Between the Firmaments by J.Y. Yang


Between the Firmaments
Title : Between the Firmaments
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 1942302827
ISBN-10 : 9781942302827
Language : English
Format Type : Paperback
Number of Pages : 111
Publication : First published October 16, 2018

In an occupied city controlled by oppressive off-worlders, Bariegh of the Jungle is a god living in hiding—toiling away day after monotonous day, hoping his godliness will go unnoticed by those who would harness it.But then a beautiful, daring, godling man walks into his life without a care in the world, his divinity uncloaked, and Bariegh is utterly undone.JY Yang’s Between the Firmaments is a secondary-world fantasy about a romance between two gods, set in an occupied city where being a god is illegal. It is beautiful, challenging, queer, slightly experimental, and 100% awesome.


Between the Firmaments Reviews


  • anna

    me for the last year or more: do i even like fantasy anymore ??
    me now, whispering: u fool, u coward, u were just waiting for this story of gay gods

  • Daniel

    So... by the end I liked this, but the beginning was kind of a slog. I previously bounced hard off
    The Black Tides of Heaven, which I just left as "unread" rather than DNF thinking I'd give it another try someday, but I am beginning to suspect Yang is just not for me.

    Based on this and what I vaguely recall of Black Tides of Heaven, their prose is bordering on overwritten and pretentious to my ear but the bigger issue is that I find it just far, far, far too wordy for the amount of story it's carrying, and it's just not giving me any emotional connection to the characters.

    *shuddering at the reviews of Black Tides saying they wish it was longer*

    So, yeah. The underlying story here is good, but I just don't really care for the style. I may give Yang another shot before completely writing them off, but it probably won't be soon.

    FYI for anyone who wants to read this, the kindle version isn't available anymore (why?), but it is online in 3 parts.

  • Joanne Rixon

    J Y Yang's writing is always beautiful, and this novella about gods and imperialism and power exchange is unique and lovely.

    Yang is a hard writer for me to review. Like them, I'm queer and genderqueer, and so I always have this forlorn hope that I'll see myself in their stories. Unfortunately, its not that simple. We're different kinds of queer, and this novella shows that rather starkly. I was bored by the power play and a little weirded out by talk of one person owning another--even as gods who are cosmic, divine hunters and hunting hounds. It was interesting, but it didn't grab me by the heart.

    However, I liked it well enough, and thought other aspects of the story were really vivid and well done, and I think many people will really love it.

    I got the eBook for free as a supporter of Yang's patreon, which also gets you access to short stories and story notes and such, and if you do like the kinkier parts of BETWEEN THE FIRMAMENTS, I strongly recommend becoming a supporter on their Patreon. It's rare to find kinky, queer stories written to a high literary standard, because almost nowhere publishes that kind of thing--and you can get that from Yang. So. That's a lot of fun.

  • Aura Nizharu

    This short novella has a problem with a very problematic name: Wasted Potential.
    This isn't because is short, no, I've read novellas that have lived to it and even dare to go beyond its posibilities, so size constraints isn't the problem, the problem is that the book is too thirsty to care about what needed to be cared.

    Characters are very unlikable, the main character is a literal dickhead, Sisu is an asshole, and I prefer to not talk about Sunyol, well, let's a-go, let's gonna be frank, he only exist to be a liteal cumdump for the main character, they are no better than the villains.

    The themes which are very tantalizing aren't explored at all, because the main character preffer to have sex, like a lot, his characterizations isn't good at all, his most known facets are that he likes to fuck, he's a coward that wallows in inaction and that's his overprotection with her cousin is very misguided.
    Of Sisu and Sunyol you don't know that much, I liked Sisu until she became stupidly stupid at the end, and about Sunyol you don't know nothing, nothing at all, is only a mere object to the main character to use.
    The villains are bad because they are bad, why are their motivation? being bad, what moves them? being bad, but, but opression! imperialism! you say... they're cookie cutter cartoon villains that are there only for torture porn and anything else, they feel childish, they look childish and in the end they don't work at all.
    Other of the problem is that setting is very vague, is it Fantasy? is it SciFi? how it looks? You don't know, you have glimpses here and there, but you don't know how the world looks and most important, why is like that.
    Did the gods destroy the surface of the planet? I doubt it because that would have killed most of the lesser ones not the opressor as the text says, Did the opressors? that would be very retarded, why did you destroy the resources you want to harvest? no one wish to rule over a pile of ashes, if they did, that only add to the cartoonish crappy aspect that they have, it don't work at all.

    The Deus ex machina at the end... well, first is a deus ex machina, second it look like more to be a message and critique about the trope of the white saviour than anything else, worse than it decides to... well, let's not talk about religion and real stuff, let's not talk about it, second it because it looks like an allegory for something else.
    For a critique about the white trope saviour, the thing is, it looks like as something else entierly instead of what is supposed to be, you know, because, for what I understand about it... no, I don't really talk about that stuff.
    I really don't, and if I continue I'll probaly do it, so let's close this here, is not a good novella at all.

  • Smote

    3.5/5 I was torn between a 3 and a 4 - 3 usually denotes books I enjoyed but didn't feel any particularly strong connection towards and 4 is that "almost perfect but not quite 5/5" material. This "book" I read in three parts from TheBookSmuggler's online release and while part 1 I felt was interesting from a world-building standpoint it didn't grab me as much as I expected considering the content. Having just finished "The Ascent to Godhood" the writing style in this is surprisingly different too and I suspect that caused a bit of whiplash. That being said, I really loved the final part of the book and the final bits of worldbuilding. Truthfully, I really would love to read about what happened after the end as well!

  • Rachel

    What an exquisite read. Yang's writing takes hold of you and doesn't let go. Every sentence was a joy, packed with details you don't want to miss. The world they paint is exquisite, as are the relationships between the characters. A moving, engaging story. Loved it.

  • charlotte,

    Rep: mlm mcs, nonbinary side character, non-white cast

  • evie

    read this for an english class, it is some of the most beautiful fiction i have ever come across

  • han

    FUCK THIS IS SO GOOD

  • Mark

    This short novella (approx 20,000 words) was
    published in 3 parts by the Book Smugglers, and is also available as an ebook.

    Unconnected to Yang’s Tensorate series, but having similar fun with genre, the setting is a secondary world whose gods have been hunted down and enslaved by invading aliens who use their divine power to build a more mundane world. Bariegh was a god of the hunt, but now he mostly skulks about the city hoping not to get caught, trying to keep a distant young relative – and therefore a potential demigod – away from the invaders. Then a brash young man with godly powers arrives from parts unknown, and Bareigh is reawakened both through romance and a reminder of why he should still fight.
    It’s an interesting setting and a fun, quick story driven by the characters. Mind you, the ending is a little sudden, and very much deus ex machina – but maybe that works for a story of gods and their fates.

  • KappaBooks

    Real rating: 3.5 stars

    Taking place in a fantasy world, it follows two gods who live in a world where gods/demigods are illegal, these two find that love blossoms between them.

    This was a beautifully written novella. I was able to follow the story and world-building well, which Yang did an amazing job with. The main three characters were a delight, especially Sisu.

    I'd probably give it 4 stars but I'm taking half a star off because I personally get weirded out when queer relationships have one person described as "boy" and another as "old man." Even though they are genderless gods (who take masculine mortal forms) and the "old man" was mostly in jest, it still weirded me out.

    This novella is free right now so, what are you waiting for?

  • Suzi

    I had a little trouble with the beginning, I felt like it started out feeling like a bit like fanfiction, but still good fanfiction. But then I got drawn into the story and the emotions and ended up staying up past my bedtime and reading the whole thing in one sitting. The emotions were heavier than I expected, I cried through a good deal of it. By the end it felt more like a myth or a fable than the simple story it felt like at the start. I plan to explore more of JY Yang’s work.

  • Amanda Nemer

    bitchhhh??!?!?!?!!???!!!???

    btw 4.5 stars

  • Kaa

    Available to read online starting at
    https://www.thebooksmugglers.com/2018...

  • Marrije

    Sweet and hot and strange and so queer - loved this beautiful novella.

  • Stas

    This made me so very angry.
    I am definitely ill-suited to reading stories about cowards who take no action.
    Deus ex pissed me off too.

  • Pam


    https://www.thebooksmugglers.com/2018...