mass market paperback, 392 pages
Published Nov. 19, 2019 by Night Shade.
I don't relate to these characters quite as well as the Murderbot crew, but they did get me in the end. The story just gives them a giant, wondrous playground.
4.25 Definitely a good fantasy novel with refreshingly non-anthropecentric worldbuilding. Since I came here from the Murderbort Diaries, I was expecting a little more, but it's a worthy read with some great non-tradtional fantasy images, even if it reads a little like Gargoyles fanfic at times (I'm not saying the Raksura aren't their own thing, but there are some similarities). I didn't like the weird noun-based naming scheme and I am a little uncomfortable with what seems like veering really close to ableism and bashing mixed-race relationships. Knowing the author, I have little doubt there will be a very good resolution to those things. Still, I can see how it could turn some people off from reading. As an aside: the lgbt topics in this one are mostly in the past or a little subtle, though nicely laid.back at the same time.
This is somewhat a guilty pleasure read. I enjoyed it, despite recognizing plot tropes that made the outcome predictable.
The world Wells has built is interesting, and I want to see more!
Really enjoyed a world where the populations are diverse as heck, and the stories were excellent as well.
3.5 stars.
Interesting new fantasy world. I liked the premise that there were absolutely good and evil forces but they had their own agendas and didn't just line up for or against the heroes. The owners of the wind ships and the bumble-bee people were both good, but they didn't follow Jade and Moon's plans just because Jade and Moon were the PCs.
The hero Moon was almost too pissy sometimes; but didn't go so far that I disliked him. The balance of power between the two queens was interesting and didn't follow a predictable path.
I read this entire series between May 16th and June 3rd. So sorry to finish it!
A romantic adventure in the spirit of Edgar Rice Burroughs, but without the plot holes, racism, sexism, and other white men's burdens.
The weirdest thing about this book is that there are no humans in this book. Or rather, there might be but it's not clear. The protagonist is not human, and from his perspective, humans would just be with another one of the races populating his world. Therefore if there are humans, our protagonist never observes them, nor describes them in sufficient detail to recognize them.
Um. Lots of stuff happens! It's pretty great! If you like world building, alien biology, alien societies, marriage of convenience/arranged marriage and/or team stories, check this out.
