The Ascent to Godhood
-
-
4.0 • 15 Ratings
-
-
- $4.99
-
- $4.99
Publisher Description
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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A rebel commander in a complicated fantasy world recalls her triumphs and struggles in Yang's superb fourth Tensorate novella (after The Descent of Monsters). Lady Han, leader of the antimagic Machinist faction that has just assassinated the tyrannical Protector, drinks heavily while recounting her life to an unnamed listener. When she's 12 years old, her desperately poor rural family sell her to a man who gives her the name Huarong. He delivers her to the capital city, where she proves herself a clever, industrious courtesan trainee. She catches the eye of Hekate, a secondary heir to the throne, who recruits her to help topple a political rival through minor espionage. Following their success, Hekate renames her Lady Han and invites her to join Hekate's household, where she becomes a blend of servant, confidante, and lover for the calculating Hekate. Lady Han gets a close-up view of the personal tragedies that launched Hekate's ruthless ascension to Protector until the discovery that Lady Han, too, has been betrayed. This thrilling adventure stands alone, as well as providing moving, complicated backstory for the earlier books in the series. Both fans and newcomers will be enthralled.
Customer Reviews
The Story of the Protector Hekate & Lady Han
JY Yang’s fourth novella in the Tensorate silk-punk fantasy series tells a most interesting story. It tells how the Protector Hekate came to power. Previous stories in the series have told of her rule, and eventual fall, but this tells of her beginnings. How she met the girl who would become her lover and most trusted accomplice, until she became her greatest enemy. This story is told from the point of view of that girl, who grew up to become Lady Han, leader of the Machinists.
The world of the Tensorate seems to be an Asian-inspired one. Magic exists through manipulation of the Slack. Masters of this art are called Tensors. However, the physical sciences are in a state of rapid development, and the Machinists are leading this revolution. The leader of the world’s largest kingdom is known as The Protector Hekate, and she rules with an iron fist. This is her story as much as it is Lady Han’s.
The Tensorate Series just gets deeper and more interesting with each novella. I’m hoping for a fifth volume now, as it is a great place to tell absorbing stores featuring interesting characters.