of charms, and ghosts, and babysitting

It's 2022, there's an old pandemic and a new war, and maybe you just want to read about a fallen angel babysitting. That's the spirit in which Aliette de Bodard's newest novella, Of Charms, Ghosts and Grievances, is written: the universe as a whole may be bleak and cruel, but for the span of this particular story, we can concentrate on kindness, caring, and men wearing fine linen shirts. There's a ghost child whose wishes are uncertain--she might wish to play with other children, or to eat them--and a mystery involving a derelict shrine. But the focus of this story is definitely on Asmodeus the fiercely protective fallen angel, his husband the river-dragon Thuan, and their affections.

This isn't the place to begin with Thuan and Asmodeus. Read House of Shattered Wings or House of Binding Thorns if you want the grand sweep of competition among fallen-angel Houses. For a more domestic introduction to the setting, you could try Children of Thorns, Children of Water, which is half about Thuan attempting to spy on the household of his future husband and half about a cooking contest, and follow up with Of Dragons, Feasts, and Murders, which I reviewed here.

By the time you get to Of Charms, Ghosts, and Grievances, you can relax and enjoy your old favorites. You may form some new ones along the way! I was personally a bit impatient with the romance side of the plot (Thuan is scared and ungenerous for once, and the narrative is clearly designed to prove him wrong), but I enjoyed Thuan's opinionated apothecary ex-girlfriend very much.

(I read this novella in an ARC provided by the author.)