#me: well that line is foreboding and probably foreshadowing let's use it with no context

[terramythos]

TerraMythos' 2020 Reading Challenge - Book 33 of 26

Title: The Edge of Worlds (2016) (The Books of the Raksura #4)

Author: Martha Wells

Genre/Tags: Fantasy, Adventure, LGBT Protagonist, Third-Person

Rating: 9/10

Date Began: 11/28/2020

Date Finished: 12/09/2020

Two turns after The Siren Depths, Moon has settled into life in the Indigo Cloud colony with young children of his own. But when all the adult Raksura experience a disturbing, shared nightmare that foretells the destruction of their home at the hands of the Fell, things are about to change. Soon an expedition of strange groundlings visit The Reaches, claiming they need the Raksura to help investigate a mysterious abandoned city far to the west. Believing the two events are linked, Moon and the others embark on a journey to avert disaster. However, they soon find more than they bargained for when a Fell attack traps them in the deadly, labyrinthine city ruins.  

If eyes fall on this, and no one is here to greet you, then we have failed. Yet you exist, so our failure is not complete. 

Full review, some spoilers, and content warning(s) under the cut.

Content warnings for the book:  Graphic violence and action. Some mind control stuff (par for the course at this point). 

This is a difficult book to review because it is, for all intents and purposes, part one of a longer two-part story. While the three previous books were all self-contained, The Edge of Worlds isn't, even ending on a cliffhanger. I feel like this duology might have been written as a single book but got split for publishing reasons. As of this writing I have not read the next book, The Harbors of the Sun. So take what I say with a grain of salt, because my commentary assumes the next book will address certain things.

The Edge of Worlds’ core plot builds on threads from the previous book-- mysterious ancestors, bizarre dead cities, the Fell/Raksura crossbreeds, and so on. This book doesn't include any new details about the ancestors, which are just called "the forerunners", but I expect the next book to touch on this more, as it’s been a consistent Thing in the series. There's also another mysterious, ancient ruin critical to the plot. However, it’s pretty different than the underwater city in The Siren Depths, so doesn't seem repetitive. Oddly, it reminds me of House Of Leaves with its vast size, impenetrable darkness, and sentient (?) traps.

The book also explores Fell/Raksura crossbreeds in yet another way. Previous books depicted them as terrifying weapons (The Cloud Roads) or just weird looking Raksura (The Siren Depths). The Edge of Worlds splits the difference, introducing a Fell flight that seems much more sympathetic and reasonable than any encountered thus far-- led by a crossbreed queen. My criticism of the Fell way back in The Cloud Roads is they're basically an Always Chaotic Evil horde of predators, but this new idea adds a lot of nuance. Though I am assuming the next book goes into this more, as they’re just introduced here. It's important to remember the Fell and Raksura are descended from the same ancestor, and even though Raksura are the heroes of the story, there are a lot of similarities between the two species. Overall this is one of the most intriguing threads in the series, and I'm glad we keep coming back to it in new ways.

Another thing this book does differently is perspective. Moon is the POV character in the other main entries. While that's still true, there are several interludes from the perspectives of others. For practical purposes this is to show what's going on outside of the main party, particularly so Malachite showing up at the end doesn't feel like an asspull. Also, certain events really do need to be explained when Moon isn't present. I can respect that.

From a reading standpoint I really like these alternate points of view. They're all minor characters-- Lithe, Ember, Merit, River, and Niran-- which is an interesting choice. Ember's interlude is actually my favorite part of the book. It's fun to see a more "traditional" consort approach an awkward situation, and I like his initial struggle to accept and treat Shade (one of the crossbreeds and a personal fave of mine from the last book) as a regular consort. Ember comes off as very submissive in the rest of the series so it's fun to see him take charge. Also this part features a scene in which two intimidating Raksuran queens, Pearl and Malachite, have the most tense tea service of all time. It's just hilarious. 

This book actually has a trans analogue with the Janderan, the primary groundling species, who apparently choose their gender when they reach adulthood. Specifically there’s a focus on a young man named Kalam, who just took that step. This doesn't feel like the standard fantasy/scifi copout because humans literally do not exist in the series. Wells handles trans/nonbinary/agender characters (human and otherwise) extremely well in The Murderbot Diaries so I feel it’s in good faith. LGBT rep in the Raksura series has been great so far, honestly. Moon/Jade/Chime is like... canon, man.

Another general observation I haven't previously noted... I love how many interesting and varied flying ships there are in this world. They're all boat-like (nothing like airplanes) but there has been a different kind in each book. Considering that most of the main cast can fly it's interesting that flying ships are consistently integral to the plot. It would be so easy to cop out and design one ship that every society uses, but Wells really makes them all unique despite serving similar functions to the story. The ship in this one is organic, powered by living, cultivated moss. I dunno! I just think it’s neat. 

I do have one criticism for The Edge of Worlds, keeping in mind it's part one of a longer story. The pacing. This book is pretty slow; it takes a while to get going and then there are lots of lengthy travel sequences. As long as there’s interesting flavor to it, I generally don't mind this approach. It allows for breathing room and character interaction. But even I started feeling bored at points and had to power through. It feels like a lot of the travel could have been cut from the book without losing much. For example, the journey to the colony tree in The Serpent Sea took up maybe a few chapters. I appreciate travel in this series from a worldbuilding perspective, but in this case I think some time gaps would have been fine. The action doesn't pick up until the party arrives at the ruin, in the latter half of the book.

Also, this isn't really a criticism, but there are several references to the Raksura novellas and short stories. I haven't read them (yet) so they’re totally lost on me. I can't blame Wells for including references, both as a wink/nudge to people who have read them and because ignoring relevant ideas makes no sense. But as someone lacking context it comes off as awkward to have a character think “WOW, this is just like that one time Jade had to do this one thing!” and I’m just like “...it is???” 

Despite this I like just about everything else in the story, especially the second half. It really does feel like a proper finale, bringing back notable characters from throughout the series (not anyone from The Serpent Sea yet... I do have my suspicions here, though). River seems to be getting a mini redemption? The labyrinthine, dark city is creepy, and the artifact they find inside it is super unsettling. All the climactic action is intriguing, particularly regarding the new Fell crossbreeds. The novel ends abruptly, but that’s understandable since the next book leads right off from it. I'm really excited to see how the Raksura story concludes.

[leonawriter]

Okay okay - work with me, the first time I thought ‘Genesis dancing’ I thought ‘ballroom, probably?’, because he’s got that sense of innate grace, elegance, and all... 

But you know what I realised? I realised I was wrong. 

Genesis’ chosen forms might be more ballroom and elegance, but-

Traditional country folk dances. Banora is an old-style country village. He’d have grown up with them.

Like... just imagine the seasonal harvest festival in Banora. Angeal and Genesis in their country best, being taught step here now, touch your partner’s fingers, turn around and clap.

Watch this - it’s not quite the right era here (this is Regency, with upper-middle class families, mostly) and if it is, it’s the wrong place and people, but... it’s the right sort of energy. The right style, and music. 

Actually, the part of the opening of Dirge of Cerberus where it shows the celebration in Kalm is perfect for showing what I mean.

And the thing is, like I was saying before - Genesis and Angeal would have danced these dances. Perhaps not when they were older, but when they were younger, definitely. 

Angeal would love the festivals, because there’d be plenty of food to go around for everyone (and people would hardly notice especially toward the end of the night if some went... missing) and Genesis would probably complain about the noise, and people pestering him to dance with them, and he can’t wait until he’s SOLDIER because he wouldn’t be tired by now if he was, and yet once you got him moving he’d be laughing and smiling.

I... really wish we’d been able to see more of canonical Banoran culture, but I have to believe that given it’s a country village with the wealthy landowner (Genesis’ parents) and orchards that become the town’s main export, and where there are poorer people and those who steal apples because they’re poor, I think it’d be inevitable that they’d have to put on their own entertainment. 

Just by looking in Genesis’ house and where Angeal’s mother was still living, there didn’t seem to be any TVs, probably not much radio signal out that far. Shinra propaganda might get through, but then, it’s a Shinra built town.

So you get people organising festivals at harvest and at other times of year, to break up the long months. You get people with space inviting others in so that they can put on a show - if you’ve got room for several tables in a room, there’s room to put tables aside and dance. Room to set up a stage and watch performers. Does anyone know how to play an instrument? Good, you’re up. Can anyone sing? You too.

Not just that, either. If they’re doing manual labour, you’d end up with working songs, and songs without words, and rhymes that make no sense to anyone who isn’t from Banora, because this is something that only happens in Banora. 

Imagine Zack walking in on Angeal and he’s humming what sounds like a nonsense rhyme. 

Or maybe Genesis is tapping out what he thinks is something completely meaningless, but it’s actually that one song from years back that he can’t get out of his head.

...Actually, you know what? They should have shown us some of Banora’s culture - they should have shown us a few flashbacks to before, when Genesis and Angeal were still living there. It would have hit home just what Genesis later does to the place, all the people who die, but it’d also foreshadow (or explain/call back to) all the mysteries surrounding the two of them, and the town itself.

Like. Imagine if Crisis Core had shown an opening FMV with no context right at the start, showing one of these festivals - we see a young redhead breaking away from people who by their actions are clearly supposed to be his parents, but look nothing like him, and who seem both overbearing and also unsure of how to be parents. We’d see who we’d later find out is the young Genesis running through the crowds to find the young Angeal, whose mother is watching over him as he hovers at the food tables, worried about him for some reason. 

The two young boys breaking away from the rest of the festivities, Genesis half dragging Angeal toward somewhere that we’d later find is the Banora Underground, while the camera pans away-

And then bam we’re with Zack. We think we know who this man is he’s talking to when he becomes visible, but we aren’t sure because we never learned anyone’s name before. 

So if we had that, the moment when we see Lazard flash up Genesis’ profile on the screen would hit that much harder - because you know who this is already. Even without any sort of further explanation, you know ‘this man grew up with the one who defected. ouch, this is gonna hurt.’

Later on, we’d still hear the dumbapples story from Angeal when Zack goes to Wutai, but this time we have more context; we’d already seen just what kind of place Angeal and Genesis lived in, and what poor meant to Angeal. There’d be a greater understanding than Zack, and perhaps that could be good, because it could drive in the idea that Zack wants to help people, but he’s on the outside, and he can’t always understand their problems. 

When we follow Zack to Banora, we’ll have seen these trees before, we’ll know where we are, we’ll be having a bad feeling about this. When we see the empty village when it’d been so full and lively before? That’d be an extra sense of foreboding, because this is not normal. Especially when Zack tries the houses and comes up with nothing other than monsters, and when he does find someone-

We’ve already seen Angeal’s mother once, when she was younger, and here she looks older, and tired. That worry we’d seen? Has worn lines into her face. Maybe there’s something from the FMV that’s an artefact of better times, and we can recognise it.

In this version, when Angeal’s mother says about Genesis that he was “Such a good boy”, we don’t think ‘oh, because that’s what they all say about kids who suddenly murder their entire home!’, we think, ‘yeah, he was, what happened to change that?’. A flashback to the FMV might happen, or something with his younger model turning into that sepia-tainted view of Genesis standing over the empty village.

When we see Genesis talk about his parents like he does, saying that they had ‘betrayed him from the very start’, we would know that there might have been something else going on. We might know from some sign dropped in the FMV that he’s not exactly lying, that they were watching him for Shinra. But... we might also know that Genesis is an unreliable narrator, and his parents may have cared for him somewhat more than he believed that they did - making the story more tragic, but also helping us know that there really are two sides to this story. We know that if Genesis believes this, then we know from how Cloud and so many others were used and thrown away by Shinra in the main game, he had every right to be furious. But we’d also know how bittersweet and awful it is, the truth that might in this version eventually come to light that they might have turned on Shinra for him (which is only shared to us through the Ultimania, but I see as canon).

How about Genesis going through the game and not just having LOVELESS (blasphemy, I know) but also all of those Banoran songs and rhymes and bits and snatches of music, and the only other person who can echo them is Angeal. Genesis might also say something - a Banoran rhyme - to Sephiroth, who doesn't know its meaning, and Genesis explaining drives home the entire subplot of Sephiroth does not feel as though he fits in anywhere, Sephiroth does not have a home, and also, Sephiroth no longer has his friends.

Make Banora one of the overarching themes of the game, like it essentially is, because when Zack’s on the run and is trying to find Genesis to get him to stop,  he remembers how Genesis doesn’t just carry a dumbapple around everywhere... there’s also those weird things he says every so often.

We follow Genesis back, and we know we’re getting near the end of the game, because this is the Banora Underground, this is where Genesis was leading Angeal all those years ago, and it’s going to feel like we’re closing the chapter of this story, ending this book, just like how Genesis gives his version of LOVELESS’ Fifth Act. Zack’s been walking through its pages, hardly even knowing what he’s doing, trying to fix things and trying to help and when Genesis looks into the face of his goddess, she lets him see her disappointment - because he isn’t the hero of this story. Zack is.

And when Angeal appears when Zack’s dying, well. I can see there being a specific leitmotif playing for just a moment, something people sing or say that makes them keep going, or to say that it’s going to be okay now, because you can take Banora off the map, but a place as influential as that ends up touching the people who’ve lived there, and who’ve been affected by it.

I dunno, I just think world building is cool and so is a bit more backstory, y’know?