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A review by tshepiso
The Red Threads of Fortune by Neon Yang
adventurous
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
The Red Threads of Fortune was a solid follow up to its explosive predecessor. J.Y. Yang writes deeply emotional stories set in beautiful magical worlds and their storytelling transported me yet again to a place filled with imagination. I will say, I didn’t enjoy this novella as much as The Black Tides of Heaven, but it was still an impressive story.
The story takes place after the tragic death of the former prophet Sanao Mokoya’s daughter. Mokoya fled her home, The Grand Monastery, in an attempt to escape her grief. On this journey, as a member of a naga hunting crew, Mokoya finds herself in the middle of a plot to destroy the rebel stronghold, Bataanar. Mokoya discovers new truths about the magic that has controlled her all her life and forms a strong bond with a mysterious naga rider.
Yang’s strength in storytelling is definitely how human their stories are. While the Tensorate series is set in a sprawling fantastical world embroiled in a tense civil war and filled to the brim with magical beasts, Yang’s focus in both The Red Threads of Fortune and its predecessor have been human connection. I find this mode of storytelling incredibly compelling, but I will warn anyone here for epic wars and cool action that it ultimately takes a back seat to its characters.
Luckily Yang’s characters are multifaceted and the sharp focus on Mokoya in this novella was compelling. Yang’s depiction of Mokoya’s grief was subtle but powerful. They capture Mokoya’s dissociation from the world in a visceral way. Because of that, I will warn that suicidal ideation is a major part of Mokoya’s character throughout the novel and anyone sensitive to that should brace themselves before diving into this book. It was fascinating to shift to Mokoya’s point of view after reading The Black Tides of Heaven because in that novella we see her through the perspective of her brother and delving into her POV and gaining the ability to see her as a three-dimensional character was engaging because I already had a preconceived image of her in my mind.
Something that troubled me about this novella was how the narrative seemingly rewarded Mokoya’s suicidal ideation. Mokoya is ultimately put in the position to sacrifice herself to save others and given that the majority of the novella followed her dealing with the constant desire to delete her own existence heroic martyrdom felt ill-suited to the narrative. While I can tell Yang wasn’t trying to romanticize suicide giving a suicidal character the option of a “heroic” suicide didn’t sit right with me.
My other gripe with this novella was the insta-love central to the story. While The Black Tides of Heaven had its fair share of insta-love the prevalence of time jumps and backfilling made it much easier to get on board with the romances in that novella. Unfortunately, Mokoya and Rider’s relationship happened way too fast, and with very little time spent with these two as a romantic item, I wasn’t able to attach myself to their relationship. I do appreciate their nonchalant polyamory, though. Another thing that kept me for falling for their relationship was how their romance was positioned as the ‘cure’ for Mokoya’s depression. While this wasn’t as egregious as some media I’ve seen, The Red Threads of Fortune still falls into that dangerous trope.
One of my favourite things about this novella was how Yang developed her magic system. The Tensorate series already utilized a fascinating elemental magic system and Yang only built on our understanding of Slackcraft. J.Y. Yang is a great example to me of how an author can write effervescent and whimsical magic while still having tangible rules and logic. I love magic that feels malleable and ever-changing so the new ways Slack was utilized were exciting. I think some may find the discoveries made about the Slack in this book convenient or cliche, but I think it only opens doors for how the magic can be adapted in the books to come. I’m excited to see where Yang takes their world as the series progresses.
In the end, I didn’t fall head over heels for The Red Threads of Fortune like I did its predecessor. While the novella still contained J.Y. Yang’s wonderful writing, the story didn’t capture me quite as much. I’m still highly anticipating moving on to The Descent of Monsters and I’m looking forward to seeing how Yang’s world and characters grow and change.
The story takes place after the tragic death of the former prophet Sanao Mokoya’s daughter. Mokoya fled her home, The Grand Monastery, in an attempt to escape her grief. On this journey, as a member of a naga hunting crew, Mokoya finds herself in the middle of a plot to destroy the rebel stronghold, Bataanar. Mokoya discovers new truths about the magic that has controlled her all her life and forms a strong bond with a mysterious naga rider.
Yang’s strength in storytelling is definitely how human their stories are. While the Tensorate series is set in a sprawling fantastical world embroiled in a tense civil war and filled to the brim with magical beasts, Yang’s focus in both The Red Threads of Fortune and its predecessor have been human connection. I find this mode of storytelling incredibly compelling, but I will warn anyone here for epic wars and cool action that it ultimately takes a back seat to its characters.
Luckily Yang’s characters are multifaceted and the sharp focus on Mokoya in this novella was compelling. Yang’s depiction of Mokoya’s grief was subtle but powerful. They capture Mokoya’s dissociation from the world in a visceral way. Because of that, I will warn that suicidal ideation is a major part of Mokoya’s character throughout the novel and anyone sensitive to that should brace themselves before diving into this book. It was fascinating to shift to Mokoya’s point of view after reading The Black Tides of Heaven because in that novella we see her through the perspective of her brother and delving into her POV and gaining the ability to see her as a three-dimensional character was engaging because I already had a preconceived image of her in my mind.
Something that troubled me about this novella was how the narrative seemingly rewarded Mokoya’s suicidal ideation. Mokoya is ultimately put in the position to sacrifice herself to save others and given that the majority of the novella followed her dealing with the constant desire to delete her own existence heroic martyrdom felt ill-suited to the narrative. While I can tell Yang wasn’t trying to romanticize suicide giving a suicidal character the option of a “heroic” suicide didn’t sit right with me.
My other gripe with this novella was the insta-love central to the story. While The Black Tides of Heaven had its fair share of insta-love the prevalence of time jumps and backfilling made it much easier to get on board with the romances in that novella. Unfortunately, Mokoya and Rider’s relationship happened way too fast, and with very little time spent with these two as a romantic item, I wasn’t able to attach myself to their relationship. I do appreciate their nonchalant polyamory, though. Another thing that kept me for falling for their relationship was how their romance was positioned as the ‘cure’ for Mokoya’s depression. While this wasn’t as egregious as some media I’ve seen, The Red Threads of Fortune still falls into that dangerous trope.
One of my favourite things about this novella was how Yang developed her magic system. The Tensorate series already utilized a fascinating elemental magic system and Yang only built on our understanding of Slackcraft. J.Y. Yang is a great example to me of how an author can write effervescent and whimsical magic while still having tangible rules and logic. I love magic that feels malleable and ever-changing so the new ways Slack was utilized were exciting. I think some may find the discoveries made about the Slack in this book convenient or cliche, but I think it only opens doors for how the magic can be adapted in the books to come. I’m excited to see where Yang takes their world as the series progresses.
In the end, I didn’t fall head over heels for The Red Threads of Fortune like I did its predecessor. While the novella still contained J.Y. Yang’s wonderful writing, the story didn’t capture me quite as much. I’m still highly anticipating moving on to The Descent of Monsters and I’m looking forward to seeing how Yang’s world and characters grow and change.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts