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The Martha Wells Book Club: The Edge of Worlds

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The Martha Wells Book Club: <i>The Edge of Worlds</i>

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The Martha Wells Book Club: The Edge of Worlds

We're returning to the Raksura series a little out of order, but who can blame us for visiting our favorite lizard-people?

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Published on January 30, 2025

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Cover of The Edge of Worlds by Martha Wells

So, clearly I’m not reading the Books of the Raksura in publication order. There wasn’t any particular reason for it except I wanted to spend more of that sweet, sweet epic lizard people fantasy. Although published four years after the end of the first trilogy, The Edge of Worlds (and its sequel The Harbors of the Sun) feels like a direct continuation rather than a whole new thing. Books 4 and 5 take place only a couple of turns (or years) after The Siren Depths, so I figured I’d tackle this duology before moving into the collected novellas and wrapping up my time in the Three Worlds. Now, let’s see what new trouble Moon has gotten himself into.

“Moon knew he was dreaming.” Martha Wells continues her excellent track record of starting her books off with a killer hook. The Indigo Cloud court experiences a group nightmare of the Fell attacking their colony tree and slaughtering everyone inside. Was it just a dream or a vision of things to come? Wells introduces readers new to the Three Worlds to the various cultures and creatures, sentient and otherwise—although why you’d jump into the fourth book (or sixth, depending on how you count it) in a series is beyond me. She also catches up returning readers. I don’t know about you, but learning Moon and Jade finally had their clutch made my heart grow three sizes. Despite or maybe because of his past trauma, I knew he’d be a good dad. He’d already shown so much care and compassion toward the adopted Sky Copper clutch rescued from the Fell earlier in the series. When we first met Moon, his motivation was self-preservation. By the end of the trilogy, it was protecting the people he loved (especially Jade, Chime, and Stone); now, that circle has grown to include his young children. 

There’s a quick scene of the Raksura going after a predator that’s been attacking their hunters. Then we encounter our old friend Delin, the traveling scholar from the Golden Isles. He has been if not kidnapped then put into a position where he doesn’t have a choice but to go with another group of flying boat people. Most of the crew are from Kish-Jandera, groundlings from a distant civilization. They’re lead by the scholar Callumkal, who believes he’s found a ruined city belonging to either the forerunners (the proto-Raksura who caused all that trouble with the Fell in the first trilogy) or the foundation builders, a people even older than the ancient flying islanders and who seem to have created the earliest civilizations. 

The Kish-Jandera aren’t the only group interested in the city on the edge of the ocean: the Fell have been spotted on the archipelago feeding on the locals. The Raksura don’t care about the foundation builders, but if the structures are from the forerunners, they have a big problem. There could be another forerunner locked inside and luring the Fell to help free it, like in The Siren Depths, or some forerunner magic that could turn the Fell into an unstoppable foe. Either way, it’s clear that Indigo Cloud has no choice but to join Callumkal and Delin. 

One of the things that struck me while Moon and Stone were wandering through the trade city inhabited by Coastals is that I think one of the (many) reasons I love this series so much is that it feels like an epic fantasy version of Star Wars. I’m sure this isn’t a wholly original idea, but the similarities are strong in how both show strange beings with their strange cultures and traditions, all interacting with the world in their own strange ways. Strangeness is the norm. You have sealing sex workers, armored groundlings with flying moss ships, cities built on leviathans, lizard people with elaborate social hierarchies, and everything in between. There are common languages that connect folks across cultures, ancient fallen empires and newly emerging ones, a myriad of genders and types of relationships, and no two kinds of people look the same. It’s all the worldbuilding I love from Star Wars and is something I wish more second world fantasy engaged in. We don’t have to keep replicating Earth. More fantasy aliens! 

The trip to the port is also right about where I realized I have no idea what this world looks like. Really wish we had a map insert for the Three Worlds. Wells does her best to describe the geography, but there’s too much going on for me to keep track of what and who is where. I’m totally lost. Not a clue. At one point Wells had posted her version of the map on Twitter, however it seems to have vanished. This map created by a Reddit user helped a little, but is too vague for my brain.

Something new Wells does with the narrative structure in this book as opposed to the trilogy is expand beyond the third person POV centered on Moon. Other side characters like River and Ember occasionally take the stage. The trilogy is about Moon’s character development, while duology is more about the colony’s. River shows how he’s matured from being an all-around asshole. With Ember, we get this lovely moment where he overcomes the Raksuran habit of disliking or fearing Raksurans who are different and welcomes Shade, the Opal Night half-Fell consort and Moon’s “half clutch-brother” into his personal bower. The expanded POVs are also a handy way to show readers that Pearl’s isn’t the only court to have a shared vision of a Fell attack. Malachite joins forces with Pearl and Niran and the alliance sets off to the sea mounts. If only they didn’t arrive too late.

As Moon’s journey progresses, the Raksura speculate about whether or not someone on the crew is possessed by the Fell. Wouldn’t be the first time that happened. As much as I didn’t want it to be true, my guess was Delin. They’re so comfortable with him that it made sense the Fell would pick him. By the end of the book, we learn that no one is a Fell spy—and thank goodness because I was really starting to stress out over my Delin theory—but it was fun to play that guessing game. A great way to distract the reader from spotting the real double-cross.

Speaking of Delin, Wells parallels him nicely with Stone. Raksura get bigger and stronger as they age, while Delin’s people age in a way similar to humans. However, both make sure everyone knows that they’ve lived long enough that they don’t have to adhere to the rules or social propriety. They’ve earned a little rebelliousness. Niran is just as consternated by Delin’s tendency to wander off as Moon is with Stone, and both younger men are just as unable to rein their elders in. Stone and Delin have a compelling friendship that I would love to see more off. Come to think of it, I’d also love a short story of Delin as a young father exasperating the hell out of everyone back home.

At the sea mounts, the Kishan ship is attacked by the Fell. More specifically, one Fell flight attacks them and another Fell flight led by a half-Raksuran queen saves them. Moon has an interesting conversation with her. She’s basically a teenager in charge of an army; she wants to do the “right” thing but has no idea what that is. I hope she survives the next book and her half-Fell kin get to start their own court, maybe with the help of Shade and Lithe. 

The Kishan ship seeks refuge in the city, but quickly realizes if they don’t find another way out they’ll starve to death. That sends the Raksura on a trip through the ruins. They find the magical MacGuffin, an ensorceled silver cage-like object, and it’s clear that foundation builders had a strong relationship with the forerunners. It’s also clear that the Raksura have got to get rid of whatever the object is before the Fell or the other groundlings get their grubby mitts on it. Cue that betrayal I mentioned earlier. Turns out Vendoin, one of Callumkal’s crew, is a Hian spy. She drugs everyone with the same Fell poison the Cordans gave Moon in the first book, steals the MacGuffin, and escapes with several hostages onto a Hian ship. What the Hians want with the item is unknown, but it can’t be anything good for the future of the Three Worlds. By the end, Niran’s cohort have reached Moon and the damaged Kishan ship. The half-Raksuran Fell queen is out there somewhere, and the nightmare of the Fell attacking the Reaches is closer to coming true. “[Moon] hoped Vendoin was afraid. He hoped she knew they were coming.” I can’t wait to read the conclusion!

Join me next month when we set off on yet another quest to find Moon’s missing friends in The Harbors of the Sun. icon-paragraph-end

About the Author

Alex Brown

Author

Alex Brown is a Hugo-nominated and Ignyte award-winning critic who writes about speculative fiction, librarianship, and Black history. Find them on twitter (@QueenOfRats), bluesky (@bookjockeyalex), instagram (@bookjockeyalex), and their blog (bookjockeyalex.com).
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