I absolutely love Aliette de Bodard's Servant of the Underworld series, as well as some of her shorter sci-fi works, but I could never get into the Dominion of the Fallen. No matter how everyone around me gushed about that series, how interesting it looked, how it promised all the things I normally adore—I opened the first book a few times, I got through a couple dozen of pages, I got bored. Rinse, repeat.

Well, I guess now I just need to give that series another chance, because this little novella I've just read was simply delightful—and I imagine I would have loved it even more if I were better acquainted with the characters. I definitely want to get better acquainted with them now. Especially Asmodeus. 

Overall, even if I felt lost now and then about some of the setting details, I really enjoyed the story: the mystery, the claustrophobic splendor of court intrigue, the queer married couple being passionate and romantic with each other (I always want more romance about established relationships; I swear love doesn't fade away into the background once you're past that early "will we or won't we" period!). I just wish it was a tiny bit longer, to better deliver on the promise of this novella being able to stand on its own.