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drewett's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
lordenglishssbm's review against another edition
3.0
A weird series. It's really just a collection of fairly standard action/thriller stories, but ones that either aspire to a kind of complexity that the pace doesn't allow it to achieve or elaborate on morality that's too simple and straightforward to be worth discussing in-depth. Yang by and large ditches their moralizing aspects in this last story, which I think is part of the reason why it's the strongest one. It's just quick, nasty and kind of fun, even if the first-person narration didn't do too much for me. A bit of an anticlimactic end to the series, but honestly I'm happy it went out on a high note.
The previous entry started out promising, with an attempted cover-up disintegrating due to a confluence of hubris, incompetence, conflicting goals and pride, but rather than lean into the chaos Yang chose to turn it into a fairly standard political thriller.
The previous entry started out promising, with an attempted cover-up disintegrating due to a confluence of hubris, incompetence, conflicting goals and pride, but rather than lean into the chaos Yang chose to turn it into a fairly standard political thriller.
catmichniak's review against another edition
informative
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
jkherz25's review against another edition
The last two were my favorites, both really gripping with narrative styles that suited their stories
katlovestea's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
caedocyon's review against another edition
3.0
Now that I've read all the Tensorate books: totally decent solid fantasy/steampunk with tons of queer, trans, poly, etc characters. There's not, like, a lot going on underneath it I would say, other than the author's delight in creating the world. And it's a good world! But that's not quite enough to elevate the series into a favorite.
The second and fourth books got the closest to having interesting character arcs.
* Would have liked to see something more than only-and-perfectly-supportive-of-his-wife from Mokoya's husband; he's so cuddly it's unreal.
* I was of course here for Akeha's gender journey, but Akeha's other motivations are kind of muddy and kind of boring.
* Rider reminds me of Tamora Pierce's Daine in a lot of ways; and I *loved* Daine when I was a teen, and that teen is still in me, but as an adult... a character like Rider is a bit flat.
* I normally like a documentary story, but I managed to completely forget that the detective who's ostensibly the main character of the third book existed.
The second and fourth books got the closest to having interesting character arcs.
* Would have liked to see something more than only-and-perfectly-supportive-of-his-wife from Mokoya's husband; he's so cuddly it's unreal.
* I was of course here for Akeha's gender journey, but Akeha's other motivations are kind of muddy and kind of boring.
* Rider reminds me of Tamora Pierce's Daine in a lot of ways; and I *loved* Daine when I was a teen, and that teen is still in me, but as an adult... a character like Rider is a bit flat.
* I normally like a documentary story, but I managed to completely forget that the detective who's ostensibly the main character of the third book existed.
vvatson's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Got very excited when I realized the direction of chapter 1 and how it is shaping the outline for the rest of the story (because I, a dumb, didnt even bother to read the synopsis). And the fact that the recipient of the story might be Sariman's Kayan makes it so much better! A lovely way to connect the threads of the different novellas. I am sad to hear she actually did die tho :(
Love how author decided to skip over all of protorates death, have that happen off screen, and give us the aftermath ad the framing for the origin story. Also really enjoy the framing of such a personal story being retold after yrs of fighting and wisdom and hearbreak, theres a fun aspect of voice and narration to it. And the bookend of the fact that Sonami was such an important but unseen role in all of this.
In all gorgeous worldbuilding of a series. It would be a lot of fun for the world to be expanded into a full length novel.
Love how author decided to skip over all of protorates death, have that happen off screen, and give us the aftermath ad the framing for the origin story. Also really enjoy the framing of such a personal story being retold after yrs of fighting and wisdom and hearbreak, theres a fun aspect of voice and narration to it. And the bookend of the fact that Sonami was such an important but unseen role in all of this.
In all gorgeous worldbuilding of a series. It would be a lot of fun for the world to be expanded into a full length novel.
bekatron3000's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
gustavomaccari's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
eyan_birt's review against another edition
4.25
A great entry into the novella quartet that has become the Tensorate series, butI felt like it was lacking as the *final* entry. What I like about Yang's story telling in this series was each novella used a different technique, and this one's use of retrospective story telling was great, but I fell in love with the main cast of characters, and the open nature of the ending was *too* open for me.