A review by just_one_more_paige
The Descent of Monsters by Neon Yang

adventurous dark mysterious 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? No

3.0

 
The third novella in this fantasy sci-fi series that my partner and I are reading out loud to each other at night...and it was both our favorite of the series so far! 
 
As the story opens, there is a major incident at a research facility in a remote area of the Protectorate. When the tragedy at the Institute was discovered, it was a slaughterhouse, and all experimental subjects had escaped. Found on-scene were two outlaws, part of the Machinist group: Akeha and Rider. A Tensor, Sariman Chuwan, is appointed to investigate and the reader is presented the narration of events through her collectioned evidence, what (highly redacted) materials the Tensorate gives her (clearly inside of a cover-up) and her own journal entries, as she describes her (less and less legal) attempts to find the truth.   
 
The events of this novella take place after the first two, sequentially, but the novella itself is very different in style and events covered. While the first two novellas really focused on Akeha and Mokoya's coming of ages/relationships/stories, this takes us into a wider perspective, looking at the bigger world that they are in and the actions (offenses) of the Tensorate and the Protectorate. It really shows the underhandedness and power-grabbing and icky sneakiness and experiments/cover-ups that are rampant in all ruling groups/classes everywhere (IRL and in fiction). Reading the discoveries at the Institute, and the unfolding of the investigation, in this sort of dossier-style presentation made for a really fun reading experience. And since we also got to read Chuwan's personal journal entries/reflections, the rest was in a much more conversational and casual tone than the writing of the first two novellas - not better or worse, but definitely more entertaining (fun and snarky) and less artistic, as writing goes.  
 
There are definitely some more emotional items explored in this novella. The reason Rider was looking through the Institute in the first place is to try and find their missing twin, and in general learning about what all the children/twins were used for in that facility, was difficult. Even though it was told in glossed-over descriptions, the reader can make inferences. Same with the animals that were spliced and created and experimented on as well. Horrible. And the graphic descriptions of the state of the...remains...at the Institute after the incident are stomach-churning. (A note here: there seemed to be a big narrative build-up to a face of between Rider/Akeha and one of these huge dual species naga-raptors, but it never actually gets addressed, even in passing, on page - which feels like a loose end in a fairly disappointing way, as it seemed to have been a major incident). In relation to all this, the good old “cover up” and “mislead” and “bribe” tactics coming into play here from the Protectorate side of things, with a classic “rogue investigator going after the real story," plot was an entertaining way to learn all this tough information. 
 
Now that we know what the goal of the Tensor experiments at the Institute was, and the level of success they achieved, I really hope this storyline is wrapped up in some way in the final novella, because otherwise, this whole third installation was a major outlier and will leave the reader with lots of hanging ends. And so, on to the finale of this series and our hopes that this interesting, but still requiring a good ending to pull it together and leave a really solid final impression, the series gets the wrap-up it needs. 
 
“Why interrogate me, if you will not believe what I say? I am telling you the truth. Do not dismiss me just because it is not what you want to hear.” 
 
 “My greatest fear is not that I will find some sort of half-animal creature, wild-eyed and untamed. It is that I will find a genuine monster: someone perfectly human, but with a heart of stone, turned cruel from enduring years of cruelty. What if they are not a tool enslaved by the Protectorate but a willing blade? What if they are proof of what I should have known all along - that there is something broken inside me, only waiting for the right environment to bring it out?” 
 
“Generosity will buy you more than a lifetime’s worth of gratitude.” 
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