The Serpent Sea (Books of the Raksura Series #2)

by Martha Wells

Overview

Nominated for the 2018 Hugo Award for Best Series

Moon, once a solitary wanderer, has become consort to Jade, sister queen of the Indigo Cloud court. Together, they travel with their people on a pair of flying ships in hopes of finding a new home for their colony. Moon finally feels like he’s found a tribe where he belongs. But when the travelers reach the ancestral home of Indigo Cloud, shrouded within the trunk of a mountain-sized tree, they discover a blight infecting its core. Nearby they find the remains of the invaders who may be responsible, as well as evidence of a devastating theft. This discovery sends Moon and the hunters of Indigo Cloud on a quest for the heartstone of the tree — a quest that will lead them far away, across the Serpent Sea.

In this followup to The Cloud Roads, Martha Wells returns with a world-spanning odyssey, a mystery that only provokes more questions — and the adventure of a lifetime.

Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781597803328
Publisher:	Night Shade
Publication date:	01/25/2012
Series:	Books of the Raksura Series , #2
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	204,814
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Martha Wells is the author of more than a dozen science fiction and fantasy novels, including the Ile-Rien series (The Death of the Necromancer), the Murderbot Diaries series (All Systems Red), and the Books of the Raksura (The Cloud Roads). Her work has won the Nebula, Hugo, and Locus Awards, been nominated for the Nebula and Compton Crook awards, and been published in eight languages. Wells lives in College Station, Texas.
 

Editorial Reviews

Once a clanless vagabond, Moon is now the consort to Jade, sister queen of the Indigo Cloud colony, but the job isn't as easy as it sounds. Fleeing the conquering Fell, the colony has returned to their ancestral forest, only to find it deserted and dying. Now, Moon must navigate his precarious place in matriarchal Raksura society and use his outsider experience to hunt down the one thing that could save their new home. Wells' sequel to The Cloud Roads is a world-building tour de force, widening the Raksura mythos to include a whole new civilization: a city built on the back of a giant beast, full of powerful sorcerers and a populace that regards Raksuras as monsters. Despite her weakness at description-it's never clear what non-Raksura "groundlings" actually look like-Wells makes it work, powering through on sheer creativity and characterization. Using its alien protagonist to explore the politics of gender and belonging, this is a fascinating read for SF readers looking for something out of the ordinary.
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Publishers Weekly

Praise for The Serpent Sea and The Books of the Raksura
"Breathtakingly surprising and fun. Wells is a master worldbuilder.”—The New York Times

“Wildly original world-building, diverse and engaging characters, and a thrilling adventure plot. It’s that rarest of fantasies: fresh and surprising, with a story that doesn’t go where ten thousand others have gone before.“—N. K. Jemisin, author of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

“Truly inventive and stunningly imaginative world building perfectly melded with vivid, engaging characters make the Books of the Raksura one of my all-time favorite science-fiction series.”—Kate Elliott, author of the Crown of Stars series

“Using its alien protagonist to explore the politics of gender and belonging, this is a fascinating read for SF readers looking for something out of the ordinary.”—Publisher's Weekly

“The Serpent Sea is a wonderful and spellbinding sequel to The Cloud Roads, which was one of the best fantasy books of 2011. It gloriously continues the saga of the shapeshifting Raksura.”—RisingShadow.net

"That rarity—a completely unique and stunning fantasy world.”—Hugo Award-winning author Elizabeth Bear

“Martha Wells writes fantasy the way it was meant to be—poignant, evocative, and astonishing. Prepare to be captivated 'til the sun comes up.”—Kameron Hurley, author of The Mirror Empire and God's War

“With these books Wells is writing at the top of her game, and given their breadth, originality, complexity, this series is showing indications it could become one of the landmark series of the genre.”—Adventures Fantastic

“An imaginative world of engaging characters . . . the dramatic battles, tough decisions, and character dynamics shine through.”—Publishers Weekly

“Martha Wells' Raksura books are dense, and complex, with truly amazing world building, and non-human characters who are quite genuinely alien, yet still comprehensible and sympathetic.”—Kelly McCullough, author of the WebMage series and the Fallen Blade novels

Praise for The Serpent Sea and The Books of the Raksura
"Breathtakingly surprising and fun. Wells is a master worldbuilder.”—The New York Times

“Wildly original world-building, diverse and engaging characters, and a thrilling adventure plot. It’s that rarest of fantasies: fresh and surprising, with a story that doesn’t go where ten thousand others have gone before.“—N. K. Jemisin, author of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

“Truly inventive and stunningly imaginative world building perfectly melded with vivid, engaging characters make the Books of the Raksura one of my all-time favorite science-fiction series.”—Kate Elliott, author of the Crown of Stars series

“Using its alien protagonist to explore the politics of gender and belonging, this is a fascinating read for SF readers looking for something out of the ordinary.”—Publisher's Weekly

“The Serpent Sea is a wonderful and spellbinding sequel to The Cloud Roads, which was one of the best fantasy books of 2011. It gloriously continues the saga of the shapeshifting Raksura.”—RisingShadow.net

"That rarity—a completely unique and stunning fantasy world.”—Hugo Award-winning author Elizabeth Bear

“Martha Wells writes fantasy the way it was meant to be—poignant, evocative, and astonishing. Prepare to be captivated 'til the sun comes up.”—Kameron Hurley, author of The Mirror Empire and God's War

“With these books Wells is writing at the top of her game, and given their breadth, originality, complexity, this series is showing indications it could become one of the landmark series of the genre.”—Adventures Fantastic

“An imaginative world of engaging characters . . . the dramatic battles, tough decisions, and character dynamics shine through.”—Publishers Weekly

“Martha Wells' Raksura books are dense, and complex, with truly amazing world building, and non-human characters who are quite genuinely alien, yet still comprehensible and sympathetic.”—Kelly McCullough, author of the WebMage series and the Fallen Blade novels

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