SciFi/Fantasy Novella Reviews: The Tensorate Novellas: The Black Tides of Heaven and The Red Threads of Fortune by JY Yang

The Tensorate Series is a new series of Novellas by JY Yang featuring a silkpunk (think Asian inspired steampunk) fantasy world.  The first two novellas, "The Black Tides of Heaven" and "The Red Threads of Fortune," feature a pair of twins, who were given away by their Tyrant mother to the monastic order, only to take them back when one of the twins shows the gift of prophecy.  The two novellas are each meant to serve as stand-alones, with each Novella following a different twin:  The Black Tides follows Akeha as she struggles to find his place as the seemingly spare twin and The Red Threads follows Mokoya, the prophet, as she struggles to find a reason for living. 

Again, these are meant to be stand alone novellas, but the two kind of complement each other and The Red Threads takes place after The Black Tides; as such, while Red Threads isn't dependent upon you reading Black Tides, it will spoil some plot points of the other novella if you read it first and I do think Red Threads works better after having read Black Tides first.  In Sum however, both novellas are well worth reading - individual thoughts on each after the jump - though I do think Red Threads is the significantly better of the two.

Individual Novella reviews after the Jump:



The Black Tides of Heaven
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The Black Tides of Heaven begins the story of the twins Akeha and Mokoya, with it coming to focus on Akeha's story as the tale goes on.  The twins were born to the Tyrant ruler of the Protectorate, the brutal dictatorship that rules the land of the story.  They were meant to be given the Abbot of the land's order of monks, who make use of the magical force known as the Slack, only for Mokoya to manifest the gift of prophecy.  As such the two are forced back into their mother's grasp for her own ends.

But when Mokoya falls in love with the prophesized next Head Abbot and chooses to become a Woman, Akeha desperately loves his sister but feels left out by her decisions - and as such, he decides to find his own path, choosing to be confirmed as a Man and setting out on his own outside the Capital.  There he will find himself falling in with another man who aids a group of rebels against his Tyrant Mother - but do his actions really mean anything, and can he really choose his fate in a world where his mother seems to have total control and his sister seems to have the gift of unstoppable prophecy?
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I didn't mean to spend more than one paragraph on the above plot summary, but the first paragraph, and indeed the first quarter of Black Tides essentially serves in part as setup for both novellas so I wanted to include it.  Black Tides is a pretty solid novella - the world is extremely well done, and Akeha's struggles as he tries to find a purpose in life while not losing the love of his sister provide a strong basis for the plot.

That said, a large portion of the plot of this novella is kind of predictable in that it follows some pretty classic tropes down to a tee, including the ultimate climax.  It all DOES work, but it's so much in line with these classic tropes that it can't help but feel a little stale. 


The Red Threads of Fortune
----------------------------------------------Plot Summary-----------------------------------------------------------
Set four years after the events at the end of The Black Tides of Heaven, Mokoya now works as a hunter of monsters (on top of a raptor, no less) - particularly Naga - outside of the City which Akeha's rebel allies are using as a base of operations against their tyrant mother.  Mokoya is still emotionally devastated from the events of the prior novella, frequently making rash and potentially suicidal decisions, and is estranged from her husband.  But when she discovers the strange non-binary outsider known as Rider, who uses the magic of the Slack in previously unseen ways, Mokoya's life will once again be turned around - and not just by the enormous Naga who has suddenly appeared to threaten destruction to the entire City.

But just who is Rider exactly?  Is it really a coincidence that they showed up just as the deadly Naga has appeared in the area?  And what exactly can she do about him and the Naga, even if things turn out for the worst?
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The Red Threads is to me a significantly stronger Novella than its predecessor.  Mokoya's struggles against her depression in light of the tragedies of the prior story could be written in a way to make her a painful character to read, but the author manages to avoid that and instead she comes away as a very understandable character.  The side characters here, mainly Rider, but also several other secondary characters new to this story, are also excellent additions.  

I didn't find this plot as predictable as the prior novella or even close to it, which is what I suspect made me like it a lot more.  While this is a story in which our main character rides a Raptor and hunts Nagas, it has a strong emotional heft and very solid arc, with a very satisfactory ending.  

Apparently there are two more Tensorate novellas on the way (although I think they may both be prequel novellas), and as such, I can't wait for them to come out as these are in general very good.  Red Threads is very likely to be on my hugo nominations list for next year.