“The Tensorate Series” by Neon Yang
Across four novellas, Neon Yang established themself as a fantasist in bold defiance of the limitations of their genre. Available now in a single volume, these four novellas trace the generational decline of an empire and unfurl a world that is rich and strange beyond anything you’ve dreamed.
In the Tensorate Series you will find: rebellious nonbinary scions of empire, sky-spanning nagas with experimental souls, revolutionary engineers bent on bringing power to the people, pugilist monks, packs of loyal raptors, and much, much more.
The Tensorate Series omnibus contains The Black Tides of Heaven, The Red Threads of Fortune, The Descent of Monsters, and To Ascend to Godhood
Review
This was such an interesting series! The format of the third and fourth novellas are very different from the first two but I enjoyed reading all of them. I loved learning about the world and the characters. There were a few times I wished things had been explained a bit more, but it didn’t take away from my overall enjoyment of the series. If the author were to ever write more in this world I would definitly read it.
1) The Black Tides of Heaven: Mokoya and Akeha, the twin children of the Protector, who rules the empire are introduced. They were sold to the Grand Monastery as infants as payment for a debt. As they grow to adulthood Mokoya develops visions of the future while Akeha grows more discontent with their situation. Soon after reaching adulthood Akeha leaves to find their own destiny.
I really liked the way this one played out as the children grow up and explore their world. The relationship between the twins is great. Given how things played out I thought it made sense for Akeha to need to leave to figure things out. While the ending did feel a little abrupt it did make sense for the story being told and resolved a lot of what Akeha had been looking for.
2) The Red Threads of Fortune : Set a few years after the events of the previous story, Mokoya’s daughter was killed in an accident causing her to leave her old life behind. Currently Mokoya to hunts deadly creatures in the outer reaches of the kingdom. During one such hunt she meets Rider, but all is not as it seems.
I enjoyed reading this story – I thought a lot of things made sense with the way Mokoya was acting even though her actions weren’t always great. In this story we do learn a bit more about how the “magic” of the world works as well as Mokoya’s prophecies which I enjoyed. Again I liked the relationships between all the characters. The ending felt a bit more resolved in this one at least as far Mokoya’s story. The overall issues of the world are still there in the background but were never really the main point which is fine.
3) The Descent of Monsters: Set sometime after the second novella this one is told entirely in the form of letters between people investigating something terrible that has happened at an institute for experimental methods, and the journal entries of one of the investigators. There is a subplot involving Rider (from the previous book) and their own missing twin.
This one was interesting. The format isn’t usually my cup of tea but I ended up liking it a lot because it all flowed really well. The focus is on the main investigator for the case but he end ups meeting up with the rest of the characters from the previous plots. Still all told in journal entries we find out what happened and how the case was solved. Some might feel the ending doesn’t answer a few questions but I thought it gave enough hints to suggest where things were going.
4) To Ascend to Godhood: Set sometime farther into the future when the Protector has died. Lady Han tells her story of how she met the Protector while at a tavern in the aftermath. There are bits before and after the prequel story that give some hints at what has gone on, and what will happen next.
I thought this was an interesting way to finish up the series – and as an individual story I really did enjoy learning about Lady Han’s history with the Protector. It’s the shortest novella in the collection and while it’s a rambling story about the past, it fits in with the rest of the novellas as part of the larger world.
Warnings and additional reviews are available on the StoryGraph page for “The Tensorate Series”
Book Details
- Author’s Website
- Neon Yang
- Publisher / Date
- Tor.com, September 2021
- The individual novellas were originally published from 2017 to 2019
- Genre
- Science Fiction, Fantasy
- Page Count
- 480 (across 4 novellas give or take a few pages)
- Completion Date
- March 26, 2025