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Oct. 7th, 2015 07:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsSo now that I have read basically everything that there is to read in Martha Wells' Raksura universe about sentient shapeshifting dragons with complex sociobiological family structures. In addition to The Cloud Roads, about which more at that link, this includes:
The Serpent Sea, in which protagonist Moon and his new dragon family travel to their ancestral home, find that their ancestral home is kind of screwed because somebody stole an important magical MacGuffin out of it, and promptly head out to a mysterious island in the middle of the ocean on a MacGuffin quest to get in trouble with weird magic worldbuilding
The Siren Depths, in which Moon's long-lost birth family finds out about him and yoinks him home and he has to deal with six different kinds of complicated abandonment issues, plus the fact that the family has a kind-of-Dark Secret (of course this one is my favorite, INTERESTING FAMILY ISSUES UP THE WAZOO), plus some more trouble with weird magic worldbuilding
Stories of the Raksura, Volume 1: The Falling World & The Tale of Indigo and Cloud, which contains two novellas, one where The Gang Gets In Trouble With Yet More Weird Magic Worldbuilding and one fantastic backstory one that's 100% Difficult Dragon Diplomatic Relations
Stories of the Raksura, Volume 2: The Dead City & The Dark Earth Below, which contains several interesting worldbuilding stories about various species in this universe, plus some babyfic
I liked these books more and more the more I went on. I think it helps that I got all my mildly cranky issues about biological determinism out of the way with the first books. By the time I hit the later ones I had already come to terms with the setup and was ready to roll with the fact that, yes, OK, half the point of Moon is to completely embody the Feisty Tomboy Princess archetype with a pronoun reversal:
MOON: I'm going on this dangerous quest!
EVERYONE ELSE: But consorts don't go on dangerous quests, consorts stay home and look pretty and watch the children!
MOON: I know I'm not how a consort should be! I know I should be beautiful and gentle and sweet, and -- and I'm just not! I'm sorry! I can't help it! I wasn't socialized that way!
JADE: It's OK, honey. It's true that most queendragons Raksura prefer demure consorts, but I like a boy with spirit.
This aside, I generally really appreciate how much time it takes for Moon to adjust to being part of a community, and to generally trust the people around him, after decades spent as a semi-feral wanderer. I loved him projecting his issues all over the other Raksura in Serpent Sea, and, as aforementioned, I ate the whole complicated family plot in Siren Depths up like candy.
I am also really into Martha Wells' endlessly inventive Weird Magical Worldbuilding and FIVE BAJILLION sentient species, most of which are not at all human. "Ah, OK, a species of sentient stick insects! Are they friendly sentient stick insects? SURE, GREAT, let's sort out our diplomatic relationship then."
(Though I did laugh at the hilariously sledgehammery bit in -- I think it's Serpent Sea? -- where Moon tries to explain this one weird civilization he encountered once that didn't believe in sex outside of monogamous marrige and everybody's like '?? how BIZARRE.')
The Serpent Sea, in which protagonist Moon and his new dragon family travel to their ancestral home, find that their ancestral home is kind of screwed because somebody stole an important magical MacGuffin out of it, and promptly head out to a mysterious island in the middle of the ocean on a MacGuffin quest to get in trouble with weird magic worldbuilding
The Siren Depths, in which Moon's long-lost birth family finds out about him and yoinks him home and he has to deal with six different kinds of complicated abandonment issues, plus the fact that the family has a kind-of-Dark Secret (of course this one is my favorite, INTERESTING FAMILY ISSUES UP THE WAZOO), plus some more trouble with weird magic worldbuilding
Stories of the Raksura, Volume 1: The Falling World & The Tale of Indigo and Cloud, which contains two novellas, one where The Gang Gets In Trouble With Yet More Weird Magic Worldbuilding and one fantastic backstory one that's 100% Difficult Dragon Diplomatic Relations
Stories of the Raksura, Volume 2: The Dead City & The Dark Earth Below, which contains several interesting worldbuilding stories about various species in this universe, plus some babyfic
I liked these books more and more the more I went on. I think it helps that I got all my mildly cranky issues about biological determinism out of the way with the first books. By the time I hit the later ones I had already come to terms with the setup and was ready to roll with the fact that, yes, OK, half the point of Moon is to completely embody the Feisty Tomboy Princess archetype with a pronoun reversal:
MOON: I'm going on this dangerous quest!
EVERYONE ELSE: But consorts don't go on dangerous quests, consorts stay home and look pretty and watch the children!
MOON: I know I'm not how a consort should be! I know I should be beautiful and gentle and sweet, and -- and I'm just not! I'm sorry! I can't help it! I wasn't socialized that way!
JADE: It's OK, honey. It's true that most queen
This aside, I generally really appreciate how much time it takes for Moon to adjust to being part of a community, and to generally trust the people around him, after decades spent as a semi-feral wanderer. I loved him projecting his issues all over the other Raksura in Serpent Sea, and, as aforementioned, I ate the whole complicated family plot in Siren Depths up like candy.
I am also really into Martha Wells' endlessly inventive Weird Magical Worldbuilding and FIVE BAJILLION sentient species, most of which are not at all human. "Ah, OK, a species of sentient stick insects! Are they friendly sentient stick insects? SURE, GREAT, let's sort out our diplomatic relationship then."
(Though I did laugh at the hilariously sledgehammery bit in -- I think it's Serpent Sea? -- where Moon tries to explain this one weird civilization he encountered once that didn't believe in sex outside of monogamous marrige and everybody's like '?? how BIZARRE.')
no subject
Date: 2015-10-08 02:36 am (UTC)Also, I think it's been discussed before in Q&As on Martha Wells' DW, if not in the actual books, that growing up in a colony on the brink of collapse has probably skewed Jade's expectations of normal consort behaviour anyway since her primary example is Stone, crankiest consort who does all the things. IT'S FINE, MOON, SHE'S USED TO THIS.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-08 02:42 am (UTC)(I was also really into the surprisingly well-adjusted half-Fell kids and would totally read the Further Adventures of Moon's awkwardly precocious half-Fell baby brother.)
Stone is also even more amazing once you realize that Stone translates to the world's crankiest fighting grandma. In the movie, Stone is played by Helen Mirren.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-08 03:01 am (UTC)Moon's precious half-Fell brother was adorable! I would totally read more stories about him too. I kind of want him to visit Indogo Cloud, hopefully he'll get to show up in the later books.
I am 1000% behind this fancast. Helen Mirren should totally get to play ALL the cranky superhero grandmas.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-08 10:39 pm (UTC)I hope so too! I thought the trilogy was going to be the end of it so I was excited to find out there is another one coming out next year which is the start of a new trilogy apparently?? I am voting for special guest stars of: Moo's precocious half-Fell brother, Moon's cranky ex-wife from Book 1, NIRAN.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-08 11:38 am (UTC)But man, I love the Raksura series! So many great characters, so much neat world-building, such good plots. And Stone is my favorite as the grumpiest grandma. He will be grumpily protective of EVERYONE.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-08 10:41 pm (UTC)He is the GREATEST grumpy grandma. Protective of everyone indeed! ... except poor Ember, whom Stone is like "....eh, I mean, he's kind of boring.... and I don't really care ......" SORRY EMBER, I like you even if Stone doesn't!
I am really jealous of Martha Wells' ability to keep coming up with cool world-building things.