Neon Yang

Prepare yourself for The Ascent to Godhood, the fourth book in Neon Yang's silkpunk Tensorate series, a wide-ranging, imaginative, engaging playground that the New York Times lauded as "joyously wild." Finalist for the 2020 Locus Award The Protector is dead. For fifty years, the Protector ruled, reshaping her country in her image and driving her enemies to the corners of the map. For half a century the world turned around her as she built her armies, trained her Tensors, and grasped at the reins of fate itself. Now she is dead. Her followers will quiver, her enemies rejoice. But in one tavern, deep in rebel territory, her greatest enemy drowns her sorrows. Lady Han raised a movement that sought the Protector's head, yet now she can only mourn her loss. She remembers how it all began, when the Protector was young, not yet crowned, and a desperate dancing girl dared to fall in love with her. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The Ascent to Godhood

Lia Yuliana

Update 13/07/2022

You can find the rest of my reviews at  An Ode to Fiction. | Subscribe to my Booktube channel 

Other reviews in the series :
1.The Black Tides of Heaven
2.The Red Threads of Fortune
3.The Descent of Monsters
4.The Ascent to Godhood


Official Release Date : July 30th 2019
Buy the book :
Amazon|Book Depository|Bookshop.org (affiliate)

4/5 ⭐️

The Ascent of Godhood the last book to the Tensorate series. The epic conclusion to a four book series that isn't shy to reinvention and change. In this last book Neon Yang hits readers with an unexpected—maybe anti climactic or is it?—ending. From the synopsis itself Neon Yang is straight forward in closing the over arching plot of the rebellion against the Protectorate lead by the twin children of the Protectorate. 

If you are interested in this series do not read the synopsis of the fourth book. It is out of the question that the synopsis is a massive spoiler.

How the conclusion of this epic story can be anti climactic to some and can be brilliant to others. I fall in the middle of that. The third book, The Descent of Monsters, revealed an important thing that changed the trajectory of the story. When I finished the third book I expected a lot of things in the final book but I didn't expect for it to be told from a perspective of a character that I didn't think would be in the spotlight. 

Throughout the series there are two factions that are at war with each other. The Protectorate lead by the Empress and the Machinist lead by Lady Han. Lady Han is the Empress' ex concubine. In the fourth book Lady Han tells the history of her life; from her childhood growing up poor, being a prostitute, an eventually catching the eye of the future Empress, and then becoming the Empress' most trusted person.

This backtracking gives insight into how the Empress gained power and grew to become a ruthless Protectorate that rules with an iron fist. It added a lot of layers to the Empress' and Lady Han's characterization and depth to their personalities. These two female characters that once shared a relationship once romantic turned enemies is probably my favorite out of all the relationships depicted in the story. 

Though my gripe for the series the sudden change in tune can throw off a lot of people. I expected explosion, closure, and perspectives from the main characters that are introduced in the other three books. But what I got is a sapphic villain origin story, from a cunning princess to a ruthless empress, told through the eyes of her former lover and concubine turned enemy. Which I am not mad. I love it. 

Final thoughts, The Ascent to Godhood is the ending that can make you feel torn but I still truly enjoyed reading. Throughout the many changes Neon Yang presented in the story it still made sense and enjoyable. It is a satisfying ending to an epic series from the very first book to this last one.

JY Yang

Prepare yourself for The Ascent to Godhood, the fourth book in JY Yang's silkpunk Tensorate series, a wide-ranging, imaginative, engaging playground that the New York Times lauded as "joyously wild." The Protector is dead. For fifty years, the Protector ruled, reshaping her country in her image and driving her enemies to the corners of the map. For half a century the world turned around her as she built her armies, trained her Tensors, and grasped at the reins of fate itself. Now she is dead. Her followers will quiver, her enemies rejoice. But in one tavern, deep in rebel territory, her greatest enemy drowns her sorrows. Lady Han raised a movement that sought the Protector's head, yet now she can only mourn her loss. She remembers how it all began, when the Protector was young, not yet crowned, and a desperate dancing girl dared to fall in love with her.

Sahi K

When I finished The Descent of Monsters, I assumed this book would be a continuation of that storyline and I didn’t even bother reading the blurb. But this one turned out to be something very different and unexpected.

I’ve read someone describe this book as a drunken monologue and that’s just perfect. It’s very conversational but we only get to hear one side of the dialogue, however that didn’t take away from the story at all. I quite liked this style of storytelling. And the best part, this is almost like a combination of lovers to enemies and villain romance trope, and it’s something I’ve never read before. This book also doesn’t have a lot of world building because it’s a very personal story and I quite liked this change of pace. 

The Protector has always been on the fringes of the series as a terrifying character but we never get to know much about her, so this origin story of hers in the words of someone very close to her was very fascinating to read. At the same time, this is also Lady Han’s story and how the Machinist movement came to be - so the overall vibe of this book is like a historical account. It’s also a very interesting look at how circumstances change a person completely and how much power can corrupt anyone - to such an extent that love and relationships don’t matter anymore. Sonami is another character who has remained very mysterious throughout the series and I can’t wait to get to know her better.

To conclude, this book may not have had the story I wanted, but it was still an amazing read. The author has managed to immerse me in this sometimes cruel world through four very unique novellas, and my only hope is that we get so many more books in this series because I’m not done with these characters and want to follow them through so many more stories.

Nickie Mohler

I think these just keep getting better! I love this series so much! I can't wait for more. Definitely an auto buy author for me.

Alexia Cambaling

I really need to write a final ‘Why You Should Read This Series’ post for the Tensorate series in order to fully explain why I love this series and highly recommend it to everyone. The best way I can explain why is that if you want a queer, Asian adult SFF series with fantastic world-building and doesn’t require you to read a brick of a book, then you should absolutely read this.

One of the things that I admire the most about the books is the fact that it’s not afraid to change styles in the way they present the story. For example, The Black Tides of Heaven is told through several years, The Red Threads of Fortune follows an older protagonist as they rebuild their life after a tragedy, The Descent of Monsters is like a police procedural told through reports and letters. The Ascent to Godhood is no different but it’s a little more different because it happens to be more like a drunken monologue. I wouldn’t have thought a drunken monologue would work as a book but JY Yang managed it perfectly.

This basically tells the story of Lady Han and the Protector, the mysterious ruler of the Tensorate who has served as the series’ villain. Here, we learn more about her and her past and how her circumstances shaped her into becoming who she is now. It’s also Lady Han’s story as she recalls how she came to be by the Protector’s side, how they become lovers and then enemies. As much as I love the Enemies to Lovers trope, I can’t help but be intrigued by Lovers to Enemies if only for the sheer angst and tragedy. Here, that’s exactly what we get and I’m here for it.

Lady Han and the Protector are two very interesting and complex characters, their narratives are pretty entwined but their relationship is a bit one-sided. The Protector pulls the strings and Lady Han does what she wants. Lady Han may be shrewd, cunning, and manipulative, but she still did learn from the Protector. Even Lady Han’s rebellion can’t be separated from the Protector and she had been complicit in many things that the Protector has done during her reign. Still, their relationship, as dominant as the Protector was, remained complex. This shows when Lady Han grieves even as her enemy lay dead. It’s a tragic love story about two women who make their own choices and have to live with them.

If you haven’t already, please read this series. I recommend The Black Tides of Heaven as a starting point although all novellas can work as standalones. If you have read the series, The Ascent to Godhood is a fantastic conclusion. It’s more contemplative and sometimes feel like more of a prequel, but I still recommend it. Overall, this series is a good example of the modern fantasy genre.

Ben Nathan

I think this was my favorite is the series because it combined the world that is so interesting with a story that was driving, plus had a wicked sense of humor in the delivery even though it was so somber. I ate this up!

The Ascent to Godhood

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