2011 fantasy, first of a series. Moon is a shapeshifter, able to turn
into a flying predator. When he's driven out from the latest human
community he's been hiding among, he is found by another shifter and
brought to meet more of his people, while becoming a pawn in several
power games…
There's a lot of setup and discovery of the nature of the world
(and the nature of Moon himself) here, which I don't want to spoil for
a new reader by discussing it in any sort of detail. Moon has been
raised apart from his people and so doesn't know even the basics of
how their society works; meanwhile they see him as an ignorant
barbarian, ignoring the possibility of things he may have learned in
his own life.
The biology is interesting, with some degree of caste assignment by
birth, some later development, and an occasional sport who moves from
one caste to another as an adult. There are clearly ruins of much
greater civilisations dotted about the place, and it's extremely
apparent that we're not getting all the answers to the biological
puzzles posed here.
I think what made this book work for me is that it's not the fantasy
cliché of the last of his kind finding immediate acceptance and
family. Living with other Raksura has benefits, certainly, but there
are old grudges and new problems, and even once he's met the place,
Moon is planning to stay only as long as is absolutely necessary.
There's a evidently a great deal still to learn and as always with
Wells I'm enjoying the journey.
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