The Descent of Monsters

May 14, 2018
Yang exposes more of the nefarious workings of a fantasy world’s repressive government in the middling third novella of the constantly inventive Tensorate series (after The Black Tides of Heaven and The Red Threads of Fortune). Chuwan Sariman, a hardworking but underappreciated investigator for the brutal Protectorate, is assigned to write the official report on a gruesome massacre at the experimental Rewar Tang Institute, where one of the Protectorate’s weaponized animal hybrids escaped and killed the entire staff. Sariman quickly discovers she is only allowed access to a few records that limit her ability to understand what happened. Yang uses journal entries, redacted transcripts, and correspondence to involve the reader in the frustrating investigation process. After writing the sham report she realizes she was meant to create, Sariman goes rogue to discover the horrifying nature of the actual experiments and teams up with Cai Yuan-ning, the sister of one of the killed researchers, to relay the truth to the Machinist rebels. Yang’s focus on the mystery and slow revelations unfortunately shortchanges character development. Fans of the earlier works will continue to enjoy Yang’s crisp writing but will wish the series’ larger arcs received more than the minor incremental advances here. Agent: DongWon Song, Howard Morhaim Literary.

June 15, 2018

Tensor investigator Chuwan Sariman arrives at the Rewar Teng Institute to probe a massacre in which people and animals were torn apart and killed. Two suspects were apprehended: Machinist terrorist leader Sanao Akeha and a mysterious companion, Rider. As events unfold, Chuwan realizes that she is only scratching the surface of what actually happened. With mysterious dreams and elusive details guiding her, Chuwan must throw off her Tensorate role and discover what escaped from Rewar Teng, why the Machinists were there, and why the Protectorate will do anything to cover it up. Told through letters and reports, the nuanced narrative reveals a deeper story of creatures and powers beyond comprehension. VERDICT Yang's third series novella (after Red Threads of Fortune) continues to establish silkpunk fantasy as a superbly original subgenre.--Kristi Chadwick, Massachusetts Lib. Syst., Northampton

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2018
Yang's third novella in the Tensorate Series (after the simultaneously released The Black Tides of Heaven and The Red Threads of Fortune, 2017) uses letters, journals, and interview transcripts to chart the investigation into a massacre at a government lab. There were no survivors at the Rewar Teng Institute of Experimental Methods, not even the vicious raptor-naga hybrids being bred there. Tensor Chuwan Sariman is in charge of the investigation, but when she is suddenly sidelined, she thinks she must be right that there was more going on at the institute than the official records described. Haunted by nightmares, she and Cai Yuan-ning, whose brother died in the massacre, join the outlaw Rider, whose search for their twin may lead to the truth. Yang's masterful world building is on display, from the manipulation of the metaphysical slack to the creatures who inhabit the harsh mountains, made even more impressive by the nonlinear narrative structure. The Old World feel of their silkpunk fantasy is made modern by smoothly interwoven gender-nonbinary characters, whose richness enhances the emotional impact of this short but compelling work.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)