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The Books of the Raksura #2
The Serpent Sea
Moon, once a solitary wanderer, has become consort to Jade, sister queen of the Indigo Cloud court. Together, they travel with their people on a pair of flying ships in hopes of finding a new home for their colony. Moon finally feels like he's found a tribe where he belongs.
But when the travelers reach the ancestral home of Indigo Cloud, shrouded within the trunk of a mountain-sized tree, they discover a blight infecting its core. Nearby they find the remains of the invaders who may be responsible, as well as evidence of a devastating theft. This discovery sends Moon and the hunters of Indigo Cloud on a quest for the heartstone of the tree — a quest that will lead them far away, across the Serpent Sea.
But when the travelers reach the ancestral home of Indigo Cloud, shrouded within the trunk of a mountain-sized tree, they discover a blight infecting its core. Nearby they find the remains of the invaders who may be responsible, as well as evidence of a devastating theft. This discovery sends Moon and the hunters of Indigo Cloud on a quest for the heartstone of the tree — a quest that will lead them far away, across the Serpent Sea.
Audible Audio
First published January 3, 2012
About the author
Martha Wells
93 books20.2k followersMartha Wells has been an SF/F writer since her first fantasy novel was published in 1993, and her work includes The Books of the Raksura series, the Ile-Rien series, The Murderbot Diaries series, and other fantasy novels, most recently Witch King (Tordotcom, 2023). She has also written media tie-in fiction for Star Wars, Stargate: Atlantis, and Magic: the Gathering, as well as short fiction, YA novels, and non-fiction. She has won Nebula Awards, Hugo Awards, Locus Awards, and a Dragon Award, and her work has appeared on the Philip K. Dick Award ballot, the British Science Fiction Association Award ballot, the USA Today Bestseller List, the Sunday Times Bestseller List, and the New York Times Bestseller List. She is a member of the Texas Literary Hall of Fame, and her books have been published in twenty-five languages.
She is also a consulting producer on The Murderbot Diaries series for Apple TV+.
She is also a consulting producer on The Murderbot Diaries series for Apple TV+.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 603 reviews
November 3, 2011
I freaking LOVE these books. The first book caught me by surprise, but I loved it so much I pestered the author 'til she gave me an advance copy of the second.
Because the Books of the Raksura contain some of the most original, exotic, and beautiful fantasy worldbuilding I've ever seen. Those of you who complain that there's nothing new in fantasy, read these. Here is plausible ecology, and biology mingled with magic in a way that feels almost science fictional. Here are created, magical races drawn with believable complexity -- none of that essentialist "always chaotic evil" crap we're so used to seeing in fantasy, and plenty of diversity and history and mystery. That the Raksura resemble shapeshifting dragons is irrelevant; they're people, human without being human, and Wells does a marvelous job of treating these people as well-rounded and flawed characters whose struggles you can't help but care about.
In this outing, Moon -- recently and uneasily accepted into the Indigo Cloud court -- travels with the group to their ancestral home, where they mean to make a new start after nearly being destroyed by the Fell in the last book. They find a paradise of giant mountain-trees and forests that stretch for miles, waterfalls and plentiful game, and unearthly beauty. However, the seed which keeps their mountain-tree alive has been stolen, and Moon -- as the member of the group with the most experience at dealing with other races -- must help his new tribe track it down before the tree dies.
If there's any critique I have for these books, it's that the characters are sometimes sketched a little thinly -- but given how much time and attention has been given to the setting, I'm not sure that's really a flaw. My sense is that some of the thinness I feel is actually Wells trying to convey that the characters really aren't human. For example, Pearl's behavior frequently makes no sense (the other characters comment on it) until you realize that this is how queens are supposed to act; it's one of the ways they maintain dominance over others. The only reason we don't understand it is because Moon, a stranger to his own people, doesn't understand it. As he gains understanding, it all fits together.
So read this book. And go tell your friends to read it, because I want it to sell well so we can get a third visit to the Three Realms.
Because the Books of the Raksura contain some of the most original, exotic, and beautiful fantasy worldbuilding I've ever seen. Those of you who complain that there's nothing new in fantasy, read these. Here is plausible ecology, and biology mingled with magic in a way that feels almost science fictional. Here are created, magical races drawn with believable complexity -- none of that essentialist "always chaotic evil" crap we're so used to seeing in fantasy, and plenty of diversity and history and mystery. That the Raksura resemble shapeshifting dragons is irrelevant; they're people, human without being human, and Wells does a marvelous job of treating these people as well-rounded and flawed characters whose struggles you can't help but care about.
In this outing, Moon -- recently and uneasily accepted into the Indigo Cloud court -- travels with the group to their ancestral home, where they mean to make a new start after nearly being destroyed by the Fell in the last book. They find a paradise of giant mountain-trees and forests that stretch for miles, waterfalls and plentiful game, and unearthly beauty. However, the seed which keeps their mountain-tree alive has been stolen, and Moon -- as the member of the group with the most experience at dealing with other races -- must help his new tribe track it down before the tree dies.
If there's any critique I have for these books, it's that the characters are sometimes sketched a little thinly -- but given how much time and attention has been given to the setting, I'm not sure that's really a flaw. My sense is that some of the thinness I feel is actually Wells trying to convey that the characters really aren't human. For example, Pearl's behavior frequently makes no sense (the other characters comment on it) until you realize that this is how queens are supposed to act; it's one of the ways they maintain dominance over others. The only reason we don't understand it is because Moon, a stranger to his own people, doesn't understand it. As he gains understanding, it all fits together.
So read this book. And go tell your friends to read it, because I want it to sell well so we can get a third visit to the Three Realms.
May 19, 2021
What a great addition to the series. I thought this world couldn't be more adventurous than this while reading previous book but Ms Wells showed me I have seen nothing. It was so good.
January 5, 2019
If I were to sum up The Books of Raksura in one sentence, I’d say that it’s a perfect merger between a BBC Nature documentary and a sitcom about a rebel boy trying to fit in a MidWest town. You don’t think this combination can work? Give Martha Wells a chance to prove you wrong.
“Moon has been consort to Jade, sister queen of the Indigo Cloud court for eleven days and nobody tried to kill him yet.” A book that opens with such a sentence is a solid promise of entertainment. The premise of it is a young Raksura consort, Moon, who after having spent his whole life as a solitary individual unaware that other representatives of his species even exist, has found his place among the flying Aeriat and the wingless Arbora, two Raksura types.
I am not going to tell you who the Raksura are and what rules govern their communities because one of the best things about anthropological fantasy (and the Raksura series is a superb representative of this sub-genre) is that learning about Raksura, their culture, their vision of the world and then discovering this world together with the main character is a lot of fun and a source of reading pleasure. I will only write that Ms Wells put a lot of work into developing the Raksura as a species and the results are very satisfying. Similarly, the world(s) they inhabit, full of ancient and new dangers, ruins of fallen great civilisations and incomprehensible old magic, shared with many other intelligent land, air and underwater species known as groundlings, skylings and sealings (off the record, I just wonder how many times Word changed her this into “dealings” and whether it drove her crazy) is opulent and not even once gets boring or predictable.
But all this serves merely as a backdrop as this series is a character-driven one. Moon never belonged: at first he was a stranger, with varying success pretending to be one of the various species of groundlings. Then he turns out to be a stranger among his own. He has some issues with the social order, customs and traditions; nothing you wouldn’t expect from someone raised up outside the confines of a very particular culture. So he does things he is not supposed to and does not do the ones everybody expects him to. Like looking nice and staying in the background.
His first instinct, when something goes wrong, is to pack up and start again somewhere else but this time he does not have such luxury especially that the time of new beginnings is yet again shaded by the misfortune that may prove lethal for the whole Indigo Cloud. It also means that his unorthodox approaches to things very often prove to be a saving grace.
This is not an overly complex or demanding story. In fact, I’d call the Books of Raksura a perfect comfort read. A tale about stubbornness in the face of implacable odds filled with exciting adventures, giant water monsters, living trees, flights, fights and mounting tension alleviated by sparkling humour (“The Magister wants you for the evening meal in three callings of the hour.” Nobody seemed horrified, so Moon assumed the man didn’t mean that the way it sounded.). However, because the book is predominantly focused on the leading hero, if you didn’t like Moon or felt indifferent towards other Raksura, I’m afraid the telling might be a little bit boring for you.
I admired how ingeniously Ms Wells portrays protagonists who are also (or even, primarily) predators with twitching prey instincts and a matriarchal culture. The queens, oh the queens (fighting for consorts but not only!) are definitely a role model. Although for me Stone was the most enticing character; needless to say in my opinion without him the whole court would be lost and Moon would not survive a day. Although I might be isolated in my view.
“Consorts,” she said in a tone that made it sound like an insulting epithet. “Old, stubborn, obstinate consorts.” She eyed Moon without favour. “And you. You need to be coaxed to do everything except risk your life.”
Overall, The Serpent Sea is an immensely enjoyable book with a cast of very lively and multidimensional characters, a bit of humour, an interestingly constructed world, a story divided in good proportions between personal journey and a nerve-wracking adventure that offers a very refreshing alternative to an endless parade of anti-heroes, paranormal romances and YA dystopias. Definitely worth trying.
___
Also in the series:
1. The Cloud Roads ★★★★☆
3. The Siren Depths ★★★☆☆
4. The Edge of Worlds ★★☆☆☆
5. The Harbors of the Sun ★★☆☆☆
“Moon has been consort to Jade, sister queen of the Indigo Cloud court for eleven days and nobody tried to kill him yet.” A book that opens with such a sentence is a solid promise of entertainment. The premise of it is a young Raksura consort, Moon, who after having spent his whole life as a solitary individual unaware that other representatives of his species even exist, has found his place among the flying Aeriat and the wingless Arbora, two Raksura types.
I am not going to tell you who the Raksura are and what rules govern their communities because one of the best things about anthropological fantasy (and the Raksura series is a superb representative of this sub-genre) is that learning about Raksura, their culture, their vision of the world and then discovering this world together with the main character is a lot of fun and a source of reading pleasure. I will only write that Ms Wells put a lot of work into developing the Raksura as a species and the results are very satisfying. Similarly, the world(s) they inhabit, full of ancient and new dangers, ruins of fallen great civilisations and incomprehensible old magic, shared with many other intelligent land, air and underwater species known as groundlings, skylings and sealings (off the record, I just wonder how many times Word changed her this into “dealings” and whether it drove her crazy) is opulent and not even once gets boring or predictable.
But all this serves merely as a backdrop as this series is a character-driven one. Moon never belonged: at first he was a stranger, with varying success pretending to be one of the various species of groundlings. Then he turns out to be a stranger among his own. He has some issues with the social order, customs and traditions; nothing you wouldn’t expect from someone raised up outside the confines of a very particular culture. So he does things he is not supposed to and does not do the ones everybody expects him to. Like looking nice and staying in the background.
His first instinct, when something goes wrong, is to pack up and start again somewhere else but this time he does not have such luxury especially that the time of new beginnings is yet again shaded by the misfortune that may prove lethal for the whole Indigo Cloud. It also means that his unorthodox approaches to things very often prove to be a saving grace.
This is not an overly complex or demanding story. In fact, I’d call the Books of Raksura a perfect comfort read. A tale about stubbornness in the face of implacable odds filled with exciting adventures, giant water monsters, living trees, flights, fights and mounting tension alleviated by sparkling humour (“The Magister wants you for the evening meal in three callings of the hour.” Nobody seemed horrified, so Moon assumed the man didn’t mean that the way it sounded.). However, because the book is predominantly focused on the leading hero, if you didn’t like Moon or felt indifferent towards other Raksura, I’m afraid the telling might be a little bit boring for you.
I admired how ingeniously Ms Wells portrays protagonists who are also (or even, primarily) predators with twitching prey instincts and a matriarchal culture. The queens, oh the queens (fighting for consorts but not only!) are definitely a role model. Although for me Stone was the most enticing character; needless to say in my opinion without him the whole court would be lost and Moon would not survive a day. Although I might be isolated in my view.
“Consorts,” she said in a tone that made it sound like an insulting epithet. “Old, stubborn, obstinate consorts.” She eyed Moon without favour. “And you. You need to be coaxed to do everything except risk your life.”
Overall, The Serpent Sea is an immensely enjoyable book with a cast of very lively and multidimensional characters, a bit of humour, an interestingly constructed world, a story divided in good proportions between personal journey and a nerve-wracking adventure that offers a very refreshing alternative to an endless parade of anti-heroes, paranormal romances and YA dystopias. Definitely worth trying.
___
Also in the series:
1. The Cloud Roads ★★★★☆
3. The Siren Depths ★★★☆☆
4. The Edge of Worlds ★★☆☆☆
5. The Harbors of the Sun ★★☆☆☆
June 20, 2020
Number 2 of The Books of the Raksura and another very satisfactory read!
The Serpent Sea is the tale of a quest as our team of Raksurans set out to recover a seed which is vital to the success of their new home. Wells indulges in some more incredible world building as they travel from their magnificent forest and eventually reach a city built on the back of a Leviathan. She deserves points just for her imagination.
I felt that there was more time spent in this book on developing the main characters. Flower, Chime and Stone all had a significant amount of time in the limelight. Moon more or less led the whole search as he had useful knowledge from his past life. Jade is remarkable in that when she loses her cool as Queens do (and as she does in this book in a truly magnificent way) she will still listen to advice and act accordingly.
It seems Jade and Moon are ready now to rule the court - they just need Pearl out of the way. Will this be in book three? I plan to find out very soon.
The Serpent Sea is the tale of a quest as our team of Raksurans set out to recover a seed which is vital to the success of their new home. Wells indulges in some more incredible world building as they travel from their magnificent forest and eventually reach a city built on the back of a Leviathan. She deserves points just for her imagination.
I felt that there was more time spent in this book on developing the main characters. Flower, Chime and Stone all had a significant amount of time in the limelight. Moon more or less led the whole search as he had useful knowledge from his past life. Jade is remarkable in that when she loses her cool as Queens do (and as she does in this book in a truly magnificent way) she will still listen to advice and act accordingly.
It seems Jade and Moon are ready now to rule the court - they just need Pearl out of the way. Will this be in book three? I plan to find out very soon.
January 14, 2020
I'm surprised I'm giving this book 4 stars . I given worse grades to better books but I enjoyed this book from start to finish it wouldn't feel right giving it any less. Second installment in this pretty unique series maybe isn't epic or ambitious but what it set to do it does very well. Story is good and flows fluidly, world and Raksura themselves are as interesting as ever and novelty hasn't warn off a bit. Overall it's pure fun. Perfect book between longer, more complex books.
September 14, 2022
Continuation is better than the beginning. "The Snake Sea is the second part of the cycle about Raksur and, contrary to expectations, this book is more interesting and brighter than "Cloud Roads". The dragonmen of raksura, with whom we managed to get acquainted, but failed (I speak for myself) to fall in love in the first part, become clearer and closer, acquire charming features. What is especially valuable, they are not anthropomorphic - the social structure and physiology of raksur is very different from human, the mechanical transfer of human conceptual blocks would not work here.
Martha Wells, who is familiar to us from the "Killerbot Diaries" does not do it, endowing the characters with a comprehensible mind and heart, but with logic and motives different from ours.
A novel in which there is a fantasy component. it is as close as possible to solid SF in terms of biology and aerodynamics, but still it remains within the framework of fantasy
Раксура и прочие фантастические твари
Вот въезжают на поляну
Прямо к морю-окияну;
Поперёк его лежит
Чудо-юдо рыба-кит.
Все бока его изрыты,
Частоколы в рёбра вбиты,
На хвосте сыр-бор шумит,
На спине село стоит;
Ершов "Конек-горбунок"
Продолжение лучше начала. "Змеиное море" вторая часть цикла о Раксуре и, против ожиданий, эта книга интереснее и ярче "Облачных дорог". Драконолюди раксуры, с которыми мы успели познакомиться, но не сумели (говорю за себя) полюбить в первой части, становятся понятнее и ближе, обретают обаятельные черты. Что особенно ценно, не антропоморфные - социальное устройство и физиология раксура сильно отличается от человеческой, механический перенос людских понятийных блоков тут не сработал бы.
Марта Уэллс, знакомая нам по "Дневникам Киллербота" его и не делает, наделяя героев постижимыми умом и сердцем, но отличными от наших логикой и мотивами. Клан Тумана Индиго, где одинокий скиталец Лун обрел семью, друзей, любовь и социальный статус, о��правляется на поиски своей древней прародины и находит ее, это колоссальное дерево, и можно ли вообразить более подходящее для крылатых когтистых существ место?
Но радость ��бретения дома длится недолго Великое Древо гибнет, кто-то похитил его Семя, если его не вернуть, все раксура Тумана Индиго превратятся в изгнанников-скитальцев, каким долгие годы был Лун. В поисках спасения Луну с наставником Утесом придется пережить многие приключения, столкнуться с бесчисленными опасностями, познакомиться с еще более странными, чем их собственная, расами.
Будет там, среди прочего, и громадная рыбина, на спине которой, как в ершовской сказке про Конька-Горбунка, живет целое человеческое сообщество В ходе поисков семени, герои столкнутся с подлостью, хитростью и жестокостью, но и обретут новых друзей, где Замечательно аккуратно и подробно в деталях прописанный мир. Роман, в котором фэнтезийная составляющая. максимально приближена к твердой НФ в части биологии и аэродинамики, но все-таки это остается в рамках фэнтези
На Литресе книга есть в электронном и аудиоформатах. Исполнение Игоря Князева великолепно, а музыкальное оформление аудиокниги конгениально героико-эпичному содержанию.
Martha Wells, who is familiar to us from the "Killerbot Diaries" does not do it, endowing the characters with a comprehensible mind and heart, but with logic and motives different from ours.
A novel in which there is a fantasy component. it is as close as possible to solid SF in terms of biology and aerodynamics, but still it remains within the framework of fantasy
Раксура и прочие фантастические твари
Вот въезжают на поляну
Прямо к морю-окияну;
Поперёк его лежит
Чудо-юдо рыба-кит.
Все бока его изрыты,
Частоколы в рёбра вбиты,
На хвосте сыр-бор шумит,
На спине село стоит;
Ершов "Конек-горбунок"
Продолжение лучше начала. "Змеиное море" вторая часть цикла о Раксуре и, против ожиданий, эта книга интереснее и ярче "Облачных дорог". Драконолюди раксуры, с которыми мы успели познакомиться, но не сумели (говорю за себя) полюбить в первой части, становятся понятнее и ближе, обретают обаятельные черты. Что особенно ценно, не антропоморфные - социальное устройство и физиология раксура сильно отличается от человеческой, механический перенос людских понятийных блоков тут не сработал бы.
Марта Уэллс, знакомая нам по "Дневникам Киллербота" его и не делает, наделяя героев постижимыми умом и сердцем, но отличными от наших логикой и мотивами. Клан Тумана Индиго, где одинокий скиталец Лун обрел семью, друзей, любовь и социальный статус, о��правляется на поиски своей древней прародины и находит ее, это колоссальное дерево, и можно ли вообразить более подходящее для крылатых когтистых существ место?
Но радость ��бретения дома длится недолго Великое Древо гибнет, кто-то похитил его Семя, если его не вернуть, все раксура Тумана Индиго превратятся в изгнанников-скитальцев, каким долгие годы был Лун. В поисках спасения Луну с наставником Утесом придется пережить многие приключения, столкнуться с бесчисленными опасностями, познакомиться с еще более странными, чем их собственная, расами.
Будет там, среди прочего, и громадная рыбина, на спине которой, как в ершовской сказке про Конька-Горбунка, живет целое человеческое сообщество В ходе поисков семени, герои столкнутся с подлостью, хитростью и жестокостью, но и обретут новых друзей, где Замечательно аккуратно и подробно в деталях прописанный мир. Роман, в котором фэнтезийная составляющая. максимально приближена к твердой НФ в части биологии и аэродинамики, но все-таки это остается в рамках фэнтези
На Литресе книга есть в электронном и аудиоформатах. Исполнение Игоря Князева великолепно, а музыкальное оформление аудиокниги конгениально героико-эпичному содержанию.
March 3, 2016
Final rating: 5/5 stars
Another 5 star worth book! Although just a bit weaker than the first one, I really enjoyed reading it for so many reasons: even more development to the world, addition of new and interesting characters and other courts. It's even more interesting now than before.
But the first half of the book had a bit more relaxing and a bit slower pacing than the first one, but the second half really picked up and was worth every minute - especially the very intriguing character that appears in the second half who really interests me now.
I just figured out these books are made in the episodic type - like each book is for itself.
First one was about Moon finding a place to live and belong. Second one is saving their new/ancient home from rotting away. And I love this.
In this book, only 11 days passed since the last scene of the first book. All in all, the plot in this one lasts around a month.
*Spoilers for the first book:*
After the attack on the colony, and discovering that Fell had influence on the sickness, bad births and deaths, Indigo Cloud Court decided to move to their ancient home.
Everything is going well and progressing, until they discover that their new home is dying - the seed that sustained it's life and enabled Arbora classes to shape it is missing. They discovered the bodies of some of the thieves - as well as the clues that could lead Moon and others to the real thieves... But first, the colony must establish some connections as well as find out more about the seeds, and the first court in vicinity is Emerald Twilight - and because of the unpleasant incident that involved kidnapping one of Emerald Twilight's consorts ages ago, before Indigo Cloud mvoed from their territory, things are a bit... tense.
◈ Moon still cant fit in, even though he found a place. He is happy with Jade, and being her consort, and would do anything for her - especially after everything that happened so far.
But he is unhappy when it comes to his social standing. Most of them still dislike him, thinking of him as a feral solitary, which doesn't help.
He doesn't know what he should or shouldn't do, and no one really wants to clue him in and tell him how he should act as a consort class. So, he has to constantly question other Raksura for clues, but he gets the information mostly by doing something wrong and others commenting on it with "Consorts shouldn't really do that". Apparently consorts are shy, don't help around and are escorted and kept safe. They were 35 years late to do that now - Moon is quite capable of defending himself, hunting stuff and surviving... But when it comes to the social skills and standing... things get a bit awkward. And because of this he falls into the category which only makes others feel like he grew second head. There is also that uncertanty that he doesn't belong with them and that he still doesn't trust them:
But then again, he wants to improve and he wants to believe in them...
Another interesting revelation is about his ability to read Raksuran language etc. Through the book we also see other consorts and how they behave (and honestly, I think Moon ended up great - ).
◈ Jade is really protective of Moon and takes care of him. She is really happy now because Moon stayed with her and started accepting her “courting ” gifts - and she is proud to see him wearing stuff she wanted. It was also very cute when she carried he carried him in her arms or warps her tail around him.
Even though things improved with Moon, she is still in strained relationship with her mother and reigning Queen Pearl.
◈ Chime is still trying to get used to the recent change that made him a warrior instead of mentor. He is depressed because it feels like he lost his abilities and is scared that he will never get them back due to the change. It doesn't help that his social status worsened with it. But ever since he got closer to Moon, people started to change attitude toward Chime - because apparently being Consort's favorite is interesting. But mostly, he is sunny and almost usually cheerful.
◈ Others: More was revealed of Stone, and there were hints of his relationship with Azure, his Queen. He was also a bit more honest here and one particular scene made me glad. And this made me laugh (a point for Jade):
Flower was awesome as usual and she was one of many joys in this book. This there was also more of River - unbearable jerk, but it actually makes me sad that his relationship with Pearl cannot give him more... Then Root and others, but especially Balm, who got over her insecurities after Fell used her to betray her court. In a way she felt as an outcast - the same way Moon feels when he realizes that he is still not officially member of their court.
Excellent sequel, especially second half! Can't wait to see more in the store when it comes to this series.
OTHER IMPORTANT INFO:
⚠ Standalone: No. Part of a series.
⚠ Point of View: Third POV, 1 character.
⚠ Cliffhanger: No.
⚠ Triggers: Nothing really serious...
⚠ Love triangle: No.
⚠ Angst: Some of it... like 20% or so? Huge improvement for Moon :D
⚠ Supernatural: This whole book is about supernatural and magical creatures - mostly shapeshifters.
⚠ Explicit content: No. You know what happened but no descriptions.
⚠ Ending type:
⚠ Recommended: Hell yes.
◈ The Cloud Roads (Books of the Raksura, #1)
◈ The Serpent Sea (Books of the Raksura, #2)
◈ The Siren Depths (Books of the Raksura, #3)
◈ Stories of the Raksura, Volume 1: The Falling World & The Tale of Indigo and Cloud
◈ Stories of the Raksura, Volume 2: The Dead City & The Dark Earth Below
“Don’t give up. Promise me you won’t give up on us.”
Another 5 star worth book! Although just a bit weaker than the first one, I really enjoyed reading it for so many reasons: even more development to the world, addition of new and interesting characters and other courts. It's even more interesting now than before.
But the first half of the book had a bit more relaxing and a bit slower pacing than the first one, but the second half really picked up and was worth every minute - especially the very intriguing character that appears in the second half who really interests me now.
I just figured out these books are made in the episodic type - like each book is for itself.
First one was about Moon finding a place to live and belong. Second one is saving their new/ancient home from rotting away. And I love this.
In this book, only 11 days passed since the last scene of the first book. All in all, the plot in this one lasts around a month.
► STORY:
*Spoilers for the first book:*
After the attack on the colony, and discovering that Fell had influence on the sickness, bad births and deaths, Indigo Cloud Court decided to move to their ancient home.
“So what’s this place like?” Moon asked him. “A tree.”
Moon swore under his breath. He had gotten that much from everybody else. They were all very enthusiastic about it, but nobody had been able to say how much work they were going to have to do to make it habitable. “Fine, don’t tell me.”
Stone snorted. “I just told you. A tree.”
Everything is going well and progressing, until they discover that their new home is dying - the seed that sustained it's life and enabled Arbora classes to shape it is missing. They discovered the bodies of some of the thieves - as well as the clues that could lead Moon and others to the real thieves... But first, the colony must establish some connections as well as find out more about the seeds, and the first court in vicinity is Emerald Twilight - and because of the unpleasant incident that involved kidnapping one of Emerald Twilight's consorts ages ago, before Indigo Cloud mvoed from their territory, things are a bit... tense.
► CHARACTERS:
◈ Moon still cant fit in, even though he found a place. He is happy with Jade, and being her consort, and would do anything for her - especially after everything that happened so far.
Afterward, she fell asleep, and he lay there stroking the frills along her back, thinking of how much he wanted to live here with her. He would live anywhere with her, but here was his first choice.
But he is unhappy when it comes to his social standing. Most of them still dislike him, thinking of him as a feral solitary, which doesn't help.
Moon had proved he was different from them. Too different. You are your own worst enemy, he told himself. Not that that was a new revelation; it was just that he was starting to notice it more.
He doesn't know what he should or shouldn't do, and no one really wants to clue him in and tell him how he should act as a consort class. So, he has to constantly question other Raksura for clues, but he gets the information mostly by doing something wrong and others commenting on it with "Consorts shouldn't really do that". Apparently consorts are shy, don't help around and are escorted and kept safe. They were 35 years late to do that now - Moon is quite capable of defending himself, hunting stuff and surviving... But when it comes to the social skills and standing... things get a bit awkward. And because of this he falls into the category which only makes others feel like he grew second head. There is also that uncertanty that he doesn't belong with them and that he still doesn't trust them:
“Do you trust us?”
Moon couldn’t answer. Maybe he didn’t trust them. Maybe he was pretending they were his family, going through the motions, but deep in his heart he didn’t really believe it. It would explain a lot, he told himself. Like why you keep acting like an idiot.
But then again, he wants to improve and he wants to believe in them...
You have to get better at this, he thought again. Because he couldn’t leave these people. Your people.
Another interesting revelation is about his ability to read Raksuran language etc. Through the book we also see other consorts and how they behave (and honestly, I think Moon ended up great - ).
◈ Jade is really protective of Moon and takes care of him. She is really happy now because Moon stayed with her and started accepting her “courting ” gifts - and she is proud to see him wearing stuff she wanted. It was also very cute when she carried he carried him in her arms or warps her tail around him.
Moon shifted to groundling, because everybody else was, and Jade was in her Arbora form. He went to sit next to her, and she put an arm around his waist to tug him against her side. He leaned against her, and rubbed his cheek against hers. She said, “Was it a good hunt?”
Even though things improved with Moon, she is still in strained relationship with her mother and reigning Queen Pearl.
◈ Chime is still trying to get used to the recent change that made him a warrior instead of mentor. He is depressed because it feels like he lost his abilities and is scared that he will never get them back due to the change. It doesn't help that his social status worsened with it. But ever since he got closer to Moon, people started to change attitude toward Chime - because apparently being Consort's favorite is interesting. But mostly, he is sunny and almost usually cheerful.
◈ Others: More was revealed of Stone, and there were hints of his relationship with Azure, his Queen. He was also a bit more honest here and one particular scene made me glad. And this made me laugh (a point for Jade):
Stone said, “So it’s going to be, ‘This is Moon, we won’t say where he came from so you can assume he’s a feral solitary.’”
Jade gave him a sour look. “How about, ‘and this is Stone, our cranky line-grandfather that we dragged along so he could start fights with everyone.’”
Flower was awesome as usual and she was one of many joys in this book. This there was also more of River - unbearable jerk, but it actually makes me sad that his relationship with Pearl cannot give him more... Then Root and others, but especially Balm, who got over her insecurities after Fell used her to betray her court. In a way she felt as an outcast - the same way Moon feels when he realizes that he is still not officially member of their court.
► OVERALL:
Excellent sequel, especially second half! Can't wait to see more in the store when it comes to this series.
OTHER IMPORTANT INFO:
⚠ Standalone: No. Part of a series.
⚠ Point of View: Third POV, 1 character.
⚠ Cliffhanger: No.
⚠ Triggers: Nothing really serious...
⚠ Love triangle: No.
⚠ Angst: Some of it... like 20% or so? Huge improvement for Moon :D
⚠ Supernatural: This whole book is about supernatural and magical creatures - mostly shapeshifters.
⚠ Explicit content: No. You know what happened but no descriptions.
⚠ Ending type:
⚠ Recommended: Hell yes.
► REVIEW(S) RELATED TO THIS BOOK:
◈ The Cloud Roads (Books of the Raksura, #1)
◈ The Serpent Sea (Books of the Raksura, #2)
◈ The Siren Depths (Books of the Raksura, #3)
◈ Stories of the Raksura, Volume 1: The Falling World & The Tale of Indigo and Cloud
◈ Stories of the Raksura, Volume 2: The Dead City & The Dark Earth Below
February 8, 2022
2022: 4.5 stars
2017: 4.5 flying stars
You are your own worst enemy, he told himself. Not that that was a new revelation; it was just that he was starting to notice it more.
En la segunda novela de Raksura, seguimos el viaje por barco volador de la corte de Indigo Cloud después de las pérdidas sufridas por los Fell, y la adicion de un consorte 'feral' en Moon. Niran se va con ellos para resguardar los barcos y Blossom aprende a dirigir el otro mientras que guiados por el abuelo o mejor dicho Pater lineas Stone de regreso a su hogar original en los bosques a vivir en un árbol.
El problema se produce cuando descubren que alguien se ha robado la semilla que es el corazon del arbol y este se esta muriendo, y que eso debe haber ocurrido hace mas o menos un año atras. No teniendo mas respuestas que los Kek , habitantes del suelo y aliados que hablan de extraños que conocian algo de la estructira del arbol , violentos, van hacia la corte cercana de Emerald Twilight buscando saber si poseen una semilla de repuesto.
Asi parten de nuevo en otra aventura, esta vez detras de los ladrones que le conducen hasta una ciudad sobre un leviatan. Admito que siento mucha pena por el llamado monstruo marino durante toda la odisea.
Todo el rato Moon sigue lidiando con sus sentimientos de no-pertenecer, de ser el que no consigue encajar en esta sociedad, es un personaje asertivo que es receptivo a los sentimientos de otras razas, pero su vida antes de saber que era raksura siguen influyendo en él. Sobre todo cuando actua siempre como lider y explorador más que como consorte. Es una suerte que tenga a Stone con él, aunque es facil ver que ese es su modelo a seguir, aunque se sintio impresionado con Shadow de la corte Esmeralda, es raro ver que se refiere mas a los hombres como hermosos que a las mujeres, se ve sutilmente que sigue siendo predominantemente bi.
(Moon:)“What do consorts do, when they can’t get a queen?”
Stone thought about it for a long moment. “It depends on the court. Here… it wouldn’t have been so bad. All the benefits of being a consort, and none of the responsibilities.”
Moon was still working out what he felt about the benefits and responsibilities of being a consort. Before Jade, he would have been more than happy with the less complicated life of a warrior; all he had ever wanted was a place to live. Finding a place to live without having to hide what he was had been a completely unexpected turn of luck. But he could imagine how someone raised with the idea that the point of his life was to be a queen’s mate and to make clutches would see things differently. “That could seem… pointless.”
Stone didn’t look away from the ruined gardens. “It depends what you make of it.”
---
There was an uneasy silence.
Stone said, “So it’s going to be, ‘This is Moon, we won’t say where he came from so you can assume he’s a feral solitary.’”
Jade gave him a sour look. “How about, ‘and this is Stone, our cranky line-grandfather that we dragged along so he could start fights with everyone.’”
Grimly determined, Pearl told Moon, “You’ll have to tell them the truth. Just don’t embarrass us.”
----
(Moon) And since when do you listen to Jade? Or anybody?”
(Stone) “I’m a consort, I listen to queens. Something you might consider at some point.”
How Stone managed to say that with a straight face, Moon had no idea, and he wasn’t going to dignify it with an argument.
-------
You weren’t thrown out of a court, Moon. It’s not the same thing.”
It felt like the same thing. “If I’d been born a warrior—”
“Moon.” Jade moved to him and grabbed his shoulders. Moon was braced for just about anything, except what she said. “Stone likes you. He likes you better than most of his natural descendants.”
El mundo sigue estando lleno de diferentes razas y colores , costumbres, y bastante imaginacion, villanos, traidores , escolasticos y magos, y las costumbres de las cortes raksura que siendo matriarcales , son igual bastante equilibradas en cuanto a trabajo de generos, hay guerreras y cazadoras y maestras y mentoras , aunque igual tienen una rigidez de diplomacia y un serrallo en que los machos fertiles son cortejados, robados a veces, y protegidos en su mayoria.
Moon circled around the fire to the shadows where Jade stood. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I know you wanted to rescue me, again.”
“I did rescue you,” she pointed out, though she sounded more huffy than angry. Her sigh was too weary to be a hiss. “Did you have to hit her with the kettle?”
“It had a handle. It was easier than a rock.” Moon felt some of the tension melt out of his spine. As impressive as she was while enraged and defending her consort, he still liked her normal self better.
“It’s not going to make a very good story, in the annals of my time as sister queen.” She quoted dryly, “‘Then her consort jumped up and knocked the foreign queen unconscious with a kettle.’”
--lol
Ya veremos por donde sigue esta aventura
2017: 4.5 flying stars
You are your own worst enemy, he told himself. Not that that was a new revelation; it was just that he was starting to notice it more.
En la segunda novela de Raksura, seguimos el viaje por barco volador de la corte de Indigo Cloud después de las pérdidas sufridas por los Fell, y la adicion de un consorte 'feral' en Moon. Niran se va con ellos para resguardar los barcos y Blossom aprende a dirigir el otro mientras que guiados por el abuelo o mejor dicho Pater lineas Stone de regreso a su hogar original en los bosques a vivir en un árbol.
El problema se produce cuando descubren que alguien se ha robado la semilla que es el corazon del arbol y este se esta muriendo, y que eso debe haber ocurrido hace mas o menos un año atras. No teniendo mas respuestas que los Kek , habitantes del suelo y aliados que hablan de extraños que conocian algo de la estructira del arbol , violentos, van hacia la corte cercana de Emerald Twilight buscando saber si poseen una semilla de repuesto.
Asi parten de nuevo en otra aventura, esta vez detras de los ladrones que le conducen hasta una ciudad sobre un leviatan. Admito que siento mucha pena por el llamado monstruo marino durante toda la odisea.
Todo el rato Moon sigue lidiando con sus sentimientos de no-pertenecer, de ser el que no consigue encajar en esta sociedad, es un personaje asertivo que es receptivo a los sentimientos de otras razas, pero su vida antes de saber que era raksura siguen influyendo en él. Sobre todo cuando actua siempre como lider y explorador más que como consorte. Es una suerte que tenga a Stone con él, aunque es facil ver que ese es su modelo a seguir, aunque se sintio impresionado con Shadow de la corte Esmeralda, es raro ver que se refiere mas a los hombres como hermosos que a las mujeres, se ve sutilmente que sigue siendo predominantemente bi.
(Moon:)“What do consorts do, when they can’t get a queen?”
Stone thought about it for a long moment. “It depends on the court. Here… it wouldn’t have been so bad. All the benefits of being a consort, and none of the responsibilities.”
Moon was still working out what he felt about the benefits and responsibilities of being a consort. Before Jade, he would have been more than happy with the less complicated life of a warrior; all he had ever wanted was a place to live. Finding a place to live without having to hide what he was had been a completely unexpected turn of luck. But he could imagine how someone raised with the idea that the point of his life was to be a queen’s mate and to make clutches would see things differently. “That could seem… pointless.”
Stone didn’t look away from the ruined gardens. “It depends what you make of it.”
---
There was an uneasy silence.
Stone said, “So it’s going to be, ‘This is Moon, we won’t say where he came from so you can assume he’s a feral solitary.’”
Jade gave him a sour look. “How about, ‘and this is Stone, our cranky line-grandfather that we dragged along so he could start fights with everyone.’”
Grimly determined, Pearl told Moon, “You’ll have to tell them the truth. Just don’t embarrass us.”
----
(Moon) And since when do you listen to Jade? Or anybody?”
(Stone) “I’m a consort, I listen to queens. Something you might consider at some point.”
How Stone managed to say that with a straight face, Moon had no idea, and he wasn’t going to dignify it with an argument.
-------
You weren’t thrown out of a court, Moon. It’s not the same thing.”
It felt like the same thing. “If I’d been born a warrior—”
“Moon.” Jade moved to him and grabbed his shoulders. Moon was braced for just about anything, except what she said. “Stone likes you. He likes you better than most of his natural descendants.”
El mundo sigue estando lleno de diferentes razas y colores , costumbres, y bastante imaginacion, villanos, traidores , escolasticos y magos, y las costumbres de las cortes raksura que siendo matriarcales , son igual bastante equilibradas en cuanto a trabajo de generos, hay guerreras y cazadoras y maestras y mentoras , aunque igual tienen una rigidez de diplomacia y un serrallo en que los machos fertiles son cortejados, robados a veces, y protegidos en su mayoria.
Moon circled around the fire to the shadows where Jade stood. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I know you wanted to rescue me, again.”
“I did rescue you,” she pointed out, though she sounded more huffy than angry. Her sigh was too weary to be a hiss. “Did you have to hit her with the kettle?”
“It had a handle. It was easier than a rock.” Moon felt some of the tension melt out of his spine. As impressive as she was while enraged and defending her consort, he still liked her normal self better.
“It’s not going to make a very good story, in the annals of my time as sister queen.” She quoted dryly, “‘Then her consort jumped up and knocked the foreign queen unconscious with a kettle.’”
--lol
Ya veremos por donde sigue esta aventura
July 28, 2018
Just as good as the first two times I read it, and that amazing feeling of coming home again is still there. These books really are the quintessential summer reads. My only fear is racing the last book and that unavoidable book-hangover.
* * * * *
Rereading on audio with the Flight of Fantasy group
* * * * *
The Serpent Sea takes place after the fight with the Fell. Moon is now a member of the Indigo Cloud court and takes his place beside Jade as her Consort. He’s settling into his new role and has even made a few friends, but before he could get comfortable, new trouble finds its way to the court.
The survivors of Indigo Cloud decide to pack up and leave their pyramid mound. Too many bad memories there for them to stay, and like Stone said, the colony is too hard to defend from Fell attacks. So they head to the court’s original territory in the Reaches, the forest of their ancestors where Raksura originated. The journey is uneventful and they reach the colony tree in a matter of days. Once there, though, they discover the tree’s seed pod is missing and that the tree itself will die gradually if the seed isn’t recovered. Moon, Jade, Stone, and a number of beloved characters from the previous book head out to find the seed, and the journey takes them across the Reaches and into the Serpent Sea.
Reading this book is like going on the journey. There are so many awe-inspiring things to mention: an ancient leviathan with a city on its back magically enchanted to stay afloat, the city on its back, the museum in the city on its back, flying boats, the vastness of the Reaches, and last but not least the colony tree itself. It’s like a multi-level city-sized tree house complete with running water, pools, and platforms for farming. The world building and details in this series is mind-blowing and gets better and better with each book.
Complete review of the first three books at https://covers2covers.wordpress.com/2...
* * * * *
Rereading on audio with the Flight of Fantasy group
* * * * *
The Serpent Sea takes place after the fight with the Fell. Moon is now a member of the Indigo Cloud court and takes his place beside Jade as her Consort. He’s settling into his new role and has even made a few friends, but before he could get comfortable, new trouble finds its way to the court.
The survivors of Indigo Cloud decide to pack up and leave their pyramid mound. Too many bad memories there for them to stay, and like Stone said, the colony is too hard to defend from Fell attacks. So they head to the court’s original territory in the Reaches, the forest of their ancestors where Raksura originated. The journey is uneventful and they reach the colony tree in a matter of days. Once there, though, they discover the tree’s seed pod is missing and that the tree itself will die gradually if the seed isn’t recovered. Moon, Jade, Stone, and a number of beloved characters from the previous book head out to find the seed, and the journey takes them across the Reaches and into the Serpent Sea.
Reading this book is like going on the journey. There are so many awe-inspiring things to mention: an ancient leviathan with a city on its back magically enchanted to stay afloat, the city on its back, the museum in the city on its back, flying boats, the vastness of the Reaches, and last but not least the colony tree itself. It’s like a multi-level city-sized tree house complete with running water, pools, and platforms for farming. The world building and details in this series is mind-blowing and gets better and better with each book.
Complete review of the first three books at https://covers2covers.wordpress.com/2...
September 30, 2018
Mostly as good as the first book. Storyline a bit less intense esp. in the first half, but the worldbuilding is just as stunning. I didn't expect to be surprised after the first book, but the places Moon visited towards the end - astounded me once again.
January 5, 2019
4.5 🌟🌟🌟🌟
A lovely sequel to The Cloud Roads, this is one of those great comfort reads that you can pick up anytime.
The culture is incredible, the Raksura themselves amazing and the story gripping. But what I loved most was Moon and the Raksura as a species.
A lovely sequel to The Cloud Roads, this is one of those great comfort reads that you can pick up anytime.
The culture is incredible, the Raksura themselves amazing and the story gripping. But what I loved most was Moon and the Raksura as a species.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 27, 2022
This is a good series, it's just not attention grabbing in a month (May) when I had six five-star reads. I'm gonna keep going with the series, though, and definitely on audio!
Martha Wells' writing in this series is just so much more subtle than it is in my previous experience with her work, that featuring the lovely curmudgeon Murderbot. The world the Raksurans live in is also extremely alien, with sometimes completely different cultural mores and practices, not to mention physiological differences. Luckily our main character, Moon, is still somewhat of outsider in the Indigo Cloud colony he has been recently accepted into, so we learn as he does.
The plot of this one centers on the relocation of the colony to an extremely large tree (called a Mountain Tree, so that's how big it is) grown and fashioned by magic, and yes, I do want to live there. But when they move in, they find the tree's seed (a powerful magical object), which keeps it alive, has been stolen. If they can't find out what happened to it and get it back, the whole colony will have to relocate again, without anywhere else to go.
I sort of meandered through this book. It's good to listen to (I did the audio this time to make it easier to get through, which did work) but I was never super compelled to be listening to it, so it did take me a while. I definitely have to be in a certain, sort of chill and not very intense mood, to be happy listening to it.
I probably won't get to the third book until 2023, which seems right considering how slow I'll probably be to listen to that one, too.
Martha Wells' writing in this series is just so much more subtle than it is in my previous experience with her work, that featuring the lovely curmudgeon Murderbot. The world the Raksurans live in is also extremely alien, with sometimes completely different cultural mores and practices, not to mention physiological differences. Luckily our main character, Moon, is still somewhat of outsider in the Indigo Cloud colony he has been recently accepted into, so we learn as he does.
The plot of this one centers on the relocation of the colony to an extremely large tree (called a Mountain Tree, so that's how big it is) grown and fashioned by magic, and yes, I do want to live there. But when they move in, they find the tree's seed (a powerful magical object), which keeps it alive, has been stolen. If they can't find out what happened to it and get it back, the whole colony will have to relocate again, without anywhere else to go.
I sort of meandered through this book. It's good to listen to (I did the audio this time to make it easier to get through, which did work) but I was never super compelled to be listening to it, so it did take me a while. I definitely have to be in a certain, sort of chill and not very intense mood, to be happy listening to it.
I probably won't get to the third book until 2023, which seems right considering how slow I'll probably be to listen to that one, too.
November 4, 2018
Really good but a tad too slow for my tastes this time, all this "he went there and there, then he crouched, then he shifted, then he checked, then he climbed, then he shifted back, then he fought enemies, then he run" caused me to sigh impatiently for quite a couple of times. Also I craved for more dialogue.
Saying all that I still enjoyed the adventure very much and Raksuran intrigues as well. Love the world building, love the author's imagination! All these little details of Raksuran culture and new magical thingies. The craziest of them - leviathan. Can't wait to meet more sea/sky/ground-lings.
And what will happen in the future? - Mimi, if you're reading this - am I slightestly right?... ;)
Saying all that I still enjoyed the adventure very much and Raksuran intrigues as well. Love the world building, love the author's imagination! All these little details of Raksuran culture and new magical thingies. The craziest of them - leviathan. Can't wait to meet more sea/sky/ground-lings.
And what will happen in the future? - Mimi, if you're reading this - am I slightestly right?... ;)
October 28, 2018
4.5 stars
An excellent follow up to The Cloud Roads. Wells has such a gift for rich and imaginative worldbuilding. I would love to see these books on film; the visual descriptions are captivating.
The characters continue to be a real highlight as well. The development is slow and sure, building by layers. The depth of the characters helps to contribute to the real sense of peril Wells creates, particularly in the second half of the book.
I am most definitely continuing this series.
An excellent follow up to The Cloud Roads. Wells has such a gift for rich and imaginative worldbuilding. I would love to see these books on film; the visual descriptions are captivating.
The characters continue to be a real highlight as well. The development is slow and sure, building by layers. The depth of the characters helps to contribute to the real sense of peril Wells creates, particularly in the second half of the book.
I am most definitely continuing this series.
April 7, 2021
It was less intense with smaller scope of a plot after the first book, more domestic in which readers were exposed more to the way of life of Raksuran courts. It was a fun read with adventure, leviathan, lot of fights, desperate mission to save their home. Overall it was not a complex or intricate story, it was more like a comfort read. And the world.. Oh my gosh the world.. If I could trasported there, I probably will be like archaelogist/explorer winged non-human being. Gosh, that will be awesome.
April 10, 2024
“Moon couldn’t think of anything reassuring to say. They were trapped inside a leviathan, standing in a tunnel gnawed out by giant parasites. Going blank with terror was a perfectly rational way to react, especially for a groundling.”
When you’re having a good time, the pages simply fly by, just like Martha Wells’ flying shapeshifters as they engage in another adventure across the marvellous world she imagined.
The author makes it look easy, penning a new epic fantasy series that harks back to the original thrills of exploration and of dangerous quests that first drew me to speculative fiction. Yet there is a lot of hard work and talent involved into this polished end product, and I’m glad the success of her more recent Murderbot series has reminded me and other readers that Wells has plenty of good titles in her back catalogue.
He hadn’t known anything about Raksura, and he hadn’t known he was a consort, the only fertile male Aeriat, born to be mated to a queen and to produce royal clutches and infertile warriors for the court. He had a great deal of experience trying to fit into various groundling tribes and settlements, just in search of a place to live. But trying to fit into a group where he actually belonged, and had an important role, was ... still daunting.
Not a baker boy or a stable lad, but Moon, the lead character, shares something with the classic low born fantasy hero: a secret heritage. From a lowly position he eventually rises to the highest honours in the realm.
In the first book of the series Moon, a flying shapeshifter who grew up as an orphan in a hostile environment, hunted relentlessly by the Fell, learned to blend in and hide his true nature in order to survive among the ‘groundlings’ , or regular people in his world.
Then he was discovered by another Raksura and taken to the Indigo Cloud Court, where he learned more about his ancestry and about his destiny. Despite being considered a dangerous feral solitary by his peers, Moon takes his place as consort to the young Raksura Queen named Jade, and helps defend the colony against a deadly attack by the Fell.
Now, in his second outing, Moon assists in the relocation of the survivors back to their ancestral home in a forested land, away from the Fell and hopefully, among other Raksura colonies. They are all aboard a couple of flying ships rented from a tribe of sea dwellers.
Between the flying shapeshifters, the flying Fells, the flying ships and even levitating mountains, the series is apparently focused on flight. Yet, the major attractions of this second episode are the exploration of the giant forest that was the Raksuran homeland, and a journey to the middle of the Serpent Sea, where Moon and a small band of Indigo Court warriors try to recover a vital artefact for the survival of the tribe.
The multiple layers of branches reached up like giants’ arms, and the trunk was enormous, wider around than the base of the ruined step pyramid that had formed the old Indigo Cloud colony. From the lower part of the trunk, greenery platforms extended out, multiple levels of them, some more than five hundred paces across. A waterfall fell out of a knothole nearly big enough to sail the ‘Valendera’ through, plunged down to collect in a pool on one of the platforms, then fell to the next, and the next, until it disappeared into the shadows below.
I’m probably not the only reader who feels he has somehow stumbled upon a clone of the Avatar planet. Martha Wells’ world building is similarly impressive and original. Where she goes one step further than the scriptwriters of the blockbuster movie is in her characters, more natural and more believable, and in plot coherence, where she doesn’t have to rely on special effects and sleights of hand to bring her ship home.
I’m looking forward to starting on the third episode in the original Raksuran trilogy, and I might even check out the story collections and the later books if the next Murderbot novella is delayed.
October 21, 2018
Moon and his new family in the Indigo Cloud Court have returned to the ancestral lands of the Raksura and their home mountain-tree, deserted for generations. Only in their absence someone has stolen the magical seed that keeps the tree alive. Moon and Jade lead a delegation to another Court to try to secure a replacement, but discover that the tree will only accept the original seed so that it must be retrieved. Cue another mission for Moon and his new people across the wonderfully inventive and fantastical Three Worlds.
Key here is Moon's far from perfect transition into the Indigo Cloud Court. Moon is a Consort, a particular type of Raksura whose role at his age is to be a subservient and pampered partner to a Queen. Forced to be a solitary for decades with no knowledge of his people or their customs, Moon is about as far from subservient and pampered as he's likely to get. While he clearly has feelings towards Jade, his reluctance to accept the role that tradition and many members of the court wish to assign to him leaves friction points all over the place. There's also his basic ignorance of his own people, both in terms of biology and culture, that makes it difficult for him to fit in. On the other side are the relationships that Moon is slowly building with Jade and the line-patriarch Stone and with the mentor-turned-warrior Chime as well as others.
This continues to be a fascinating world to explore as well, with fantastic biology, physics and magic as well as countless intelligent and alien races.
Key here is Moon's far from perfect transition into the Indigo Cloud Court. Moon is a Consort, a particular type of Raksura whose role at his age is to be a subservient and pampered partner to a Queen. Forced to be a solitary for decades with no knowledge of his people or their customs, Moon is about as far from subservient and pampered as he's likely to get. While he clearly has feelings towards Jade, his reluctance to accept the role that tradition and many members of the court wish to assign to him leaves friction points all over the place. There's also his basic ignorance of his own people, both in terms of biology and culture, that makes it difficult for him to fit in. On the other side are the relationships that Moon is slowly building with Jade and the line-patriarch Stone and with the mentor-turned-warrior Chime as well as others.
This continues to be a fascinating world to explore as well, with fantastic biology, physics and magic as well as countless intelligent and alien races.
October 10, 2018
Stone wandered up out of the crowd, stopped and eyed Moon for a moment, then nudged his shoulder. “You all right?”
“Yes.” Suddenly that was all Moon could trust himself to say. He felt like he had never really come home before, not to a permanent home, not to a place where everyone knew the real him. He couldn’t even trust himself to shift to his groundling form, even though it was technically rude to stay like this while Stone was a groundling. What he really wanted to do was run away and hide in a corner, and enjoy this intense, unaccustomed feeling privately.
“Yes.” Suddenly that was all Moon could trust himself to say. He felt like he had never really come home before, not to a permanent home, not to a place where everyone knew the real him. He couldn’t even trust himself to shift to his groundling form, even though it was technically rude to stay like this while Stone was a groundling. What he really wanted to do was run away and hide in a corner, and enjoy this intense, unaccustomed feeling privately.
October 3, 2015
What a wonderful story!!! It broke my heart several times, but in a good way, if that makes sense...
I love Moon, Stone and Jade! I feel for Chime and my heart hurts for Flower!!! I am totally emotionally invested in this beautiful magical world! Now on to the final one...
I love Moon, Stone and Jade! I feel for Chime and my heart hurts for Flower!!! I am totally emotionally invested in this beautiful magical world! Now on to the final one...
June 14, 2020
Notes:
The story reads better in print than listening by audio. Up close look into Raksura culture, getting to know the Indigo Cloud group & Moon finally feeling like he has a home + family.
The story reads better in print than listening by audio. Up close look into Raksura culture, getting to know the Indigo Cloud group & Moon finally feeling like he has a home + family.
January 13, 2012
This sequel to the excellent The Cloud Roads (one of my top 10 books 2010) starts where the first book left of, as Moon, the now-consort to Jade, the sister queen to the Indigo Cloud and their court are on their way to their ancestral home in the hope of finding a new settlement for their people. The court is battle-weary after their fight against the Fell and worried about their diminishing numbers but still hopeful for a bright future at the new settlement. And at first, it seems all of their expectations have been fulfilled: within the trunk of a mountain-sized tree, filled with amazing carvings, beautiful surroundings, waterfalls and more rooms they can ever hope to fill, their ancestral home is a dream come true. But soon after their arrival, they find evidence of pillaging and discover that the seed that keeps the mountain alive has been stolen. Without it, they have no hope to survive there. Jade, Moon and Stone alongside some of the court’s most experienced warriors and mentors set out across the sea to find the missing seed.
The Serpent Sea is a worthy sequel to The Cloud Roads and it features all of the strengths (fantastic world-building, great story, awesome characters) of that first novel. It is so easy to fall in love with this series and the reasons are manifold.
It presents one of the most beautifully rendered Fantasy worlds I have ever encountered. The descriptions of the locales, the peoples and the different cultures of the Three Worlds have depth and originality. For example, I am amazed with the description of the mountain-sized tree that is the court’s new home: it’s grandiose, creative and literally awe-inspiring. From the moment the court stepped through its “doors”, I wished and hoped for them to make a home there. There is also an element of magic in the series but this is not really a central aspect of the series and it never overwhelms the story. Instead, the social and political dynamics of the Indigo Cloud court and their fight for survival are its central focus. There are internal conflicts (between the queen Pearl and sister queen Jade; between some of each queen’s favourites within the court; between those who support Moon and those who distrust him because of his past) as well as external ones (their diminishing numbers as well as a lack of Royal consort make them vulnerable; there are diplomatic issues with a neighbouring court) and all of it are compounded with the urgent need to find the missing seed. The actual plot of The Serpent Sea is a smooth continuation of the long-term tribulations of Indigo Cloud. The well-paced story evolves from their fight for survival and spirals from there in an adventure across the sea: there is time for fighting; there is time for diplomacy; there is also time for love-making, for laughter (I love the humorous bits interspersed throughout and the banter between Moon and Stone is so much fun) and for sorrow.
As much as I loved the aforementioned aspects of the book, the characters are my favourite thing about the series. The Raksura, as a race, is fascinating and I loved reading about their culture and their internal dynamics. It is all the more interesting that even though they are clearly the heroes of the series, there is also scope for a critical look at some of their more troubling aspects. For example, how the standing within the court is biologically determined. This is expertly explored through Chime, a character who was born a member of the mentor’s cast and has unwillingly shifted into a warrior – this shift is not to his liking, he misses being a mentor but he seems to have no choice in the matter. It seems unfair because well, it is unfair but I feel his story is far from being done. Perhaps there is room for change there? I would love to see that.
Finally, there is Moon. The series is from his point of view and this is perfect from a narrative perspective: he is as new to the Raksura world as we are and as such what he doesn’t know, we don’t know. This makes the small bits of info-dumping present in the narrative less awkward than they should have been. More to the point, his struggle to fit in and to be accepted by the court is a very real one. His budding relationship with Jade is really cool. But more than that, the most important aspect about his arc is the conflict between how he should behave as a consort and how he does behave. A consort is basically someone with high social standing but no real power, someone expected to be lazy and pampered. Moon is someone who has lived most of his life fending for himself and who loves to hunt (although he prefers not to fight). He stumbles all the time in this new position and wavers between assertiveness and acceptance of a submissive role. Although he respects the tradition that comes with being a consort, he strives to find a more energetic position and I LOVED that empowering Moon doesn’t automatically mean under-powering Jade. I also LOVED that his need to have a bigger voice does not come from being a male. He wants to be able to do more because that’s who he is, not for some gender-specific reasoning and certainly not because he wants to be more powerful than Jade (like that could ever happen. Seriously, Jade is simply the coolest BAMF ever and this one scene toward the end when she unleashes her fury? SO badass.
I do have one major concern: at the end of The Serpent Sea it seems that the story started in Cloud Roads comes to an end and although there is certainly scope for more stories in this world, these two books read as a self-sufficient duology. Please tell me it isn’t so, I want many more Raksura books.
Is it too early to declare The Serpent Sea a favourite read of 2012?
The Serpent Sea is a worthy sequel to The Cloud Roads and it features all of the strengths (fantastic world-building, great story, awesome characters) of that first novel. It is so easy to fall in love with this series and the reasons are manifold.
It presents one of the most beautifully rendered Fantasy worlds I have ever encountered. The descriptions of the locales, the peoples and the different cultures of the Three Worlds have depth and originality. For example, I am amazed with the description of the mountain-sized tree that is the court’s new home: it’s grandiose, creative and literally awe-inspiring. From the moment the court stepped through its “doors”, I wished and hoped for them to make a home there. There is also an element of magic in the series but this is not really a central aspect of the series and it never overwhelms the story. Instead, the social and political dynamics of the Indigo Cloud court and their fight for survival are its central focus. There are internal conflicts (between the queen Pearl and sister queen Jade; between some of each queen’s favourites within the court; between those who support Moon and those who distrust him because of his past) as well as external ones (their diminishing numbers as well as a lack of Royal consort make them vulnerable; there are diplomatic issues with a neighbouring court) and all of it are compounded with the urgent need to find the missing seed. The actual plot of The Serpent Sea is a smooth continuation of the long-term tribulations of Indigo Cloud. The well-paced story evolves from their fight for survival and spirals from there in an adventure across the sea: there is time for fighting; there is time for diplomacy; there is also time for love-making, for laughter (I love the humorous bits interspersed throughout and the banter between Moon and Stone is so much fun) and for sorrow.
As much as I loved the aforementioned aspects of the book, the characters are my favourite thing about the series. The Raksura, as a race, is fascinating and I loved reading about their culture and their internal dynamics. It is all the more interesting that even though they are clearly the heroes of the series, there is also scope for a critical look at some of their more troubling aspects. For example, how the standing within the court is biologically determined. This is expertly explored through Chime, a character who was born a member of the mentor’s cast and has unwillingly shifted into a warrior – this shift is not to his liking, he misses being a mentor but he seems to have no choice in the matter. It seems unfair because well, it is unfair but I feel his story is far from being done. Perhaps there is room for change there? I would love to see that.
Finally, there is Moon. The series is from his point of view and this is perfect from a narrative perspective: he is as new to the Raksura world as we are and as such what he doesn’t know, we don’t know. This makes the small bits of info-dumping present in the narrative less awkward than they should have been. More to the point, his struggle to fit in and to be accepted by the court is a very real one. His budding relationship with Jade is really cool. But more than that, the most important aspect about his arc is the conflict between how he should behave as a consort and how he does behave. A consort is basically someone with high social standing but no real power, someone expected to be lazy and pampered. Moon is someone who has lived most of his life fending for himself and who loves to hunt (although he prefers not to fight). He stumbles all the time in this new position and wavers between assertiveness and acceptance of a submissive role. Although he respects the tradition that comes with being a consort, he strives to find a more energetic position and I LOVED that empowering Moon doesn’t automatically mean under-powering Jade. I also LOVED that his need to have a bigger voice does not come from being a male. He wants to be able to do more because that’s who he is, not for some gender-specific reasoning and certainly not because he wants to be more powerful than Jade (like that could ever happen. Seriously, Jade is simply the coolest BAMF ever and this one scene toward the end when she unleashes her fury? SO badass.
I do have one major concern: at the end of The Serpent Sea it seems that the story started in Cloud Roads comes to an end and although there is certainly scope for more stories in this world, these two books read as a self-sufficient duology. Please tell me it isn’t so, I want many more Raksura books.
Is it too early to declare The Serpent Sea a favourite read of 2012?
February 25, 2016
Read more reviews @ The Bibliosanctum.
Last year, the first book in this series, The Cloud Roads, was easily one of my top reads for 2015. Wells presented a wonderfully creative world with races who fall outside of human norms. This year, I said that I was going to continue this series. I want to finish up the main trilogy as well as the short stories in preparation for the upcoming fourth book in the series, The Edge of Worlds.
Readers are introduced to the Raksura in The Cloud Roads, a shapeshifting race that possess both a draconic form and a groundling form. They are a matriarchal race of people with complex court laws. In this story, we meet Moon, a Raksura who’s spent most of his years living among groundlings after the destruction of his court when he was a young child. Because of Moon’s ignorance of much of the Raksuran mores, following him through this book is perfect. The readers experience the world as Moon experiences it, learning as he learns, which means that nothing feels like filler.
Book 2 picks up almost immediately after The Cloud Roads. After an attack on the colony, the Cloud Indigo court moves back to the place where their lineage started, a mountain-tree nestled in the forest. Upon arriving there, they soon find out that the tree is dying because its heartseed has been stolen. This leads them to seek out the assistance of another Raksuran court. The neighboring court is unable to provide them with another seed. However, they are able to help the colony scry for their missing seed which leads Moon on a dash to retrieve it.
I am still charmed by this story of the Raksura and the world they live in. Wells introduces new and fascinating races such as the waterlings in this installment, continuing this flair that feels fresh and original. Raksuran politics continue to be a complex weave of laws. While in-fighting was common in the last book, in this book, they have to contend with another court, which sheds even more light on how Raksura are expected to behave with one another. Readers learn how tenuous the ties between various courts can be and how the smallest things can be perceived as insults and power plays to force a rival’s hand.
I appreciate that Moon is still learning and still wary, even though he is now the consort to the sister-queen of Cloud Indigo. Readers are allowed to continue this journey with Moon as he shares his uncertainties, triumphs, and losses. There are always new things for him to learn. He doesn’t automatically want to know everything about Raksuran politics. In fact, much of the culture makes him uncomfortable. He concedes that he should be learning things about the court, but he continues to live outside their societal norms for a consort. It doesn’t help that the mentor-like person who brought him to the court is allowed the freedom to do as he pleases due to his age, which Moon is emulating in his own way. Moon becomes very aware of how he differs from other consorts when visiting the neighboring court. Where Moon is quick to protect what is his, he finds that other consorts are little more than arm decoration. Moon has never lived a pampered, spoiled life, and he doesn’t intend to start living one (but he does give a little when it really counts).
Wells also introduced more magic into this world. There are tastes of it in the first book via the mentor-caste in the Raksuran court who can heal, have visions, and perform augury (more like divination/scrying than reading omens due to birds’ flight patterns). In this book, groundling magic is introduced, especially as one character struggles with the fact that he’s no longer a mentor but is starting to exhibit strange powers more like groundling magic. However, the magic in this world is subtle and downplayed, and it never detracts from the Raksura who are the heart of this story.
Chris Kipiniak continues to narrate this series, and I don’t think there’s anything that I can say about his narration that I haven’t said in my review of The Cloud Roads. His characterization of Stone and Moon continues to be two of my favorite voices in the series. I may not be overly impressed with his female voices, but I’ve gotten used to how he voices women.
I enjoyed this book maybe only slightly less than the first. There’s a bigger spot in my heart for the first one. Maybe because of the way it completely enthralled me with this new setting and characters, but this book is a fitting continuation of the story that balances politics, action, and story in the world the Raksura inhabit. A part of me wishes I��d read these books sooner, but another part of me is glad that I started later, as there is plenty more for me to read and I don’t have to anxiously await a next book.
Last year, the first book in this series, The Cloud Roads, was easily one of my top reads for 2015. Wells presented a wonderfully creative world with races who fall outside of human norms. This year, I said that I was going to continue this series. I want to finish up the main trilogy as well as the short stories in preparation for the upcoming fourth book in the series, The Edge of Worlds.
Readers are introduced to the Raksura in The Cloud Roads, a shapeshifting race that possess both a draconic form and a groundling form. They are a matriarchal race of people with complex court laws. In this story, we meet Moon, a Raksura who’s spent most of his years living among groundlings after the destruction of his court when he was a young child. Because of Moon’s ignorance of much of the Raksuran mores, following him through this book is perfect. The readers experience the world as Moon experiences it, learning as he learns, which means that nothing feels like filler.
Book 2 picks up almost immediately after The Cloud Roads. After an attack on the colony, the Cloud Indigo court moves back to the place where their lineage started, a mountain-tree nestled in the forest. Upon arriving there, they soon find out that the tree is dying because its heartseed has been stolen. This leads them to seek out the assistance of another Raksuran court. The neighboring court is unable to provide them with another seed. However, they are able to help the colony scry for their missing seed which leads Moon on a dash to retrieve it.
I am still charmed by this story of the Raksura and the world they live in. Wells introduces new and fascinating races such as the waterlings in this installment, continuing this flair that feels fresh and original. Raksuran politics continue to be a complex weave of laws. While in-fighting was common in the last book, in this book, they have to contend with another court, which sheds even more light on how Raksura are expected to behave with one another. Readers learn how tenuous the ties between various courts can be and how the smallest things can be perceived as insults and power plays to force a rival’s hand.
I appreciate that Moon is still learning and still wary, even though he is now the consort to the sister-queen of Cloud Indigo. Readers are allowed to continue this journey with Moon as he shares his uncertainties, triumphs, and losses. There are always new things for him to learn. He doesn’t automatically want to know everything about Raksuran politics. In fact, much of the culture makes him uncomfortable. He concedes that he should be learning things about the court, but he continues to live outside their societal norms for a consort. It doesn’t help that the mentor-like person who brought him to the court is allowed the freedom to do as he pleases due to his age, which Moon is emulating in his own way. Moon becomes very aware of how he differs from other consorts when visiting the neighboring court. Where Moon is quick to protect what is his, he finds that other consorts are little more than arm decoration. Moon has never lived a pampered, spoiled life, and he doesn’t intend to start living one (but he does give a little when it really counts).
Wells also introduced more magic into this world. There are tastes of it in the first book via the mentor-caste in the Raksuran court who can heal, have visions, and perform augury (more like divination/scrying than reading omens due to birds’ flight patterns). In this book, groundling magic is introduced, especially as one character struggles with the fact that he’s no longer a mentor but is starting to exhibit strange powers more like groundling magic. However, the magic in this world is subtle and downplayed, and it never detracts from the Raksura who are the heart of this story.
Chris Kipiniak continues to narrate this series, and I don’t think there’s anything that I can say about his narration that I haven’t said in my review of The Cloud Roads. His characterization of Stone and Moon continues to be two of my favorite voices in the series. I may not be overly impressed with his female voices, but I’ve gotten used to how he voices women.
I enjoyed this book maybe only slightly less than the first. There’s a bigger spot in my heart for the first one. Maybe because of the way it completely enthralled me with this new setting and characters, but this book is a fitting continuation of the story that balances politics, action, and story in the world the Raksura inhabit. A part of me wishes I��d read these books sooner, but another part of me is glad that I started later, as there is plenty more for me to read and I don’t have to anxiously await a next book.
Shelved as 'dnf'
August 20, 2021I binged 30% of this because I had nothing to do and my internet kept crapping out but...to be completely honest, I'm not feeling it at all. Didn't remotely care about the plot, far less investment in the characters than I had in the first book, had to force myself to read on - and is it really worth it for a book that would have probably ended up being 3 stars? Maybe some other time. But not today.
January 31, 2022
The multiple layers of branches reached up like giants' arms, and the trunk was enormous, wider around than the base of the ruined step pyramid that had formed the old Indigo Cloud colony. From the lower part of the trunk, greenery platforms extended out, multiple levels of them, some more than five hundred paces across. A waterfall fell out of a knothole nearly big enough to sail the Valendera through, plunged down to collect in a pool on one of the platforms, then fell to the next, and the next, until it disappeared into the shadows below.
Martha Wells might quickly be becoming my most reliable comfort-author - she writes books with tension and real stakes, but they're also great examples of the found family trope I love so much, not to mention full of the kind of settings that you just don't get enough in fantasy.
Following the events of the first book, Moon and the Indigo Court are on their way to the ancestral home of the colony - and it's a freaking city within a mountain-tree specifically grown for the purpose. How cool is that? But life never did run smoothly for this author's characters, and when they discover the tree is threatened by the theft of its heart seed, an expedition to potentially save the entire court is in order.
Martha Wells writes so simply but effectively - it's incredibly easy to sink into her books and her worlds, and it feels like a breeze to read. I love the settings she used in the first book, and in this one too; the expedition makes a great excuse to see more of the world she's invented. From a city in a tree, to one on a Leviathan's back, wherever our characters go is richly described and vividly imaginable.
Such a great series, one I'm happily working my way through, and one I'd recommend in a heartbeat.
Martha Wells might quickly be becoming my most reliable comfort-author - she writes books with tension and real stakes, but they're also great examples of the found family trope I love so much, not to mention full of the kind of settings that you just don't get enough in fantasy.
Following the events of the first book, Moon and the Indigo Court are on their way to the ancestral home of the colony - and it's a freaking city within a mountain-tree specifically grown for the purpose. How cool is that? But life never did run smoothly for this author's characters, and when they discover the tree is threatened by the theft of its heart seed, an expedition to potentially save the entire court is in order.
Martha Wells writes so simply but effectively - it's incredibly easy to sink into her books and her worlds, and it feels like a breeze to read. I love the settings she used in the first book, and in this one too; the expedition makes a great excuse to see more of the world she's invented. From a city in a tree, to one on a Leviathan's back, wherever our characters go is richly described and vividly imaginable.
Such a great series, one I'm happily working my way through, and one I'd recommend in a heartbeat.
January 20, 2020
This second part of the Raksura trilogy started slowly with lots of unneeded repetitions. But after some 10% it took off into the great exotic world. It found very different aspects, there: a Louis XIV similar Raksuran royal household with its intrigues. Also, a couple of different societies and races on Moon‘s way to retrieve the world tree‘s seed. Raksuran behavior differs from human, so this series stays exotic and interesting.
July 9, 2018
Time on Mt. TBR (as of 5/23/18): 1 year, 3 months
I love Moon. And I love the interesting gender role reversals that happen in this series. Then I think about Murderbot and realize that - if I were interested in having children - I'd want to have some of Martha Well's children.
I only started reading The Cloud Roads, because 1) I’d been rec’d the book; 2) I’d read Mimesis and loved it and 3) WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT SHINY COVER!!!!! Certified Cover Whore, at your service. ;-)
After getting about 100 pages into The Cloud Roads, I just wanted to hug Moon and assure him that things were going to get better. Trust me, Moon! You’re home now. By the time I got to the end of The Cloud Roads, I’d already purchased both volumes of shorts, The Serpent Sea and The Siren Depths.
>.>
<.<
Don’t judge me.
The Serpent Sea starts directly after the ending of The Cloud Roads. Moon (and the rest of the court) travel in the Golden Islander’s air ships for about two and a half weeks to reach the Reaches. Moon learns that the Raksura’s natural home is the Reaches.
The Reaches is a forest full of gigantic trees – think of 3-4 sequoias merged together to make one – called “Mountain Trees.” Mountain trees, when inserted with a special magical Mountain Thorn seed, grow even larger to become Colony trees – think 8-10 sequoias as one – where the Raksura live. These Mountain Trees are so large that the Reaches have 3 parts: the air above the Reaches, the ground beneath the mountain trees, and the suspended forest. The Suspended forest is just what it sounds like: an entire forest suspended above the ground, located on the mountain trees.
When we got to this level of world building, I turned to Martha Wells and said “Just SHUT UP and take my money!” It was over. I was done. Queens and consorts and living in real trees – trees so large they have their own ecosystem, including waterfalls – and those damn covers. It’s all incredibly unfair, lol. All of the Raksura books are like this: a truly alien fantasy with no humans or any single dominate intelligent species. What kind of sorcery is this??!
Shortly after the Indigo Cloud court arrives at their new colony home in the Reaches – which is their ancestral colony home – they discover that thieves had recently come to the Indigo Cloud colony tree and stole its magic seed. Removal of the seed causes the eventual rotting (and destruction) of the colony tree. The thieves – groundlings – are tracked to an island built on the back of a leviathan.
Indigo Cloud has to have this seed back in order to secure their new home. Jade, Moon and Stone lead a group to track down the seed to bring it home.
When reading The Serpent Sea, I really started to get a good feel of WHY Moon is the perfect consort for Jade and Indigo Cloud: he’s an experienced adult who has traveled the world. He’s knows things that most Raksura do not. He��s seen things that most of them have not. Moon is a consort who can help Jade rule, not just reign.
Of course, we still have to get through Moon's distrustful and prickly nature. As Flower says to him during the book, "You're willing to risk nothing but your life." Moon throws himself head first into any and every dangerous situation that happens to Indigo Cloud but he still doesn't trust them - still expects to tossed away when they are done. But for now he's happy(ish): he has a wife, friends, lovers, a father figure. Moon has never been surrounded by so many who know who he is.
I love Moon. And I love the interesting gender role reversals that happen in this series. Then I think about Murderbot and realize that - if I were interested in having children - I'd want to have some of Martha Well's children.
I only started reading The Cloud Roads, because 1) I’d been rec’d the book; 2) I’d read Mimesis and loved it and 3) WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT SHINY COVER!!!!! Certified Cover Whore, at your service. ;-)
After getting about 100 pages into The Cloud Roads, I just wanted to hug Moon and assure him that things were going to get better. Trust me, Moon! You’re home now. By the time I got to the end of The Cloud Roads, I’d already purchased both volumes of shorts, The Serpent Sea and The Siren Depths.
>.>
<.<
Don’t judge me.
The Serpent Sea starts directly after the ending of The Cloud Roads. Moon (and the rest of the court) travel in the Golden Islander’s air ships for about two and a half weeks to reach the Reaches. Moon learns that the Raksura’s natural home is the Reaches.
The Reaches is a forest full of gigantic trees – think of 3-4 sequoias merged together to make one – called “Mountain Trees.” Mountain trees, when inserted with a special magical Mountain Thorn seed, grow even larger to become Colony trees – think 8-10 sequoias as one – where the Raksura live. These Mountain Trees are so large that the Reaches have 3 parts: the air above the Reaches, the ground beneath the mountain trees, and the suspended forest. The Suspended forest is just what it sounds like: an entire forest suspended above the ground, located on the mountain trees.
When we got to this level of world building, I turned to Martha Wells and said “Just SHUT UP and take my money!” It was over. I was done. Queens and consorts and living in real trees – trees so large they have their own ecosystem, including waterfalls – and those damn covers. It’s all incredibly unfair, lol. All of the Raksura books are like this: a truly alien fantasy with no humans or any single dominate intelligent species. What kind of sorcery is this??!
Shortly after the Indigo Cloud court arrives at their new colony home in the Reaches – which is their ancestral colony home – they discover that thieves had recently come to the Indigo Cloud colony tree and stole its magic seed. Removal of the seed causes the eventual rotting (and destruction) of the colony tree. The thieves – groundlings – are tracked to an island built on the back of a leviathan.
Indigo Cloud has to have this seed back in order to secure their new home. Jade, Moon and Stone lead a group to track down the seed to bring it home.
When reading The Serpent Sea, I really started to get a good feel of WHY Moon is the perfect consort for Jade and Indigo Cloud: he’s an experienced adult who has traveled the world. He’s knows things that most Raksura do not. He��s seen things that most of them have not. Moon is a consort who can help Jade rule, not just reign.
Of course, we still have to get through Moon's distrustful and prickly nature. As Flower says to him during the book, "You're willing to risk nothing but your life." Moon throws himself head first into any and every dangerous situation that happens to Indigo Cloud but he still doesn't trust them - still expects to tossed away when they are done. But for now he's happy(ish): he has a wife, friends, lovers, a father figure. Moon has never been surrounded by so many who know who he is.
April 21, 2018
The prose in these books is very simple and basic -- occasionally annoyingly so -- and if I'd been reading in ebook format I would've counted how many times a character "snapped his wings". OTOH, you don't often get to see fantasy this aggressively nonhuman -- even elf/shifter/vamp/etc. stories are pretty much "humans with cool abilities" stories or "human among the aliens" stories. In Wells's books, though, we have a carefully constructed, complex, and detailed look at an "alien" species that looks, acts, and frequently thinks differently than ours, often in casual ways (not "oh, look how different he is!" but more "yeah, of course that's the way he'd act. So what?"), as well as their surrounding environment and the other species around them. So that's fun and satisfying.
This book didn't feel as desperate or... I can't think of the word... life-and-death as the first in the series (The Cloud Roads), which makes sense in context. In the first book Our Hero didn't know who he was or where he came from, and after he found His People he became engaged in an edge-of-your-seat battle for the survival of his colony and perhaps his species. In this one he has started to settle in, and although he's still often confused by colony life, he has become an accepted and productive colony member -- and this adventure is about saving their new home, not about preserving their very exitence. Nonetheless, it drew me along throughout, and aside from some Mary Sue-ness I have no major complaints.
As for the audio version, the narrator is fine -- I wouldn't call him exceptional, but I didn't find anything annoying except that he repeatedly pronounced "baring" as "barring" for some odd reason. And he did deadpan delivery extremely well ("Yeah, this is going to be bad" types of lines).
Overall I'm rating this about 3.5, which is about the same rating I gave to the first book in the series when I read it last year. It would probably be higher if it had better prose. And yes, I've gone straight to the third book in the trilogy, The Siren Depths, which promises to have an interesting storyline. These are fun reads if you like action, politics, and a lot of immersion in nonhuman life without having to wade through a lot of gore or grimdark depressing world views.
This book didn't feel as desperate or... I can't think of the word... life-and-death as the first in the series (The Cloud Roads), which makes sense in context. In the first book Our Hero didn't know who he was or where he came from, and after he found His People he became engaged in an edge-of-your-seat battle for the survival of his colony and perhaps his species. In this one he has started to settle in, and although he's still often confused by colony life, he has become an accepted and productive colony member -- and this adventure is about saving their new home, not about preserving their very exitence. Nonetheless, it drew me along throughout, and aside from some Mary Sue-ness I have no major complaints.
As for the audio version, the narrator is fine -- I wouldn't call him exceptional, but I didn't find anything annoying except that he repeatedly pronounced "baring" as "barring" for some odd reason. And he did deadpan delivery extremely well ("Yeah, this is going to be bad" types of lines).
Overall I'm rating this about 3.5, which is about the same rating I gave to the first book in the series when I read it last year. It would probably be higher if it had better prose. And yes, I've gone straight to the third book in the trilogy, The Siren Depths, which promises to have an interesting storyline. These are fun reads if you like action, politics, and a lot of immersion in nonhuman life without having to wade through a lot of gore or grimdark depressing world views.
March 7, 2017
In the Books of the Raksura, Martha Wells has created a lush world with imaginative cultures and fascinating species. The culture of the shape-shifting Raksura is so foreign and detailed, but she makes it extremely accessible to the reader. It's such a pleasure to read.
It becomes more clear in the Serpent Sea that this is not epic fantasy. The focus is not on a grand scale, but on the fate of a single, struggling clan in a large, indifferent world. We get glimpses of that world, but mainly we learn about the Indigo Cloud clan and their fight to survive.
The Fell are not present in this book, as the clan has escaped to a colony location that their ancestors abandoned years earlier. The descriptions of their new home at the top of a giant tree are beautiful. I feel like I've been there. I feel like I want to live there!
Now it is time to rebuild the clan and to connect with other Raksura - and to do what is needed to make the colony tree a viable home again. This has its share of danger and intense moments while Moon and his companions are on a mission away from the Court, and I felt the danger almost personally because I've come to care about these characters and their individual fates.
It took me a little while to figure out what this was going to be about, and it moved a bit slowly in the beginning, so I didn't feel it was as amazing as the first book. Still a favorite though.
It becomes more clear in the Serpent Sea that this is not epic fantasy. The focus is not on a grand scale, but on the fate of a single, struggling clan in a large, indifferent world. We get glimpses of that world, but mainly we learn about the Indigo Cloud clan and their fight to survive.
The Fell are not present in this book, as the clan has escaped to a colony location that their ancestors abandoned years earlier. The descriptions of their new home at the top of a giant tree are beautiful. I feel like I've been there. I feel like I want to live there!
Now it is time to rebuild the clan and to connect with other Raksura - and to do what is needed to make the colony tree a viable home again. This has its share of danger and intense moments while Moon and his companions are on a mission away from the Court, and I felt the danger almost personally because I've come to care about these characters and their individual fates.
It took me a little while to figure out what this was going to be about, and it moved a bit slowly in the beginning, so I didn't feel it was as amazing as the first book. Still a favorite though.
September 3, 2016
In the second volume of The Raksura, Martha Wells does exactly what she's supposed to do: She expands the world created in the first book (The Cloud Roads), fleshes out the characters even more, including how they overcome a new obstacle, all in the guise of an entertaining story.
What's harder to quantify is just how well she does all of the above. Ms. Wells' books could be (and ought to be) taught in writing seminars on how to build out a world without giving way to undue data dumps or pointless dialogue.
Having said that, the flaw in this second volume of the raksura was in taking it away from the characters we know for the middle third. While the over-arching story is, at least on the surface, Moon's story, it is also the story of how he belongs to Indigo Cloud clutch and when the action takes us too far away from the conflicts built into that it can get a little stilted.
In the end though, for me personally, there are two things that stand out as testaments to how good the book is: The first is that I bought it within seconds of having finished the first novel in the series. The second is that it was compelling enough to make me forego any other available distractions and devote an entire day to reading it. I suppose a third testament might be how much I'm hoping that there is a third volume to come.
What's harder to quantify is just how well she does all of the above. Ms. Wells' books could be (and ought to be) taught in writing seminars on how to build out a world without giving way to undue data dumps or pointless dialogue.
Having said that, the flaw in this second volume of the raksura was in taking it away from the characters we know for the middle third. While the over-arching story is, at least on the surface, Moon's story, it is also the story of how he belongs to Indigo Cloud clutch and when the action takes us too far away from the conflicts built into that it can get a little stilted.
In the end though, for me personally, there are two things that stand out as testaments to how good the book is: The first is that I bought it within seconds of having finished the first novel in the series. The second is that it was compelling enough to make me forego any other available distractions and devote an entire day to reading it. I suppose a third testament might be how much I'm hoping that there is a third volume to come.
October 31, 2011
Im still fascinated by the world setting and the raksura.
I just felt the plot meandered a bit at times.Henche the two star rating.
And then the relationship between Jade and Moon...well Jade scolded Moon...and they had some sex.And that was it.
Sure they had scenes when they were loving and caring too,but I detected a pattern. Moon would do something "non-raksuran",Jade would dissapprove.Moon would feel unsure about her feelings and they would make up again. I think this happened at least three times in the book. It got old really fast.
And what happened with the fell? I mean they were defeated in the last book. But it was as they vanished from face of the earth.
Also I really want to know what court Moon came from...Like right now :0
I just felt the plot meandered a bit at times.Henche the two star rating.
And then the relationship between Jade and Moon...well Jade scolded Moon...and they had some sex.And that was it.
Sure they had scenes when they were loving and caring too,but I detected a pattern. Moon would do something "non-raksuran",Jade would dissapprove.Moon would feel unsure about her feelings and they would make up again. I think this happened at least three times in the book. It got old really fast.
And what happened with the fell? I mean they were defeated in the last book. But it was as they vanished from face of the earth.
Also I really want to know what court Moon came from...Like right now :0
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