My
Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Amazon Rating: 4.60 / 5.00
Goodreads Rating: 3.97 / 5.00
In the Three Worlds there are three realms: sea,
earth and sky. Each realm has creatures that live within it, although those in
the sky realm are mostly forgotten by those who live below.
Moon has led his life on the run. At first he was
protected by his mother, but when the family was attacked by a predatory
species of groudlings he was the only one to escape because of his ability to
fly when in his shifted form. His clutch-mates did not share this ability and
were killed, as was his mother who remained to protect them. Alone he wanders
from one group of groundling to another, trying to fit in but always doomed to
being exiled when they discover that he resembles the evil Fell when in his
shifted form.
All this changes when he is cast out again and
rescued by another shifter who looks remarkably similar to himself. Stone is a
lone Consort (breeding male) of the Raksura. He is long past his breeding
years, but has been visiting the various Raksura colonies to find help for his
own, which is failing. He offers Moon a place where he can live amongst others
of his kind, welcomed as a valuable member of the colony. However, the Fell
also have designs upon Stone’s colony and Moon soon becomes embroiled in a
fight for survival amongst a people that he does not understand or trust.
Martha Wells was an author that I had not come
across until I read her Guest Post for Women in SF&F Month at Fantasy
Cafe. Since then I have had her on my TBR list, but it finally took the
Women In Genre Fiction Reading Challenge at Worlds Without End
to put this book on my coffee table. I am only sorry that I ignored it for so
long because it was a great read and I look forward to reading the other
volumes in this series as well as more of Ms Wells’ titles when I can fit them
in.
One thing I always appreciate in Fantasy writing is
a world that is well drawn, whether it is loosely based upon Earth at some
point in its history or is totally alien. Ms Wells creates a pleasantly unique
world, inhabited by a wide variety of interesting creatures and races
inhabiting the three realms. Although we do not explore the sea at all, we see
several examples of the groundling races, which show adaptations to various
habitats and climates. They also display a variety or temperaments, beliefs and
cultures, which were sketched out with sufficient detail without a heavy-handed
need for exposition. By making Moon an outsider in almost all situations, Ms
Wells was able to let us explore this world through his experiences and so the
world building did not feel forced or boring.
Although we have no idea how the Raksura or the
Fell are able to shift between two forms, I did appreciate attempts to explain
some of the other more alien concepts that we encounter. Most delightful of
these were the floating sky-islands, which we learn are supported by a special
type of magnet-like rock. This is revealed because one of the races harvests
the stones to ‘power’ sky ships in a very neat piece of alternative technology.
The scientist in me is always happy to have a seemingly impossible aspect of
nature explained by a relatively straightforward nod to science.
The Raksura have a fairly complex social structure,
which adds to their alien appearance to make them distinctly non-human. In
fact, they are rather reminiscent of bees or other social insects in their
organization into colonies. They also have specific social roles depending upon
their biological form: in some books we might have had a sub plot about the
injustice of certain castes being down trodden, but here they are all treated
as equally valuable and there is no feeling of suppression or exploitation. I
appreciated this willingness to present an alien culture without trying to
insert human thinking or prejudices into the mix. My only criticism of the
Raksura and their realization was that they seemed somewhat complacent and insular:
a feature that created the problems that drove the main part of the plot. On
the whole they seem very conservative and wary of changing how things are done.
This timidity did not seem to really fit with their evolutionary design because
they are fundamentally hunters not farmers. When trouble arises they are
reluctant to take decisive action and this makes them seem overly weak and
helpless.
However, this rather unexpected passivity allows
Moon to step into the role of Hero because they surely need someone to stand up
and be decisive. He finds an ally in the form of the junior Queen, Jade, which
was not an entirely unexpected plot twist. Indeed, I would say that their
developing relationship was one of the weak points in the book. It was simply
too easy for the young Queen to fall for our Hero and support him from the
beginning. I would have preferred a little more distrust and coolness at first
as they got to know one another, which would have seemed more natural for an
established colony member interacting with a dubious stranger. However, many of
the Raksura seemed to make snap decisions about Moon, trusting or hating him on
sight, so perhaps this more a reflection of their psychology than a failure in
complex characterization.
Moon is inevitably the most complex of the
characters that we encounter, although he is not the only one to change and
develop over the course of the story. His caution when faced with a new group
of people is perfectly understandable because of his background and we learn that
he had some pretty terrible experiences when he chose to trust people in the
past. I thought that his changing relationship with the Raksura rang true and
was handled deftly. He is a genuinely sympathetic character, so we are drawn to
him and want him to succeed. The fact that he has doubts and concerns makes him
more believable than some of those macho Heroes out there, although he can
certainly kick some Fell butt when required. I like my lead characters to be
more than the usual stereotype, so he was pretty much guaranteed to keep me
engaged and reading.
I would recommend this title to anyone who likes
their Fantasy worlds beautifully drawn and well realized. Some of the character
work is a bit simplistic, but the plot will pull you along so thoroughly that
you will not notice this minor issue.
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