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Mokoya and Akeha, the twin children of the Protector, were sold to the Grand Monastery as infants. While Mokoya developed her strange prophetic gift, Akeha was always the one who could see the strings that moved adults to action. While Mokoya received visions of what would be, Akeha realized what could be. What's more, they saw the sickness at the heart of their mother's Protectorate.A rebellion is growing. The Machinists discover new levers to move the world every day, while the Tensors fight to put them down and preserve the power of the state. Unwilling to continue as a pawn in their mother's twisted schemes, Akeha leaves the Tensorate behind and falls in with the rebels. But every step Akeha takes towards the Machinists is a step away from Mokoya. Can Akeha find peace without shattering the bond they share with their twin?… (more)
User reviews
Of course one of the notable things about this series is that people in this world are born gender neutral, and remain so until they choose a gender and go through gender confirmation. This is all just kind of background to the story, however Yang never goes into detail about what being neutral means, or what the confirmation process looks like, or even explains norms like how or when people tend to choose their genders. There is only the mentions of Mokoya and Akeha choosing -- in a very matter of fact way -- because it is just how this world is. Can be read as a refreshing reminder that none of that genitalia stuff is any of your business anyway.
Yang's writing is a bit dry -- but that may be because Akeha, who is our POV character in this volume, seems to be that way. It will be interesting to see if that changes in the other books.
There are a host of things undescribed here -- creatures, organizations, etc. For instance: What, exactly, is a naga? Descriptions of nagas certainly exist outside of this book, but there are multiple iterations that can differ in significant ways. The decision to just dump you in this world is certainly deliberate -- and I vacillated between appreciating and being frustrated by that approach.
But my interest is certainly piqued. It looks like I will be reading the rest of this series.
In terms of world-building it felt as though there was too much going on: there’s a magical system (think The Force filtered through
With so much going on in the background, the main plot skips and jumps from event to event. Chapters are named after the twin protagonists’ ages (the sixth year, the seventeenth year), and while the plot and intrigue are interesting enough in their own right, the episodic nature of the narrative makes it hard to appreciate things like character development and motivation. Here, too, this novella felt as though it should have been longer than it was.
The story starts out with the
One of the most notable elements of The Black Tides of Heaven is Yang’s treatment of gender and sexuality. In the culture Yang’s created, children are not assigned a gender at birth. They are referred to with non-gendered pronouns and wear specific non-gendered clothing until they chose their gender (either male or female), usually in their teen years although some chose as young as three. I think there’s a tendency to paint these sorts of fantasy worlds as queer utopias, but it’s still a culture where adult gender is considered binary, which is brought up more in The Red Threads of Fortune with the introduction of an adult nonbinary character. It also interests me what the expectations are for the different genders and how they still seem to have designated gender roles, although the society is also non-patriarchal.
The Black Tides of Heaven spans over thirty years of Akeha’s life. As you might expect, it’s a coming of age story. The core of the novella is Akeha defining himself as an individual distinct from his sister and expectations for a child of the Protector. But his individual journey takes place within a larger socio-political conflict. I think The Black Tides of Heaven gave me a better perspective on the Tensor/Machinists conflict than The Red Threads of Fortune, possibly due to the larger time span. I’m also glad that I actually saw the character of the Protector, since I’d heard a lot about her in the other novella.
Of course, there’s a lot happening here for just a novella, and as a result the story feels thin in some places. While I thought The Black Tides of Heaven gave more of a picture of the world, I still think I need to see more of it. Luckily, there’s going to be two more novellas in the series! Unfortunately, that doesn’t help with some of the issues in The Black Tides of Heaven. Specifically the development of character relationships. I thought the relationship between the siblings was the strongest, but there’s a lot of relationship building that gets lost in the time skips, especially when it comes to the romantic relationships.
Yang is a fantastic writer, and I highly recommend their work. Do yourself a favor and read the Tensorate novellas.
Originally posted on The Illustrated Page.
The world was really cool, and I liked the concept of slack craft - I would like to see more of how it works and some more explanation in future books though. The Protectorate is an interesting society, and I can't wait to explore more in the next books.
Overall, I really liked this, and all the themes it discussed and explored. Would definitely recommend.
While primarily a fantasy story, I liked that the plot relied more on the characters and their actions and feelings instead of on their magical powers. For me, it sometimes weighs a story down when the author focuses on the wondrous aspects of the characters' mystical gifts instead of on the characters themselves. In "The Black Tides of Heaven," the characters face a number of inner struggles, such as deciding which gender they want to be, their emotions involving love, dealing with the societal impacts of the family they come from and how that divides the protectorate. I found myself more involved with the characters instead of their powers.
I highly recommend this first novella in the Tensorate series.
Something I hadn't remembered from the first read is the cool background on the title of the book, specifically this quote
"No matter what we did, her visions happened anyway. Future
Yongcheow folded careful hands over his belly. "But in those cases, you did do something, didn't you? You went to find the new Head Abbot. Your mother's purging Machinists. Some things might be fixed, but everything around then can be changed. That's the part that counts."
"A test. That's the Obedient belief, isn't it? Everything is a test from the heavens."
A considered silence shimmered. Then Yongcheow spoke. "The saying goes, 'The black tides of heaven direct the courses of human lives.' To which a wise teacher said, 'But as with all waters, one can swim against the tide.'"
I’m looking forward to the next book.
The twins are initially raised at a monastery until The Protector learns that Mokoya has developed a gift of prophecy and forces them to return to the empire. Akeha flees to aid a nascent revolutionary moment while Mokoya tries to avoid having their mother abuse their gift. All of this builds to a final confrontation with the lingering question, can Akeha and Moyoka defeat their mother without succumbing to her dependence on violence.
This book falls into a genre called silkpunk, fantasy fiction that draws on aspects of Asian antiquity with more modern technological elements. I can't say that I quite "get" it but it is a unique and interesting novella.
Thoughts: I liked this book but didn't love it. It's a bit confusing to follow the magic system and the world here. The writing
The book follows Mokoya and Akeha; twin children born to the Protector who were bargained off to the Grand Monastery at the age of six. They are raised at the monastery and eventually the Protector tries to pull Mokoya back to her because of Mokoya's prophetic skills. After that point, the story is mostly told from Akeha's point of view.
Parts of this book were a bit hard to follow. The magic system is sketchy and for some reason Mokoya and Akeha have super powers that aren't well understood; they also seem to be able to communicate mind to mind which is never explained. The political situation was a bit easier to understand and is basically the Tensorate against the Protectorate.
The book is short and has four parts to it; each part makes a bit jump in time which made it tough to engage with these characters and their lives. The writing was easy enough to read though and I found the story engaging enough. I don't plan on continuing the series though because I just wasn't intrigued enough by the characters or their world.
My Summary (4/5): Overall I liked this. It is a quick read with a lot of world-building and an intriguing societal structure. Some things here should have been better filled out (like the magic system and politics) but you can sit back just go with it and not think too hard and follow what is happening okay. I also didn't enjoy the huge jumps in time, it made it hard to stay engaged with the story and characters. I didn't enjoy this enough to continue with the series.
Okay, so those are all things that actually interested me. I'm complaining because I wanted more. But then there is the other stuff... Oh, look, they are going to create telephones and someone invented handguns and *low yield nukes.* Its like steampunk, but pieces of industrial and modern era technology are getting created in like 20 years time. And so in 40 or 50 more years, they will be conquering neighboring star systems...?