath the slums....
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An unexpected gem.
- By Richard on 09-17-13
By: Michelle West
What listeners say about The House of Shattered Wings
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- GPChlorine
- 09-07-15
Wonderful Book. Weak Narration
Would you listen to The House of Shattered Wings again? Why?
No. The narrator was frustrating.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Philippe. He is the stranger in a strange land that represents the reader, and learning about things as we do. He's sympathetic, intelligent, and homesick beyond measure.
What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?
During conversations, the narrator did a great job pacing and producing recognizably different voices. During the descriptive passages, his narration became fast, oddly paced and clipped, as if trying to rush through. I found myself tuning him out, then missing entire passages of important events.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
Philippe's rescue after escaping from Asmodeus.
Any additional comments?
This same narrator is the reason I dropped The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August. The House of Shattered Wings is a fascinating, wonderful book of mythology, patriotism, homesickness, and loss. I wish another narrator had been chosen who would have given it the attention it deserves. I'll be checking out more books by the author.
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1 person found this helpful
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- J.G.
- 04-02-17
Phenomenal
What a great story, with so many amazing characters. De Bodard is definitely an auto-buy author for me from now on!
This is an enchanting blend of fallen angels, Parisian history, and Vietnamese lore that any reader of fantasy should enjoy.
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- Dave
- 10-08-15
There are No Miracles in This House
In a post-apocalyptic Paris ravaged by a spiritual war that's gone all flesh and blood, two members of a street gang find a newly materialized fallen angel, pull out knives, and start cutting off her fingers. Angel essence gives a magical high like nothing else, and is worth a lot on the street. It's a brutal opening -- one of the most arresting I've read this year. Unfortunately, it sets a bar the rest of the book just can't reach again.
This story has everything I could hope for -- fallen angels warring with rival houses in a post-apocalyptic Paris, drug addicted magicians, a mysterious curse leveled against one of the houses, and a Buddhist stuck in the middle of it all. For example: Morningstar used to lead one of the houses, but he disappeared 20 years ago, and many of the characters are still haunted by their experiences with him and his charisma. Initially, this seemed like a very interesting riff on an absentee God, but unfortunately it doesn't quite play out that way.
With all these cool and interesting things happening, I was surprised to find how hard it was for me to engage with the characters, which made it difficult for me to be invested in this story. The relationships between some of these characters is crucial in making the narrative work, but unfortunately there wasn't enough there for me to buy their relationships with each other, or invest in them myself. As a result, the motivations and relationships just feel too superficial, and the result is a very dull and slow-moving 14 hours. Additionally, there's a lot of politicking happening in this book, but the characters never felt as politically savvy as we're told they should be. (Politicians don't regularly respond with "You *know* what I mean," do they?)
Whatever faults I can find with the story and characters, I can find no issues with Peter Kenny's narration. Whether he was voicing a naive fallen angel, Lucifer Morningstar, or a homesick Buddhist who is forced to come to terms that home no longer exists, his narration was compelling, even when the story was not.
Despite a pretty brilliant opening, The House of Shattered Wings is unfortunately unable to live up to the promise of miracles. And with a setting and subject matter as fascinating as this, that's an unforgivable sin.
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7 people found this helpful
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- Pam Sykes
- 01-15-18
Great concept, good performance, weak story
Any additional comments?
This book has a fabulous setting -- a war-wrecked Paris ruled by rival clans of fallen angels and their mortal dependents -- and a potentially interesting plot, but the whole is lethally undermined by the weakness of the characters. We are presented with what we are supposed to believe are centuries-old beings with immense magical powers - but they have all the political sophistication and interpersonal skill of a pack of feral 12-year-olds. This could have been an interesting idea to develop -- magical superbeings who are also lethally shortsighted, self-involved and stupid (almost comically so at times) but the book doesn't appear to realise how dumb its characters are. If the intended audience is 12-year-olds they might enjoy it - for adults, it's a frustrating read.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Robert N. Stephenson
- 04-21-16
It won an award - BUT -
Would you listen to The House of Shattered Wings again? Why?
I wouldn't listen to it again, but it was certainly interesting the first time. An extravagant trip through another place, in another time with things and people beyond contemporary imagination.
Who was your favorite character and why?
I hated them all; didn't mind the book but I felt everyone was a naff just waiting to be killed.
Which scene was your favorite?
No real favourite b ut the whole book did create bizzarro visions and pictures. Maybe too much as I struggled keeping it all together.
If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?
To Sip an Angels Blood
Any additional comments?
I wrote BUT -- great book, visually stunning, poetic and descriptive and expertly written by an author with a steady hand and a steady mind. Damn easy to get lost and forget what the hell is going on. Deserving of an award? If we are just talking literary offering, yes, indeed.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Charles Davis
- 12-08-18
Good not Great
If there was more action it would have been 5 stars. There was not any fighting until the actual end.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Gregory J. Williams
- 12-20-21
Very Slow
The story was developing too slow. I just could not go any further than chapter 3.
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- Kevin
- 01-15-23
Could not care less about any of the characters
It's a book about bitter angry and vengeful people with no perspective or understanding of morality. No one has any goals past the immediate and I just don't care about any of them.
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- Tedd
- 06-26-24
Six hours in and I couldn't take it anymore
This story just didn't appeal to me. It was very detailed but it was slow and nothing seemed to happen. Maybe something happened later, but I just couldn't hang around until it did. There was nothing wrong with the narrator. They just didn't have much to work with.
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