2012 fantasy, second of its series. Moon and his adoptive court have
returned to their old home, but there's a problem…
That's the frame: a Thing has been stolen, and it's necessary to
replace or recover it. What this means is some visits to new places, a
large and successful court and a floating island (on water; this world
has islands that float in air too). In other words it's a traditional
setup for a middle volume: something is wrong, we have an adventure to
fix it, in the end all is back as it was at the start.
But… this is Martha Wells. So on that plot skeleton we have a huge
dollop of worldbuilding, about both the Raksura and other creatures
who inhabit this world, stretching the limits of plausible biology and
then using magic to fill the gaps. And we have character, perhaps not
as deeply as the look at the world, but with both individuals and
their preferences, and factions and politics and having to work with
people who are constantly looking for a way to make you look bad in
front of the boss. But there's also stubborn continuation in the face
of impossible odds, and working out environmental puzzles to stay
alive.
It's good fun, and even the political manoeuvres end up being
interesting because of the light they caset on the various
participants.