Review – The Black Tides of Heaven (The Tensorate, Book 1) by Neon Yang (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 258 pages
Publisher: Tordotcom
Release Date: September 26, 2017
ASIN: B01MTMY52H
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Tensorate series
Source: Borrowed ebook from Library
Rating: 4/5 stars
“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?”
Series Info/Source: This is the first book in The Tensorate series; there are four novellas in this series. I borrowed a copy of this on ebook through Kindle Unlimited.
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 itself was easy to read and the story was intriguing. The book takes big jumps in time which makes it hard to stay engaged with the characters.
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.
