Book Review: The Final Chronicle of Yeneh by Jo Miles

The Final Chronicle of Yeneh by Jo Miles is a potent anti-colonialist novel that sets its stakes on not just the fate of a planet and a species, but more importantly, the heart and soul of its main character.

Ada Quintrall is the heir to the Dukedom of Corbridge. Her grandfather the Duke has managed the aforementioned dukedom, which is actually on the planet Corbridge, in the future where humans have gone to the stars. The terraforming of the planet has been a harsh affair, and the native life has resisted. But when Ada finds out the long connection between her family and that native life, she is forced to confront what her grandfather and her family has done, and her complicity in it. And what is to be done about it.


This is the story of The Final Chronicle of Yeneh by Jo Miles.


The Final Chronicle of Yeneh plays with a number of genres in order to explore its overall themes, which are, unapologetically, anti-Imperial, anti-Colonial, anti-authoritarian in nature. Let’s begin with the most unexpected, and that is Portal Fantasy. In the story of The Final Chronicle of Yeneh, Ada finds out her ancestor, who wrote a bestselling fantasy series (The Chronicles of Yeneh, hence the book title). As the novel proceeds in its opening phases, Ada realizes that the native inhabitants of the planet are not mindless “plants”, but rather are the fantasy species from her ancestor’s book. Just how and why this is true, and what it means put a portal fantasy frame front and center in the book.

As this is a science fiction novel, the nature of the world, combined with the portal fantasy already alluded to, gives Cobridge, and the novel, a significant layer of science fantasy. It retains this even as the novel progresses, the novel isn’t as interested in hard SF as it is in the sociological and political and personal stories. You don’t get any sense of what the interstellar drive works or how it works, for example. That’s not the kind of novel that this is.

 

And then we get into the worldbuilding and some more genre bending. In this future, a portion of a diasporic humanity has decided to reinstitute aristocracy as a social system. It is explained that in a world where some people turn away from merciless post-Capitalism, the appeal of personal rule by means of hereditary aristocracy for some planets was strong. It’s not a new idea¹ to have an aristocratic “Feudal” future.² Miles, however, does it a bit differently. Aristocratic nobles like Ada’s family are not the only social system out there. It’s made clear that there is still capitalistic systems, and aristocratic systems, and even socialistic systems. There is a plurality of social systems in Miles’ universe and while we are under an aristocratic one in this book, a main character, Zamora is from Luna, which is mainly a socialist state, This does set up some cultural distrust at first between Ada (as an aristocratic heir) and Zamora, and in general between Zamora and the population of Corbridge.


And then there is the straight up science fiction as a genre. Once Ada (and Zamora) understand that the natives of the planet are more than just “plants” (as Zamora already argued) but that there is an intelligent species, an entire civilization in the toxic and dangerous zones beyond what has been colonized and terraformed by the humans. So we switch up into the anti-colonial, anti-imperial and pro-ecological themes of the novel. With the previous layers to this, this makes The Final Chronicles of Yeneh a science fiction novel with interesting and intriguing underpinnings, providing a fresh story in the process.³


But beyond all of that genre mixing and worldbuilding, this is a very personal and focused story on Ada. The novel really is a personal story as Ada, as heir to her grandfather, is confronted with the ecological and sociological and personal costs of imperialism, colonialism and the rapacious nature of her family and her family’s legacy. It’s a painful story for Ada in some ways, especially as it puts her on the other side of her grandfather and her legacy once she completely learns those costs and takes a stand. The novel is about those costs, and the difficulty of that change, and confronting one’s legacy. And as importantly as coming to terms with that legacy, the novel is about taking action, making recompense and taking active steps to do better. 

Yes, while Ada herself is in a position of privilege (at least at the outset), the novel’s message that people can and do make a difference--and indeed MUST do so in order to effect change. Change is hard, change is scary, but change is possible, with action. That is a message that the novel hits home, and it is a very necessary message in this day and age.


In sum, what The Final Chronicle of Yeneh does, brilliantly, is to channel Miles’ excellence in character depth and makes the very soul of the main character, Ada, to be as important as the fate of the native Yeheneh and the fate of the planet of Corbridge. It stirs a swirl of portal fantasy and a hint of science fantasy into a far future story that examines and criticizes colonialism, imperialism, and exploitative social systems. Miles’ focus remains tight and sympathetic, having us join Ada on her own journey to recognizing, confronting and acting on working on systemic problems on Corbridge and beyond.


Highlights:

• Strong character focus and background
• Interesting space future sketched in and intriguing
• Bold anti-colonial, anti-imperial message, told well

Reference:

Miles, Jo, The Final Chronicle of Yeneh [Horned Lark Press, 2026]

¹ Melinda Snodgrass’ Imperials Saga has capitalism evolve into a Spanish-focused monarchy and aristocracy, in space. And of course, there is always The Mote In God’s Eye by Niven and Pournelle. 

² Obligatory note that Feudalism, as you might think of it, really didn’t exist as you might think of it. The huge variety of local political systems in Western Europe really put paid to that notion. Read the works of David Perry and Matthew Gabriele, among others, to learn more. (e.g. The Bright Ages). ³The worldbuilding of the local inhabitants of the planet have resonances to many previous works of science fiction. You can certainly look at The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K LeGuin. I can also see touchstones to the work of Adrian Tchaikovsky.  Also, I can also see connections to Cameron’s Avatar universe.

POSTED BY: Paul Weimer. Ubiquitous in Shadow, but I'm just this guy, you know? @princejvstin.