Name: The Red Threads of Fortune
ISBN: 9780765395382

Neon Yang

“Joyously wild stuff. Highly recommended.” —The New York Times The Red Threads of Fortune is one of a pair of unique, standalone introductions to Neon Yang's Tensorate Series, which Kate Elliott calls "effortlessly fascinating." For more of the story you can read its twin novella The Black Tides of Heaven, available simultaneously. Fallen prophet, master of the elements, and daughter of the supreme Protector, Sanao Mokoya has abandoned the life that once bound her. Once her visions shaped the lives of citizens across the land, but no matter what tragedy Mokoya foresaw, she could never reshape the future. Broken by the loss of her young daughter, she now hunts deadly, sky-obscuring naga in the harsh outer reaches of the kingdom with packs of dinosaurs at her side, far from everything she used to love. On the trail of a massive naga that threatens the rebellious mining city of Bataanar, Mokoya meets the mysterious and alluring Rider. But all is not as it seems: the beast they both hunt harbors a secret that could ignite war throughout the Protectorate. As she is drawn into a conspiracy of magic and betrayal, Mokoya must come to terms with her extraordinary and dangerous gifts, or risk losing the little she has left to hold dear. The Tensorate Series Book 1: The Black Tides of Heaven Book 2: The Red Threads of Fortune Book 3: The Descent of Monsters Book 4: The Ascent to Godhood At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The Red Threads of Fortune

JY Yang

The Red Threads of Fortune is one of a pair of unique, standalone introductions to JY Yang's Tensorate Series, which Kate Elliott calls "effortlessly fascinating." For more of the story you can read its twin novella The Black Tides of Heaven, available simultaneously. Fallen prophet, master of the elements, and daughter of the supreme Protector, Sanao Mokoya has abandoned the life that once bound her. Once her visions shaped the lives of citizens across the land, but no matter what tragedy Mokoya foresaw, she could never reshape the future. Broken by the loss of her young daughter, she now hunts deadly, sky-obscuring naga in the harsh outer reaches of the kingdom with packs of dinosaurs at her side, far from everything she used to love. On the trail of a massive naga that threatens the rebellious mining city of Bataanar, Mokoya meets the mysterious and alluring Rider. But all is not as it seems: the beast they both hunt harbors a secret that could ignite war throughout the Protectorate. As she is drawn into a conspiracy of magic and betrayal, Mokoya must come to terms with her extraordinary and dangerous gifts, or risk losing the little she has left to hold dear.

Aaron J Mitchell

Very excellent novel, highly enjoyed it, unconventional fantasy novel with fascinating and original characters with complex relationships. The primary protagonist Mokoya, is a fantastic character who seems to slowly open up from the first page to the last page of the book, learning about her past and motivations and drives was the highlight of the novel for me.

My only complaint was the world building was, deliberately I think, only teased out. Lots of things were mentioned in passing by the characters but not elaborated on. Don't expect any plodding exposition dumps, its a brisk paced book. Look forward to reading more of the tensor series, I went straight into Black Tides and look forward to more Tensor books in the future.

Lia Yuliana

Update 11/07/2022

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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 : September 26th 2017
Buy the book :
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4/5 ⭐️


  
    “You weren’t to blame. Violence is the fault of the one enacting it. Always.”
  


The Red Threads of Fortunes continues on following the twin Mokoya instead of Akeha the main POV of first book The Black Tides Heaven. The story is set in the city of Bataanar, a mining city in the desserts. The city is a well known safe base for machinist and is under the suspicion that the protectorate is targeting it on purpose. A naga attack on the caused an uproar because of the sheer size of the beast that attacked Batanaar. 

 Spoilers from The Black Tides of Heaven
(view spoiler)[
Mokoya is struck with grief and PTSD as she escapes her life at the temple into the desserts hunting naga. The pain she felt after losing her child in the first book destroyed her and in this book reader will get to explore the trauma fully from her POV. In Black Tides of Heaven we didn't get to see the tragedy from her eyes as it was described minimally to move the plot forward. The story of this books takes place years after the incident, now the twins are at the age of close to their 40s.
 (hide spoiler)]

Mokoya is now a naga trapper using her powers as a skilled tensorate she goes around the dessert to capture these beast that are suspected to be modified by the Protectorate. She abandoned her life of peace beside her husband who's the head Abbott of the temple. After a failed attempt of trapping a naga, Mokoya discovers that the naga she tried to trap has a rider and this rider will soon be the crack that will blow the story wide open.

Throughout reading The Red Threads of Fortune it is clear that Yang wanted to focus it on Mokoya and introduce a new character that will be vital in the plot line. This story opens up the scope of the world in vivid imagery and diversity of it's inhabitants. The story is so deeply South East Asian in terms of world building with the names and certain dialects said by the characters. 

Though my only gripe of this book is how slow the story is at the start. It took me a while to get into the world and the characters. To be frank it took me 8 days to finish it which is a lot for a novella. After hitting half way the story does pick up fast complete with explosive battle scenes and gripping revelations. The exploration on grief, loss of a child, and PTSD is written well into the story that makes sense. Even the time jumps aren't as stark as it was in the first book. There are a few cameos from some of the important characters in The Black Tides of Heaven as well.

The romance though is a bit abrupt and sudden. It is a like a curve ball that I didn't expect to happen. I guess Mokoya is lonely while trapping nagas. Love a non binary/female ship that I will hope to become polyamorous in the near future. 

So far this series is quite phenomenal and fresh with it's unique world building and characters. It feels like reading an adult version Avatar the Last Airbender. Highly recommend!

Sahi K

As soon as I finished The Black Tides of Heaven, I knew I was gonna read this novella soon because that world is magical and I didn’t wanna forget it so soon. And this book turned out to be even more impressive.

This time the plot had no time jumps, actually it takes place within just a few days but the amount of extensive world building we get here alongwith a deep dive into the different interpretations of the magic system, is amazing and I couldn’t stop reading at all. We also get gorgeous descriptions of magical creatures and I particularly loved two of them so much. In such few pages, we also get some jaw dropping action sequences and I was trying to picture them in my head but that turned out to be impossible.

This time we get Mokoya’s POV and after the events of the first book, it was quite painful to share her grief. This story is essentially about debilitating grief, feeling as if there is no point in being alive, but also finding the courage to try to live again when opportunity presents itself. The development of feelings between Mokoya and Rider might feel like instalove but it’s so beautifully written that I was completely invested and my heart was breaking towards the end. I just kept wishing that I could read more of them being together. 

In the end, this may be a small novella but it has a lush and vivid world, an intricate magic system, and a gorgeous story of love in all forms. I can’t believe I’m so late in reading this series but I’m not gonna wait longer to finish the remaining two novellas.

Nickie Mohler

Mokoya has taken up Naga hunting. There are tales of an abnormally large Naga. She means to find it before it can destroy Bataanar. 
I really love these books! Such a big story crammed into a little novella.

Alexia Cambaling

This one follows Mokoya, Akeha’s twin sister who became the (ex-)Prophet and a Tensor. This means that she can control the Slack, which is basically what magic is in this world. Years prior to the events of the novella, her daughter Eien died and in her grief, she left her husband to hunt naga. There’s actually an interesting explanation on this regarding souls and one’s patter in the Slack. She also meets Rider who may know a thing or two about the naga she’s hunting and basically learns how to live and heal.

I really enjoyed the world-building in the Tensorate series and I liked how this novella expands on the existing lore of the world. We’re taken to a new area outside of the reaches of the Protectorate and we get more insights and glimpses into the cultures of this world. Plus, there’s also cool megafauna. As usual, J.Y. Yang packs in a lot of worldbuilding in less than 200 pages and I loved it.

I’ve mentioned this before but I also liked how the series deals with gender and sexuality. This is a series which while based on an existing real-world culture also creates its own norms allowing it to be a richer fantasy world. Here, Thennjay doesn’t get angry when Mokoya takes a lover- in fact, he encourages her because he thinks it might make her happy. Rider also eschews the gender binary and they decided to remain non-binary long past the age when they are expected to choose a gender. I found that it all sounds natural within the context and framework of this world.

I liked the characters in The Red Threads of Fortune. There are returning characters from The Black Tides of Heaven but here they are presented as older, if perhaps not always wiser. I loved Mokoya’s journey. It’s deeply personal and it really shows her growing and healing from her wounds and the accident that took her daughter’s life. I also liked the fact that her being a mother to Eien is not the entirety of her character arc. She’s a fully fleshed out character even outside of her being a mother and her motherhood does serve to give us a better understanding of her character.

The plot is tighter and more fast-paced than The Black Tides of Heaven, partly because it’s also narrower in scope. This doesn’t cover years, but rather a very narrow timeframe in Mokoya’s life. It’s gripping, action-packed, and poignant at key moments. While Mokoya as a character has been hurt and traumatized, she remains full of love and continues to be willing to do whatever she can for the people she loves. She’s such a fantastic character and I loved reading her story.

Overall, The Red Threads of Fortune is a great novella which I think everyone should read. It and its companion novella can be read separately but together, they form a stronger story. While they can be read in any order, I recommend that you read The Black Tides of Heaven first as it chronologically comes before. I will definitely be continuing on with the rest of the series.

This review is also on  The Bookworm Daydreamer

Judy Hudgins

Ben Nathan

JY is a boss of characters and writing in general. This book was great, though book 1 was better. I'm pretty hyped for book 3, as it's about to come up in my pile of books that need reading. I just love this stuff.