The Cloud Roads
core novel 2011 The Books of the Raksura
Record
| First published | 2011 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.98 (16,692 ratings, collected 2026-08-26) |
| First-edition ISBN | 9781597802161 |
| Internal chronology | 1 |
Synopsis
The Cloud Roads, published in 2011, is the first novel in The Books of the Raksura series. It follows Moon, an orphan and shape-shifter able to transform into a winged, scaled form, who has spent his life hiding his true nature after being cast out by the community of groundlings that raised him. When Moon is discovered by another shape-shifter, he is invited to join a colony of his own kind, the Raksura, and begins to learn about the society and politics he never knew he belonged to. He soon learns that his presence and lineage matter more than he realized to the colony's survival, and that his new people face the threat of extinction at the hands of the predatory Fell, forcing Moon to set aside a lifetime of caution to help protect them.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Books of the Raksura
- Series: The Books of the Raksura core; position 1 of 5 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Martha Wells
Notes
- From the series record (The Books of the Raksura): The five-novel main sequence of the Raksura series.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings, but they resolve to the exact same sequence for this book, so one combined line is shown instead of two identical ones.
- Reading order, within the series The Books of the Raksura: position 1 of 5: next The Serpent Sea (2012)
Sources
← The Books of the Raksura dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.