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A review by nghia
Stories of the Raksura, Volume Two: The Dead City & The Dark Earth Below by Martha Wells
5.0
The first collection of Raksura stories, [b:Stories of the Raksura, Volume 1: The Falling World & The Tale of Indigo and Cloud|20344635|Stories of the Raksura, Volume 1 The Falling World & The Tale of Indigo and Cloud|Martha Wells|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1394522898l/20344635._SX50_.jpg|28349112], was mostly disappointing but also contained probably my overall single favorite Raksura story.
This collection is much stronger over all and also contains several of my favorite Raksura stories, with "The Dark Earth Below" vying with "The Falling World" as my favorite overall story.
"The Dead City" is a nice enough story. It takes place during Moon's days as a wandering loner before the main series starts. The break from typical Raksura/Fell stuff is very welcome but, on the other hand, it also means we don't see any of the other characters -- Stone, Chime, etc -- that we've come to love, which leaves it feeling a bit...not fully satisfying somehow? We also see why Moon isn't very trusting of groundlings but... a) I'm not sure needed to see that spelled out and b) that's the result of dozens of things over the years, not just one or two episodes. A solid B-grade story.
"Mimesis" is interesting because it is really the only non-Moon story in the whole Raksura collection. Jade is on her own adventure here, saving someone who gets in over their head while hunting. Another pretty good B-grade story.
"Trading Lesson" is a brilliant little story. It is a small slice-of-life story where not much happens except we see the contrast between Moon, world-wise from his decades of travel, and the rest of the sheltered and naive Raksura. A-grade story.
"The Almost Last Voyage of the Wind-Ship Escarpment" goes down as a bit of a noble failure. It is the only non-Raksura story in the entire series. It is a random group of traders on an airship. It is clearly a bit of an experiment, showing us something other than the Raksura. But the various people on the airship come off as a bit vanilla. One of the great parts about the whole Raksura series is how alien the Raksura feel, which is mostly missing here. C-grade story.
"The Dark Earth Below" started off pretty slow for my tastes but eventually ended up being one of my favorites. It takes places while Jade is pregnant and about to give birth. We see more of Pearl and River not just being jerks. We have Moon torn between his duties as a father -- stay home and protect the clutch -- versus his desire to explore (and his feeling that others aren't as competent at saving the day as he is). A-grade story.
Overall I recommend nearly every story here to fans of the series.
This collection is much stronger over all and also contains several of my favorite Raksura stories, with "The Dark Earth Below" vying with "The Falling World" as my favorite overall story.
"The Dead City" is a nice enough story. It takes place during Moon's days as a wandering loner before the main series starts. The break from typical Raksura/Fell stuff is very welcome but, on the other hand, it also means we don't see any of the other characters -- Stone, Chime, etc -- that we've come to love, which leaves it feeling a bit...not fully satisfying somehow? We also see why Moon isn't very trusting of groundlings but... a) I'm not sure needed to see that spelled out and b) that's the result of dozens of things over the years, not just one or two episodes. A solid B-grade story.
"Mimesis" is interesting because it is really the only non-Moon story in the whole Raksura collection. Jade is on her own adventure here, saving someone who gets in over their head while hunting. Another pretty good B-grade story.
"Trading Lesson" is a brilliant little story. It is a small slice-of-life story where not much happens except we see the contrast between Moon, world-wise from his decades of travel, and the rest of the sheltered and naive Raksura. A-grade story.
"The Almost Last Voyage of the Wind-Ship Escarpment" goes down as a bit of a noble failure. It is the only non-Raksura story in the entire series. It is a random group of traders on an airship. It is clearly a bit of an experiment, showing us something other than the Raksura. But the various people on the airship come off as a bit vanilla. One of the great parts about the whole Raksura series is how alien the Raksura feel, which is mostly missing here. C-grade story.
"The Dark Earth Below" started off pretty slow for my tastes but eventually ended up being one of my favorites. It takes places while Jade is pregnant and about to give birth. We see more of Pearl and River not just being jerks. We have Moon torn between his duties as a father -- stay home and protect the clutch -- versus his desire to explore (and his feeling that others aren't as competent at saving the day as he is). A-grade story.
Overall I recommend nearly every story here to fans of the series.