A review by just_one_more_paige
The Red Threads of Fortune by Neon Yang

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

 
The second book in the four novella Tensorate series, and of course a reminder to everyone following along that this is the current read-out-loud-before-bed books/series that my partner and I jumped into. So they are slower going than they might normally be, since we can only move forwards when we are home together at night to do so, but we are still enjoying this new-to-us-both experience (really the first of its kind, on that front, so far). 
 
The Red Threads of Fortune picks up what seems to be a few years after the finish of the previous book. Mokoya has gone a bit off on her own, having not at all emotionally dealt with the loss of her daughter. Akeha is working alongside his now-husband with the Machinists rebels (against his and Mokoyea's mother, The Protector). I am not entirely sure what Thennjay has been up to, but he comes back into Mokoya's life in this story and plays a leading role again. And while we left them all having made big moves/choices against the Protectorate at the end of the last story, here the focus turns a bit, and we meet some new characters from other areas of the world, outside the Protectorate, and the primary story turns to...naga hunting, essentially? Mokoya meets a new lover, Rider, who is intriguing and gives her a new chance to reckon with her past/grief, as well as access to some new magical/tensing powers that make her question the uncontrollability of the "visions" she has always had. 
 
This was a real thematic change from book one to two. From insurrection to more introspective forward movement, plus, of course, the naga hunting. It was brought back around a little bit by the end, when Mokoya makes some realizations about what she's learned about her power/visions. She really has a lot of adjusting to do, emotionally - she's really kind of a loose cannon of wild speculation and accusation and needy grasping - but, it is an interesting conversation introduced about the weight of knowing the future/visions (the curse of having that knowledge versus whether or not you have the power to change it). So, I'm interested to see how the third and fourth installations combine it all. Other than that, there was a cool concept introduced about the imprinting/projecting of a conscious/being onto another, with some narrative paralleling about loss and grief and mothers/daughters, which all provides some insightful reflection on the complex combination of PTSD and grief. 
 
As we met people from outside the Protectorate, the holding of other genders outside a binary is more natural, which was a consideration I had while reading the first novella, and I got some vibes about it being a bit of a (subtle) commentary on colonial/imperial imposition. Along the same lines, I was a really big fan of the open acceptance and positivity around polygamy and multiple partners, with a person's needs being met by their partner(s) being more important than societal rules about who fills said needs. And we get some new insight into tensing and the magic system, which is always one of my favorite aspects of any fantasy world-building, so I was happy with that. 
 
Finally, the language remains an absolute gem. Yang's lyrical precision with words is something really special. It's the kind of writing that makes you have to read slower, and want to reread sentences, to experience the full impact. A few examples that I wanted to call out in full are below (as per usual) but also, take this one right now: “pomegranate-ripe and slow as salt.” I mean, how gorgeous is that? 
 
So yea, still not really blown away by this series, but invested enough to keep going for sure, to see how everything plays out and is brought together. And, of course, to experience more of Yang's writing! 
 
 
“Straight lines were the precinct of creatures that knew their destination. 
 
“Peace sat languid and unfamiliar in her chest: not the peace of familiar comforts, of old beddings and well-worn grooves in stone, but a clear kind of peace, like an ocean with stones at the bottom, its surface jade-blue and throwing off sunlight.” 
 
“If truth had a shape, her words fit its boundaries." 
 
“In another version of the world, where the threads of fortune had woven a different braid, they could have sat down together and fileted out a sensible truth, exposing the spine of reality that had to be buried within the slippery flesh of lies and narratives.” 
 
“Violence is the fault of the one enacting it. Always.” 
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