Hmm. Here we have some cool world-building, a very interesting take on gender identity (which I loved!), and a compelling story. The writing needs more polish though. It was probably one of the reasons why it was difficult for me to care about the characters and their relationships - especially once they became adults. Some parts of the book felt rushed. Also, there was rather too much drama at times, with too little foundation from the story to back it up.

Still, I think I am impressed enough to check out other novellas in the series. ( )

3.5 ( )

This had some of the makings of a great novel, and I think suffers quite a bit from being pared down to a novella (even if it is part of a pair.) So some parts are rushed, or just undetailed/blurry, you're left with some idea of how this world works, but it is thin. Where does the Protectorate fit into this... world? Planet? Is it a planet? Everyone hates it because domination, but where did it come from? Why has it lasted this long? Just cruelty and power and nothing else? Other peoples exist to have other peoples/races, and that seems to be it. Everyone is sex (not just gender, as some reviews say) nonbinary, how did that happen? How did that work before? Did the Protectorate force that on everyone?

Okay, so those are all things that actually interested me. I'm complaining because I wanted more. But then there is the other stuff... Oh, look, they are going to create telephones and someone invented handguns and *low yield nukes.* Its like steampunk, but pieces of industrial and modern era technology are getting created in like 20 years time. And so in 40 or 50 more years, they will be conquering neighboring star systems...? ( )

Series Info/Source: This is the first book in The Tensorate series; there are four novellas in this series. I borrowed a copy of this on ebook through Kindle Unlimited.

Thoughts: I liked this book but didn't love it. It's a bit confusing to follow the magic system and the world here. The writing itself was easy to read and the story was intriguing. The book takes big jumps in time which makes it hard to stay engaged with the characters.

The book follows Mokoya and Akeha; twin children born to the Protector who were bargained off to the Grand Monastery at the age of six. They are raised at the monastery and eventually the Protector tries to pull Mokoya back to her because of Mokoya's prophetic skills. After that point, the story is mostly told from Akeha's point of view.

Parts of this book were a bit hard to follow. The magic system is sketchy and for some reason Mokoya and Akeha have super powers that aren't well understood; they also seem to be able to communicate mind to mind which is never explained. The political situation was a bit easier to understand and is basically the Tensorate against the Protectorate.

The book is short and has four parts to it; each part makes a bit jump in time which made it tough to engage with these characters and their lives. The writing was easy enough to read though and I found the story engaging enough. I don't plan on continuing the series though because I just wasn't intrigued enough by the characters or their world.

My Summary (4/5): Overall I liked this. It is a quick read with a lot of world-building and an intriguing societal structure. Some things here should have been better filled out (like the magic system and politics) but you can sit back just go with it and not think too hard and follow what is happening okay. I also didn't enjoy the huge jumps in time, it made it hard to stay engaged with the story and characters. I didn't enjoy this enough to continue with the series. ( )

There is the outline of a story here, but nothing of interest is explored for more than a couple pages before the book fast-forwards another six years in the characters' lives to the next plot point. It's so sparse that events seem to lack continuity and character motivations become obscure. While we know that complicated romantic entanglements exist, that these two forms of systematic oppression exists, and that there is a grand rebellion, why any of these things matter to the main character, or should matter to us, is unclear. There is simply not enough depth of characterization to make any of those things complex or memorable. ( )