The Ascent to Godhood was a brilliant conclusion to the Tensorate series. I reread the series before diving into this installment and that was definitely worthwhile because it provided the immediacy and context that made this ending all the better.

I loved the narrative style of The Ascent to Godhood. The novella follows famed revolutionary Lady Han as she narrates her life story after the death of her lover turned rival The Protector. This framing device worked perfectly with Neon Yang's writing style because it allowed for a grand, sprawling tale to be condensed into 122 pages without losing depth. This story spans a lifetime but Yang can flit between decades seamlessly without jarring the reader. This is all a testament to Yang’s skill as a writer. Each sentence packs a punch and their lyrical style conveys scale and emotion in brief but impactful moments.

The characters in this novella were excellently crafted. Our narrator, Lady Han played on the knife's edge of morality. Her dedication to climbing out of the gutter by any means necessary and her ability to turn terrible circumstances into opportunities was consistently engaging to read about. Despite her ferocity, Yang didn’t shy away from portraying the emotional vulnerability that made Lady Han compelling. We see her reflect on her regrets and grieve all she lost in service to The Protector. Yang fully realized the weight of the decades Lady Han lived and how her past haunts her.

The Protector was also an excellent character. This novella is wrapped up in her legacy and history. The series as a whole was building to her downfall and this novella reflects that. Seeing her rise to notoriety was gripping because of the three novellas of context we had preceding this. The nuances of her relationships and the ways she ultimately sowed the seeds of her destruction were excellently conveyed. Yang’s understanding of the tides politicking was evident. In this story, we see The Protector in all her glory. We see her vicious, arrogant, and vulnerable and these layers were delightful to unpack.

The cataclysmic romance between The Protector and Lady Han was fascinating. Yang brilliantly conveyed the melodrama and intensity of the initial infatuation between the two. I was completely wrapped up in the magnetic force of their attraction. The slow crawl from infatuation to bitter resentment and ultimately antagonism was equally gripping. Yang's skill at capturing the nuances of decades is in full force with these two’s relationship because the whirlwind of it all left me reeling in the best way possible.

The conclusion to the series, that the wheels of the machine that runs the empire keep turning regardless of who sits on the throne, felt like a fitting end to the story.

The Tensorate series is more than the sum of its parts. As individual novellas the series has strong elements but read together they truly sing. Neon Yang crafted a stunning world populated with vivid characters and tied it all together with meticulously wrought prose. I cannot wait to see where they go next because it's probably going to be amazing.