SciFi/Fantasy Novella Review: The Descent of Monsters by J.Y. Yang

The Descent of Monsters by J.Y. Yang

The Descent of Monsters is the third in J.Y. Yang's "Tensorate" series of novellas, the first two of which - The Black Tides of Heaven and The Red Threads of Fortune - came out simultaneously last year (I reviewed both HERE).  Descent can stand on his own probably pretty well, although readers of the prior two novellas will probably get a little more out of it (particularly those who have read "The Red Threads," as this novella heavily involves that novella's major character "Rider"), and since those novellas are very good, I do recommend you start there instead.  Either way, Descent, while shorter than the original two novellas, is very good and by far the wittiest of the series, while still having some strong emotional impact.


-------------------------------------------------Plot Summary-----------------------------------------------------
A research institute, supposedly studying boring things in the middle of nowhere in the Tensorate, goes off the grid and when investigators show up at the scene, they find the entire staff having been gruesomely killed, seemingly by an animal that was being experimented on.  The only living survivors are the rebel Sanao Akeha and the mysterious Rider. 

Tensor Chuwan Sariman is a low level investigator who is assigned to discover the truth of what happened at the institute.  But even she can figure out from the start that what she's really being asked to do is to help cover up what really happened there.  But what her superiors didn't count on is that Sariman actually cares about discovering the truth and trying to avenge the dead, and won't be satisfied simply reporting the cover up.

Unfortunately, Sariman's investigation resulted in her death.  But knowing this was likely, she wrote up the events of what happened as a letter to her lover.....and these letters will reveal the horrible truth.
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It's not a spoiler to say that the main character and narrator of The Descent of Monsters dies - it's spoiled in one of the very first pages.  This is a shame, because Tensor Sariman is hilarious - a foul mouthed (but realistic foul mouthed) woman who wants simply to unveil the truth and to help people despite knowingly working within a corrupt system and who sometimes forgets there are other considerations to think of.  The story's direction is sometimes predictable - the foreshadowing of what was happening at the institute makes it pretty clear by halfway through what the nature of the experiment going on was to the reader - but Sariman's great narration makes it well worth reading.  Oh and I read this as an audiobook, which only enhances her narration, particularly as she reads some amazingly redacted transcripts.

The other characters in this novella are strong as well.  Akeha - the main protagonist of the first novella - gets a strong cameo but the real second star is Rider, who was introduced in the second novella, The Red Threads of Fortune.  This is essentially Rider's story, and it's hard not to be a little heartbroken for them.

The biggest complaint of this novella is the ending, which is kind of bleak and I hope is followed up upon in the next novella or the one beyond it, but that's a minor complaint.  So far none of these novellas has been anything worse than good, so I look forward to the next one and recommend them for anyone to pick up.