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A review by erica_sff
The Harbors of the Sun by Martha Wells
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.
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.