A Brief Look at a Silkpunk World

The Black Tides of Heaven by J.Y. Yang
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This novel features elegant prose, complex characters, and elaborate, thought-provoking world-building, especially the sort-of science of the tensors and "slack-craft" and the politics of the Protectorate. It's a slim volume, so even though there are some wonderful scenes, most of the action happens offstage. As a result, for me, the years glided by too quickly. That was a choice, of course. It could have been turned into a big fat fantasy, which probably would have been more to my taste, but the author was doing something else here, focusing on the conflicts inherent in identity, ambition, and family dynamics, and the drama and emotions which emerge from that.

I find that approach more interesting than engaging, so my appreciation is not as warm as it might have been. However, I liked it, and I mean to recommend the novel, not criticize it. Some readers will make a stronger connection than I did, and I think the book achieves more with other audiences, especially non-binary readers, POC, and other groups that have historically been marginalized in real life and literature. (Probably those with a more literary bent, as well.)

I hope such readers find it and love it.

View all my reviews