The Cloud Roads

Starred review from January 17, 2011
Moon's world is populated by many different intelligent species (none of them human), and he has never known which one he belongs to. Orphaned at a young age, he's wandered from tribe to tribe, hiding a dangerous secret. Like the universally hated Fell, whose only aims are slaughter and conquest, Moon can fly—which leads to predictably violent cases of mistaken identity. When he does find his own people, the Raksura, life doesn't get any easier, since their internal politics are vicious, and they too are in imminent danger from the Fell. Cue hairsbreadth escapes and feats of derring-do, as Moon helps his new family evacuate their doomed colony and then rescues a group of kidnapped children. Wells (The Gate of Gods) merrily ignores genre conventions as she spins an exciting adventure around an alien hero who anyone can identify with.

February 15, 2011

For most of his life, Moon has hidden his shape-shifting nature from the human tribe that sheltered him. When his secret is discovered, he is cast out and rescued by another winged shape-shifter who introduces him to a new world and a common foe: the winged, malevolent creatures known as the Fell. Wells (The Death of the Necromancer) has created a new world of dragonlike shape-shifters and human tribes that could serve as the background for future novels in this exotic setting. VERDICT Concise storytelling and believable characters make this a good addition to most fantasy collections.

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.