Books › The Black Tides of Heaven
The Black Tides of Heaven
242 pages
A sweeping, lyrical silkpunk novella about the painful, necessary fracture of forging your own identity in a world that demands your obedience.
What it feels like
Reading this novella feels like unrolling a beautifully painted, slightly blood-stained silk scroll. Despite its short length, the narrative moves at a brisk, sweeping pace, covering years of growth and political upheaval without ever losing its intimate focus on the characters' internal lives. The atmosphere is thick with a melancholic tension, balancing the wondrous elements of elemental magic and biomechanical engineering with the heavy dread of an authoritarian regime. The prose is lyrical and mythic, carrying the timeless weight of a dark fairytale while exploring deeply modern themes of gender self-determination and the agonizing cost of rebellion. It is a perfect fit for readers who love queer-normative fantasy that prioritizes emotional resonance, sibling dynamics, and the defiant act of choosing one's own destiny.
- Mood
- atmospheric
- melancholic
- tense
- wondrous
- Tone
- mythic
- contemplative
- defiant
- earnest
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- gender self-determination · fracturing sibling bonds · defying destiny · the cost of rebellion · political corruption
- The writing
- Lyrical and precise, carrying the sweeping, timeless cadence of a dark fairytale or historical epic.
- The arc
- Moves from the suffocating constraints of a predetermined childhood to the painful but liberating fracture of forging an independent identity.
- Who it's for
- Readers who crave expansive, queer-normative worldbuilding and intimate character studies set against the backdrop of political upheaval.
Content notes
- child neglect
- violence
- political oppression
- parental abuse
About the book
Mokoya and Akeha, the twin children of the Protector, were sold to the Grand Monastery as infants. While Mokoya developed her strange prophetic gift, Akeha was always the one who could see the strings that moved adults to action. While Mokoya received visions of what would be, Akeha realized what could be. What's more, they saw the sickness at the heart of their mother's Protectorate.
A rebellion is growing. The Machinists discover new levers to move the world every day, while the Tensors fight to put them down and preserve the power of the state. Unwilling to continue as a pawn in their mother's twisted schemes, Akeha leaves the Tensorate behind and falls in with the rebels. But every step Akeha takes towards the Machinists is a step away from Mokoya. Can Akeha find peace without shattering the bond they share with their twin?
Description from Open Library.
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