Books of the Raksura Books In Order

Publication Order of Books Of The Raksura Books

Books of the Raksura is a series of fantasy novels written by Martha Wells. The books take all the old fantasy tropes and upend them.

+The Story

The Books of the Raksura series is high fantasy. Rather than taking fantastical elements and integrating them into the real world, the series creates a whole new world filled with wholly alien species and cultures.

One wouldn’t be faulted for initially dismissing the Books of the Raksura series. After all, the synopsis is very reminiscent of the fantasy novels of old. You have an orphan that has lived all his life in isolation.

Then he learns that not only is he not alone but he is actually special, the host of a great gift with which the world can be saved. If that description sounds familiar, it’s because the concept has been utilized in various fantasy series in the recent and distant history.

Of course, if you give the Books of the Raksura series a real chance, you might be surprised to find that, while the books definitely replicate a couple of tropes, the world Martha Wells creates and the stories she tells in the series are unique and competently crafted.

The Books of Raskura series revolves around the character of Moon. When he is first introduced to readers, Moon doesn’t know who he is. More to the point, he has no idea where he came from.

Moon knows that he isn’t like other people. He is a shape shifter, a being that has the power to change his form. Moon spends the first portion of his life living in isolation. Because he thinks that he is the only one of his kind, Moon is afraid of the reactions other people will have to him, not only because of his strange power but the fact that one of the forms he can take looks eerily similar to the ‘Fell’, the most savage of creatures in the land, an enemy that strikes fear in the hearts of every man, woman, and child.

It initially looks like Moon is destined to spend the rest of his life in self-imposed exile. But eventually, the loneliness gets to him. And in an attempt to find companionship, Moon hides any physical indicators of his race and finds a village where he can pursue a real life.

Moon’s ruse doesn’t last long. When the villagers discover his feared flying form, they not only cast him out of the village but they confine him in the open where the local beasts will find and consume him.

When rescue finally arrives, it takes a form that Moon would never have imagined. Moon learns that he isn’t the only one of his kind. He proceeds to meet the remnants of his species.

He also learns of the Raksura, a subsection of his species of considerable importance. Moon’s life changes forever. He meets new characters, makes new connections and finds that there is a destiny awaiting him.

Moon goes on many adventures. He also engages in many fights against the Fell, the biggest enemy his people have; a species that seems hell bent on annihilating them all.

The Books of the Raksura series succeeds primarily because of Martha Wells. She uses very simple and straightforward language that makes her books very easy to read. Additionally, she knows how to create highly compelling characters, not to mention crafting unique relationships between them.

The Books of the Raksura series has all the hallmarks of a clichéd high fantasy collection of novels. But Martha Wells somehow succeeds in injecting a breath of fresh air into concepts and ideas many people thought were long dead.

+The Author

Martha Wells was born in 1964 in Fort Worth, Texas. The author attended Texas A&M University. It was there that she got her Anthropology degree. Martha’s hold to fame are the many fantasy and young adult novels she has written over the years, not mention short stories and essays on fantasy and science fiction.

Besides producing her own original work, the author has also made contributions to notable media franchises like Stargate Atlantis and Star Wars.

The author has been commended for her ability to create complex but realistic societies. The species and cultures and communities in the author’s books feel like they could exist, mostly because Martha Wells injects so much detail into her stories that you cannot help but get the sense that you have lived and walked in her fictional worlds.

+The Cloud Roads

Moon is a shape shifter. He has the ability to take on the form of a winged creature. Moon doesn’t know why he can do the things he does. He doesn’t even know where he comes from.

As an orphan, Moon has spent his life in hiding, trying to keep his powers a secret. Moon’s life changes when he gives into his loneliness and decides to try and fit into the local tribe.

While Moon initially succeeds, especially after he works hard to suppress his special powers, his secret is discovered and the new family he had begun to bond with abandons him. The outcome, while seemingly tragic, turns out to be a blessing in disguise because it brings Moon into contact with another shape shifter like him.

Moon is shocked to learn that he actually isn’t the last of his kind. The new shape shifter takes Moon to a place where he can be himself, a community brimming with people like him.

Moon begins to believe that his life might have changed for the better and that fate is finally throwing him a bone. He doesn’t know that he is something special and that his presence has the capacity to tip the balance of power.

Moon will discover his extraordinary lineage even as he begins to undertake a journey that will see him fight to keep the extinction of his people at bay.

+The Serpent Sea

Moon has come far. As consort to the sister queen of the Indigo Cloud Court, Moon is no longer the solitary wanderer of old. He works alongside Jade to find their people a new home.

Moon thought that the colony would be safe once they reached their ancestral home of Indigo Cloud. But then they arrived to find that the trunk of the tree had been blighted. To save his people and their home, Moon undertakes a journey to find the heartstone of the tree.