Reviews

The Black Tides of Heaven, along with the rest of the Tensorate series, is both a refreshing and unique take on a magic system in a fantasy setting as well as a beautiful depiction of journeys through gender and sexuality. It only just begins in the Black Tides of Heaven and dives much further into it in the second book, but the way explorations of gender is depicted was wonderful and so (unfortunately) rare in the fantasy genre. I love the concept of children being genderless and using gender-neutral pronouns until they discover how they want to identify. The Asian inspired setting is a shining light in a sea of European fantasy series, and the world just feels so authentic and real; there is such a diversity in inspirations across the world it takes place in which you can see in place and character names and the traditions of each location. It touches on class disparity and generational trauma in a realistic and empathetic way, along with so many other important themes. Truly an amazing start to a series that every fantasy lover should read!

echocide's review

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4.0

Le maree nere del cielo parla di argomenti complessi come l'identità sessuale e di genere in un modo semplice, sfruttando anche le dinamiche di un mondo fantasy che strizza l'occhio allo steampunk e allo sci-fi con un sistema di magia più basato sulla scienza e sulla filosofia orientale.
Vengono normalizzate le relazioni fra persone in quanto tali: non si definiscono le persone in base al sesso ma in base a ciò che sono.
Non è un libro perfetto, ha una narrazione fin troppo veloce secondo me e tanto accade un po' per caso, nello stesso tempo di uno schiocco di dita: i personaggi e il worldbuilding con sistema magico annesso non è molto approfondito, ma va considerato che è anche il primo volume di una quadrilogia.
Lo stile è molto fluido e scorrevole, uno di quelli che non annoia e l'unica difficoltà che ho trovato è stato l'uso della schwa, un carattere a cui non sono abituata.
Una lettura molto piacevole e con argomenti molto interessanti, che consiglio se adorate il fantasy orientale e vuole un leggere qualcosa di diverso e particolare.

auora1484's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective slow-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? It's complicated

3.0

auroragraph's review against another edition

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could not get into the world/magic system, just not for me

closteroven's review against another edition

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4.0

(7/10)- This was pretty good. I really liked the world building, even if I felt that certain things were not explained enough. I enjoyed the characters, but I found that a lot of them were underdeveloped and really could have been delved into more. I also found that there wasn’t enough foreshadowing, and that a lot of elements were just introduced when they were necessary to the plot, which isn’t a great way to tell a story. Overall, though, it was interesting. I’m looking forward to reading the next one.

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