schneefink (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
schneefink) wrote2018-10-08 11:57 pm
schneefink) wrote2018-10-08 11:57 pm
Entry tags:
JY Yang, Tensorate
I finished the "Tensorate" series of novellas by JY Yang in three days, which is a good sign. The covers are gorgeous. The novellas are almost as good :)
Have some quick notes.
The Black Tides of Heaven:
- I enjoyed this, and I even liked the snapshot format. Interesting world, interesting characters. Delightfully queer as well.
- I like Akeha fine as a character, but not as a person. Leaving his sister alone to deal with her visions and her mother is a real dick move. Yeah she had her husband and daughter but he didn't even come to visit, boo.
- The Protector is an excellent bad guy.
The Red Threads of Fortune:
- Rider can teleport, why is this not a bigger thing? Did I miss something? Teleportation is a really fucking powerful tool. Can all Quarterlanders?, in which case this should definitely be known. But later Thennjay says he couldn't learn and hints that Mokoya only learned (and enormously fast) because she's a prophet, but Rider isn't. Even if it's really really difficult for normal people to learn, some people in the Protectorate should be aware of it, and Mokoya is a daughter of the Protector and went to the Tensorate academy, so… Maybe it's a high state secret though. Still, imo everyone else should have reacted more to finding out that it's possible.
- So visions can be undone with the death of the prophet. Harsh, but, hm, balance-wise it makes sense that you need a sacrifice. Except Mokoya survives? So, what, she can just change what she sees now? And all she needed was one throw-away line by Rider? That seems too easy. Not that she doesn't deserve easy, she already lost a lot, but in this context it didn't feel earned, somehow. On the other hand I like Mokoya and it's nice that she survives.
- I enjoyed the casual poly with Thennjay and Mokoya and her lovers, which was apparently even going on before Thennjay and Mokoya functionally separated. Although their big fight was over Phoenix and looks like Mokoya came around on that, so hopefully they can reconcile.
- The idea of a continent with half-gravity and giant creatures is very cool. (But Bramble is fine in the Protectorate? Is it because of experiments? Could there be multiple people riding nagas around? Scary. (Also a cool image though. From a very safe distance.))
The Descent of Monsters:
- Epistolary outsider PoV! I'm sorry Sariman died but now I want a pissed off pirate princess Kayan in the next book.
- The weirdest outsider PoV moment was when Sariman mentioned all the important people in the monastery and of Yongcheow she only said "don't eat his cooking." Like, what? Is he cooking? Why would he, aren't there people way more qualified? How would Sariman even know who cooks? I thought that maybe she saw Yongcheow, didn't know what to make of him, and that's how someone introduced him, but then why would she even mention him, she has to have some knowledge that he's important (does he have a reputation?) and it's odd that she didn't write more about him. Idk, this is one throwaway line but for some reason I got stuck on that.
- Can Rider and Mokoya take others with them when they fold the slack? I don't think we saw them do it, except Rider with Bramble, but Sariman seems to think Rider can. Seriously, why is this skill not a bigger deal. If Akeha learned, with their bombs… (Akeha called their bombs sunballs and here that was the name for a type of lamp, that was odd at times.)
- I liked the giant animals and the mystery, and the solution is very cool. My guess is that Sonami is on the side of the Machinists, but she's very "for the greater good" oriented, and if experimenting on several dozen children gets her one that can control the future so she can "do good" that's worth it. I thought Tau being Rider's twin was a bit of a stretch, but on the other hand Tau only tried to escape because they found out Rider was looking for them, something the other children most likely didn't have. And maybe Tau wasn't the only child with their ability, just the only one where they found out? Iirc there are still several other children from the facility out there. Or maybe, hm, it seems Rider and Tau are both extraordinarily powerful – apparently twins are prophets more often, maybe the non-prophet twin tends to be very talented?, like Akeha and Rider both are. Maybe Rider wasn't taken because even at that age sometimes tensors could see which of the babies is more tuned into the time aspect of the slack, but the connection still could sorta explain how they're so good at slackcraft.
- Cool detail that Akeha is using non-male pronouns again, maybe influenced by Rider?, they weren't completely comfortable with being male even when deciding to confirm as such. (Like Sariman, I have to careful to remember.)
- Saying this felt like an interlude almost sounds negative, but here I mean it in a good way, it's a story but is clearly embedded in the others and makes me very much look forward to the next book.
In other news, it's LB's birthday on Thursday and I don't have a present yet, I'm a terrible sister. At least I have ideas now! Aand it's doubtful I'll manage to acquire those things in time. Shame on me. Because of shipping and I don't have much time to go shopping here either because of work and I really need to not fall behind now that my uni classes are starting, but still.
Have some quick notes.
The Black Tides of Heaven:
- I enjoyed this, and I even liked the snapshot format. Interesting world, interesting characters. Delightfully queer as well.
- I like Akeha fine as a character, but not as a person. Leaving his sister alone to deal with her visions and her mother is a real dick move. Yeah she had her husband and daughter but he didn't even come to visit, boo.
- The Protector is an excellent bad guy.
The Red Threads of Fortune:
- Rider can teleport, why is this not a bigger thing? Did I miss something? Teleportation is a really fucking powerful tool. Can all Quarterlanders?, in which case this should definitely be known. But later Thennjay says he couldn't learn and hints that Mokoya only learned (and enormously fast) because she's a prophet, but Rider isn't. Even if it's really really difficult for normal people to learn, some people in the Protectorate should be aware of it, and Mokoya is a daughter of the Protector and went to the Tensorate academy, so… Maybe it's a high state secret though. Still, imo everyone else should have reacted more to finding out that it's possible.
- So visions can be undone with the death of the prophet. Harsh, but, hm, balance-wise it makes sense that you need a sacrifice. Except Mokoya survives? So, what, she can just change what she sees now? And all she needed was one throw-away line by Rider? That seems too easy. Not that she doesn't deserve easy, she already lost a lot, but in this context it didn't feel earned, somehow. On the other hand I like Mokoya and it's nice that she survives.
- I enjoyed the casual poly with Thennjay and Mokoya and her lovers, which was apparently even going on before Thennjay and Mokoya functionally separated. Although their big fight was over Phoenix and looks like Mokoya came around on that, so hopefully they can reconcile.
- The idea of a continent with half-gravity and giant creatures is very cool. (But Bramble is fine in the Protectorate? Is it because of experiments? Could there be multiple people riding nagas around? Scary. (Also a cool image though. From a very safe distance.))
The Descent of Monsters:
- Epistolary outsider PoV! I'm sorry Sariman died but now I want a pissed off pirate princess Kayan in the next book.
- The weirdest outsider PoV moment was when Sariman mentioned all the important people in the monastery and of Yongcheow she only said "don't eat his cooking." Like, what? Is he cooking? Why would he, aren't there people way more qualified? How would Sariman even know who cooks? I thought that maybe she saw Yongcheow, didn't know what to make of him, and that's how someone introduced him, but then why would she even mention him, she has to have some knowledge that he's important (does he have a reputation?) and it's odd that she didn't write more about him. Idk, this is one throwaway line but for some reason I got stuck on that.
- Can Rider and Mokoya take others with them when they fold the slack? I don't think we saw them do it, except Rider with Bramble, but Sariman seems to think Rider can. Seriously, why is this skill not a bigger deal. If Akeha learned, with their bombs… (Akeha called their bombs sunballs and here that was the name for a type of lamp, that was odd at times.)
- I liked the giant animals and the mystery, and the solution is very cool. My guess is that Sonami is on the side of the Machinists, but she's very "for the greater good" oriented, and if experimenting on several dozen children gets her one that can control the future so she can "do good" that's worth it. I thought Tau being Rider's twin was a bit of a stretch, but on the other hand Tau only tried to escape because they found out Rider was looking for them, something the other children most likely didn't have. And maybe Tau wasn't the only child with their ability, just the only one where they found out? Iirc there are still several other children from the facility out there. Or maybe, hm, it seems Rider and Tau are both extraordinarily powerful – apparently twins are prophets more often, maybe the non-prophet twin tends to be very talented?, like Akeha and Rider both are. Maybe Rider wasn't taken because even at that age sometimes tensors could see which of the babies is more tuned into the time aspect of the slack, but the connection still could sorta explain how they're so good at slackcraft.
- Cool detail that Akeha is using non-male pronouns again, maybe influenced by Rider?, they weren't completely comfortable with being male even when deciding to confirm as such. (Like Sariman, I have to careful to remember.)
- Saying this felt like an interlude almost sounds negative, but here I mean it in a good way, it's a story but is clearly embedded in the others and makes me very much look forward to the next book.
In other news, it's LB's birthday on Thursday and I don't have a present yet, I'm a terrible sister. At least I have ideas now! Aand it's doubtful I'll manage to acquire those things in time. Shame on me. Because of shipping and I don't have much time to go shopping here either because of work and I really need to not fall behind now that my uni classes are starting, but still.