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In Aliette de Bodard’s novel, In the Vanishers’ Palace, a young girl is forced by the elders if her village to offer herself to a feared dragon, in return for the dragon’s gift of healing to the daughter of the village leader. Fearful of the worst, Yên finds that the dragon, Vu Côn, wants her as a tutor to her two adopted children, Dan Thông and Dan Liên.
Vu Côn lives in a vast palace, built by a long-gone race called the Vanishers. In Yên and Vu Côn’s world, the Vanishers once ruled the world, humans and spirits such as dragons alike, with a science so advanced that it seemed the highest of magic. But the Vanishers went elsewhere in great ships, and behind them they left chaos - destructive diseases, dangerous artefacts, a world broken and need of healing. Vu Côn, in her own way, is committed to understanding the lost science of the Vanishers, focusing primarily on the horrific genetic diseases they created and unleashed, and trying to undo at least some of the damage they caused.
In a tale that owes something of its origins the the old tale of Beauty and the Beast, there is a strong but unacknowledged attraction between Yên and Vu Côn, but the latter is all too aware of the imbalance of power and shies away from Yên, indeed from all unnecessary contact with her, while Yên is conflicted by her awe and fear of the dragon, and her desire. Yên, meanwhile, learns to work with the children, and navigate the treacherous Vanishers’ palace. But great changes are waiting for all of them.
Vu Côn lives in a vast palace, built by a long-gone race called the Vanishers. In Yên and Vu Côn’s world, the Vanishers once ruled the world, humans and spirits such as dragons alike, with a science so advanced that it seemed the highest of magic. But the Vanishers went elsewhere in great ships, and behind them they left chaos - destructive diseases, dangerous artefacts, a world broken and need of healing. Vu Côn, in her own way, is committed to understanding the lost science of the Vanishers, focusing primarily on the horrific genetic diseases they created and unleashed, and trying to undo at least some of the damage they caused.
In a tale that owes something of its origins the the old tale of Beauty and the Beast, there is a strong but unacknowledged attraction between Yên and Vu Côn, but the latter is all too aware of the imbalance of power and shies away from Yên, indeed from all unnecessary contact with her, while Yên is conflicted by her awe and fear of the dragon, and her desire. Yên, meanwhile, learns to work with the children, and navigate the treacherous Vanishers’ palace. But great changes are waiting for all of them.