Reviews

The Harbors of the Sun: Volume Five of the Books of the Raksura by Martha Wells

sridevi93's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

violentlyagitated's review

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

juellmccool's review against another edition

2.0

My least favorite of the series. Just clunky plot, too many unimportant characters, With a couple very artificial feeling emotional conflicts tossed in here and there. Ending was a bust :/

malus23's review against another edition

5.0

So, so satisfying. Trying to say more but I keep deleting it because it's hard to not be spoiling. Book is so new I don't want to say much yet. Just...all the feels.

**re-read**

Spoiler

So many little things that make this wonderful - seeing Moon so much more confident in the others (the way he never has that moment of "will they come looking for me?" in this one - he knows if they survived, they'll search forever, which is a huge step for him); Pearl and Malachite being just the thing each other need sometimes to balance each other out; the progression of Stone and Moon treating Consolation's kethel as progressively more like a real person as they adjust to him and his non-puppet status (the kethal, our kethel, Kethal); all the little ways in which various characters have to face up to their fears or anger, sometimes succeeding, sometimes failing; the way at the end everyone sits down and talks through their feelings together to keep their relationships in good repair. The plot related action is a lot of fun too, but the way all the little moments flesh everyone out into real, complicated people is the big key to everything. Oh, and <3 Stone and Rorra!

alexreadsome's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

grid's review against another edition

5.0

This concluded nicely.

erica_sff's review against another edition

4.0

I would highly recommend reading the Harbors of the Sun directly after The Edge of Worlds rather than waiting a year or so between them as I just did. Unlike the first three Raksura books, which were clearly interconnected yet each had their own completed arc, Edge of Worlds and Harbors of the Sun read more like two halves of the same novel. This made the pacing of each a little strange taken on its own, and I suspect the whole would have been more satisfying back to back.

That said, Wells continues to paint us a vivid story in a world of breathtaking diversity of life, layers of history, with great characters. It was fun seeing some additional viewpoints to Moon, though seeing Moon continue to mature and fit more easily in his (rather unique) place in his new family is also good. There are, as usual, some chewy issues obliquely explored—in this case particularly the nature of where we draw our societal lines and some different takes on prejudice and societal preconceptions. None of that is overbearing though if you're in it for the fun romp with air ships, magic, lost technology, poisoners, and flying shape-changers.

Perhaps I do this book an injustice giving it only 4 stars--I really feel that if I'd read them back to back it might have been a 5 but I didn't, so the pacing was a little odd to me. That said, still a great read from one of my favorite authors and I devoured it in a day and a half.

c_morning's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

4.0

dvrico's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny inspiring relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

green_rat's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0