Martha Wells is a sadly under appreciated fantasy author. Though she has been writing and publishing for some years somehow the success she deserves has eluded her.

The Cloud Roads is a great example of what Wells has to offer as an author. She writes fantasy yes, but there are no elves and dwarves here. This is a unique and remarkably fully realized world. She gives it depth and history with only a few sentences.

The characters are the same. Some we get no more than a couple of paragraphs description of and yet the feel real and I wanted to know more about them.

The story itself is more familiar territory with an orphan boy and a Princess. There is danger and intrigue and of course romance. And these characters are not mere stereotypes I found myself caring how things would work out where sometimes it just feels like going through the motions.

This isn't my favorite of Martha Wells work. That award still goes to Wheel of the Infinite, but I was very happy to discover there are two further books to this series and that I will get to explore this distinctive Three Worlds setting further.

There's a lot still to be explained including the origins of both the Raksura and the Fell.