mass market paperback, 392 páginas
Publicado el 19 de Noviembre de 2019 por Night Shade.
Moon has spent his life hiding what he is--a shape-shifter able to transform himself into a winged creature of flight. An orphan with only vague memories of his own kind, Moon tries to fit in among the tribes of his river valley, with mixed success. Just as Moon is once again discovered and cast out by his adopted tribe, he discovers a shape-shifter like himself...someone who seems to know exactly what he is, who promises that Moon will be welcomed into his community.
What this stranger doesn't tell Moon is that his presence will tip the balance of power...that his extraordinary lineage is crucial to the colony's survival...and that his people face extinction at the hands of the dreaded Fell.
Moon must overcome a lifetime of conditioning in order to save himself...and his newfound kin.
I'm not too big on novels set in court, but I liked the characters. I'll continue on in the series.
Moon, the main character of the Raksura series, shares a great many characteristics with Murderbot: he's isolated, traumatized, often inspires fear in others through no fault of his own, and doesn't know where he belongs or how to fit in. Naturally, the first book is mostly concerned with reuniting Moon with his people and chronicling the joys and pains of integrating into this complex society. The plot is slightly predictable, but this is easily compensated for by the sheer originality of the setting: one of the few fantasy books/series I've read that does not bother with the conceit of fitting human society into a world where magic exists, but rather imagines a world where magic is just another routine natural force. There are no humans in this world but there are hundreds, possibly thousands, of sentient humanoid species, and just as many sentient non-humanoids. There are also floating islands, flying …
Moon, the main character of the Raksura series, shares a great many characteristics with Murderbot: he's isolated, traumatized, often inspires fear in others through no fault of his own, and doesn't know where he belongs or how to fit in. Naturally, the first book is mostly concerned with reuniting Moon with his people and chronicling the joys and pains of integrating into this complex society. The plot is slightly predictable, but this is easily compensated for by the sheer originality of the setting: one of the few fantasy books/series I've read that does not bother with the conceit of fitting human society into a world where magic exists, but rather imagines a world where magic is just another routine natural force. There are no humans in this world but there are hundreds, possibly thousands, of sentient humanoid species, and just as many sentient non-humanoids. There are also floating islands, flying boats, ruins of wondrous monuments built by long-vanished peoples, and trees large enough to hold entire forests on one of their branches. It's fun, it's compelling, and it has distinct elements of coziness that make it a comforting re-read for me.
There is one criticism I think is valid, which is the gender essentialism of the Raksura. I don't believe this is deliberate on Wells' part; it's simply an extension of the magical but somewhat caste-ist conception of how Raksura society works. Certain people just get certain jobs by virtue of their phenotype at birth. Which could be oppressive, except that Raksura society doesn't have money and nobody has to work for food and shelter. This didn't HAVE to mean that Raksura don't experience gender dysphoria, but that's what ends up happening--even though one of the MCs has an unexpected shift of body plan and has challenges dealing with that. There is, however, a laidback background acceptance of multiple sexual orientations. I didn't find this to be enough to ruin the story, but some people have, so I thought it was worth mentioning.
