Reviews

The Descent of Monsters by Neon Yang

vrop's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

WOW! Este autore no deja de sorprenderme! Este libro es completamente diferente de los dos anteriores y sin embargo constituye un eslabón más en la historia que cuenta. Aunque el tono de este libro es mucho más oscuro que el de los anteriores, me ha parecido excelente y no podía soltar el libro!

El postfacio escrito por Layla Martínez es la cereza sobre este pastel que representa esta fantástica lectura. Muy recomendable!

dinah_yukich's review against another edition

3.0

Lovely; but clearly transitional … enjoyed the stylistic shift though to epistolary variant / journal entries

daisyana's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

avatarslayoshi's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

wisecraic's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

mitskacir's review against another edition

4.0

Very much enjoying this series of novellas. Each one presents the world from a slightly different angle, this one in particular experimenting with the mode of story telling. This one was more of a mystery, told in letters, diary entries, and interviews, and kept me hooked. I don't think the "primary source" way of telling the story was always successful (sometimes it feels contrived or impractical) but it kept the suspension up if you could suspend your disbelief a bit.

daumari's review against another edition

5.0

ahhh, I love epistolary stories. Sign me the fuck up for some in-world document and main characters with potty mouths! The Descent of Monsters covers a time period of a few weeks during which Investigator Chuwan must figure out what happened at a remote, secretive research post. Mokoya and Akeha from the first two novellas are barely present, but much of the narrative twines Chuwan's investigation with Rider's search for their long-lost twin.

I thought the answer Rider sought would be much closer to home, but it's an intriguing sequel hook. There's a dash of thriller horror with Rider's account of the research station with a touch of X-Men here, and I want to know where this goes!

gigireadswithkiki's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I'll always give props for when authors decide to branch out and try something new; so while this installment of the Tensorate series isn't my favorite, the switch-up was creative and interesting, opening up of the world through Rider's backstory and the ransacked Tensorate research facility. Though I feel like the "research facility doing shady business gets attacked from the inside out" trope is a bit overdone, "The Descent of Monsters" had a creepy "Jurassic Park" feel at times that lent itself to an eerie aura that was utterly compelling. 

However!!! It felt a little bit lazy to have built up the detective character plagued by mysterious dreams, investigating the deaths of the facility,

all to die at the end, to poison no less.

At the end of the day, I felt that Rider's perspective and narrative were sorely missing from their own story, which is disappointing considering how much their character was hinted at in "The Red Threads of Fortune".

rashellnicole's review against another edition

adventurous informative mysterious fast-paced

5.0

Yang keeps getting better with every addition to this series! While I have thoroughly enjoyed the journey we’ve been on through the Protectorate, this was by far the most intriguing method of storytelling of theirs that I’ve encountered. Told through journal entries of Investigator Chuwan as she looks into the records of what occurred at the Rewar Teng Institute of Experimental Methods, Yang paints a grisly picture of the secrets that the Tensorate would like to keep hidden. We get glimpses of the original investigators’ conversations with Rider, information about Akeha and Mokoya (some of our most beloved characters), and even entries from Rider as they witnessed the absolute bloodbath at the institute on a journey to track down their long-lost twin.

I’ve said it about each novella in this series so far, but this one has been my favorite to date, as the method of storytelling felt fresh, exciting, and unique - it really mixed things up for me and made it easy to tear through each chapter. I absolutely cannot wait to dig into the conclusion of this series SO SOON.

auora1484's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.75