The Cloud Roads: Volume One of the Books of the Raksura (1) Mass Market Paperback – November 19, 2019

The Cloud Roads introduces us to Moon, an orphaned shapeshifter who has spent years living among the groundlings (more traditionally humanoid looking races) disguised as one of them. Moon has long given up on finding his real people, and he doesn't even know the name of his race at the beginning of this book. Instead he's focused on living in different locales with various races, moving on when they became suspicious of him, forging some semblance of a life as best as he can. Despite Moon's somewhat detached nature due to his self-reliance, cynicism, and general distrust--learned habits from having to keep on the move--Moon is not a solitary creature by nature and finds comfort living among others, even if he isn't free to be himself. That all changes one day when he meets another shapeshifter like himself, and Moon begins a life changing journey that may finally provide the answers he feared he'd never find.Moon presents an interesting conundrum in Raksuran society. He has difficulty with the mores of the society, and while Moon tries to keep his outward feelings neutral, even as he worries he may doing the wrong things, Moon's survival tactics never quite leave him. Given how he's lived much of his life wandering, he always looks for weaknesses and escape routes when introduced into unfamiliar situations. I appreciated he didn't immediately find personal peace or a feeling of belonging among the Raksura, He didn't find himself suddenly eager to sing the songs of his people. No, having Moon work through issues and learn how he factors into this new society gave his journey substance. Moon also showed that, even though he's wary by nature, he is a very dedicated, caring, and trustworthy individual, often feeling his own happiness isn't more important than doing what's right.What made me enjoy this book as much as I did was Moon and how he slowly comes to learn about his culture including the complicated court politics of his people. Because neither Moon or the reader know anything about the Raksura, this allows a level of world building that feels almost like we're taking this journey with Moon. We're experiencing this strange new place with him, and it gives Wells such freedom of expression with the culture and people. She's allowed to dwell on her world building, presenting Moon and the readers with this beautifully crafted landscape and culture. She weaves this new information into the story without having to resort to info dumping.With the world building, Wells did a terrific job of fleshing out her characters and races, making most of them feel like more than just humans with odd colored skin tones and some structural appearances. Some races outside the Raksura can feel fairly typical for the fantasy setting, but the author still manages to give them cultural differences to make them memorable. The Raksura culture is treated with ingenuity and craftiness by Wells. There's something that feels familiar and human about them, making the reader empathize with them while giving them this unique culture and mannerisms that sets them apart from typical humans or even the groundlings in the story.The Raksuran culture is largely matriarchal and plays with gender roles in clever ways. However, gender doesn't play out in such obvious ways to make the characters feel inferior or in ways that makes it seem like a gender war is happening. The genders largely on equal footing with defined roles that are important to their society as a whole. Gender differences aren't treated as a slight. A female may be stronger than her male counterpart in some cases and it doesn't cause an inferiority complex due to gender. It's just treated as part of the culture and makes a interesting, subtle commentary on gender without feeling like it's crept over into the territory of being angry and preachy. In this same vein, the sexual nature and customs of this world are varied and include various sexual orientations and customs without demonizing them in any way.Chris Kipiniak was an excellent choice in the reading the series. I loved the gravelly voice he used for Stone, which made the character actually sound like his name. I was a little unimpressed with his female voices, but I'm particular about narrators voicing characters opposite their gender in general. He didn't do a terrible job with their voices, though. I just wasn't moved by them. Despite that, he was an engaging narrator and added a nice flair to much of the dialogue. I enjoyed his characterization of Moon best and thought he did a superb job with capturing the wry nature of Moon's personality and Moon's conflicted nature that knew he should practice selfish self-preservation but ultimately always did what was right.In this first book, Wells has introduced us to a wildly imaginative world with these fully fleshed out characters and traditions that take the reader on quite a journey. This is one of the more innovative books I've read in any genre. There haven't been many books that make me feel like I'm reading something that's truly fresh and special, but Wells has managed to make me feel like I've stepped into a whole new world with the Raksura while keeping elements that make it feel familiar.

In a time where it seems the majority of fantasy is dark fantasy, it was a real blessing to come across The Cloud Roads. Far from being dark, it carries with a tone I find very similar to Mercedes Lackey’s works: bright, but without being all sunshine-and-roses, if that makes any sense. The tone is light and not bogged down in making everything seem dark and gritty, but that doesn’t mean it shies away from violence, from mature subjects and presentation, from rich complex characters whom you want to follow the adventures of. Reading it made me feel very much as I had when I first started reading fantasy novels, full of expectation and curiosity. It was the kind of book that made me lose track of time, a real page-turner!Wells did a fantastic job with the world-building in this book. Where most fantasy consists of humans as the dominant race of the world, the world contained within these pages has no humans. It has ground-dwelling races with a humanoid forms, but none of them are what we would call human. Each race is new, different, each with its own distinct culture and features. There are a good many races that aren’t even close to being humanoid and yet bear just as much intelligence and creativity. I want to give serious kudos to Wells for not falling into the trap of making, for example, the race of giant insectoid people as a barbaric and primative culture. Neither were the Raksura presented as the pinacle of society. They were one race among many, as were all races, and it was a treat to see this set-up done so well.Moon was a good choice for a blank-slate protagonist, the kind who is unaware of his past and people. This gave the author a good way to explain Raksuran culture and physiology to the reader without having to make most of it part of the narrative. More than that, the information was presented naturally, subtly in places but more straightforward in others, and it worked very well. I’m a bit leery of blank-slate protagonists, as very often they’re little but an excuse for the author to wax eloquent about their newest cultural creation. But in the context of the novels, info-dropping was done well. It wasn’t only that the Raksura had to explain themselves to Moon, but Moon conveyed information to them about the groundling races they were ignorant of. The info-dropping went both ways, and never was it disruptive to the flow of the story.So Wells clearly excels at world-building, culture-building, and has a fantastic ability to convey and alien world in such a way that the reader will not only find it entertaining but will also be hard-pressed not to relate in some way. But no book is perfect, and the biggest flaw I found in this one was the foreshadowing, particularly in the connection between the Raksura and the Fell. I won't say much here to avoid spoilers, though.Though it may seem like a relatively minor flaw, the poison was a major plot element in the novel. The fact that the Fell were trying to join with the Raksura was a big thing, as were theories that they might be able to cross-breed. Moon is presented as a sharp-minded individual who is inclined to think and say things that others wouldn’t; for him to not have even mentioned a possible connection seemed like a poor set-up for that revelation. It bothered me, and that frustration is what made this book sink from a 5-star review to a 4.But in spite of that, I can still say with utter certainty that this is one of the best books I’ve read in a very long time, and Martha Wells has found herself a new fan. I’m eyeing my copy of the sequel as we speak, wondering if I can manage to fit it into my reading schedule, because I don’t want to leave that world behind that the moment. If you’re looking for a richly-developped fantasy novel that’s still also a nice light read, then absolutely get yourself a copy of this book. You won’t be disappointed.

I discovered Martha Wells through The Murderbot Diaries and searched out this older, original, very immersive series. It’s great to find a series that sets you down in a believable other world with a cast of engaging friends and enemies and leaves you breathless, biting your nails and frequently laughing. I sped through the first three books and am ready for number four!

The Cloud Roads: Volume One of the Books of the Raksura is a captivating fantasy novel. It's the first of the series, and it sets up the world and the characters in a way that makes the reader eagerly anticipate the next book. The story follows Moon, a shape-shifting creature known as a Raksura, as he discovers more about his past and his people. The world building is fantastic, and the different cultures and societies of the Raksura, the Fell, and the groundlings are all unique and fascinating. Moon is a great protagonist, and the supporting characters are all well-developed and add depth to the story. The pacing of the book is perfect, with just enough action and plot twists to keep the reader engaged. Overall, The Cloud Roads is a must-read for fans of fantasy literature, and I can't wait to see where the series goes from here.

I entered into this series as an spanish twitter (@teknomagic) relentlessly recommended it. I was being cautious at first, as the premise sounded pretty weird, but... OH, BOY, DID IT PAY OFF!Amazing world-building, an greatly constructed plot and characters I just want to know more about... Yeah, the Books of Raksura just won a new fan.

I chose to rate this book five stars because I cannot think of anything that I disliked about it. This book caught my attention from the start, and did not disappoint. At first I was worried that I wouldn't like Moon, but as we got to know him and more of his backstory was revealed, I really began to understand him and I ended up absolutely loving him. I also loved how much power the women had in this book!!This book was really enjoyable, it was easy to read, everything flowed, it had a couple of big surprises that didn't feel out of place, it was reasonably fast paced. The audible narration was brilliant.

I like a fantasy novel where the "world" is a little bit different, and this is definitely out on its own in that regard. A very enjoyable read.