The Books of Ile-Rien
fantasy
Series · fantasy
The Books of the Raksura
The Books of the Raksura series by Martha Wells has 5 books and is best read in publication order, starting with The Cloud Roads (2011).
- Books
- 5 books
- First published
- 2011
- Status
- completed
- Last checked
Start here: The Cloud Roads (2011) — then read straight through in publication order.
Reading order
The order the books were released — the default way to read the series.
- Book 1:
The Cloud Roads
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Cloud Roads - Book 2:
The Serpent Sea
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Serpent Sea - Book 3:
The Siren Depths
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Siren Depths - Book 4:
The Edge of Worlds
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Edge of Worlds - Book 5:
The Harbors of the Sun
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Harbors of the Sun
About The Books of the Raksura
Moon has spent his entire life hiding what he is, drifting between short-lived communities of other species because revealing his shapeshifting, dragon-like true form has always meant being driven out or killed. The Cloud Roads (2011) begins when he's finally found by others of his own kind, the Raksura -- a matriarchal, caste-structured flying people he never knew existed -- and has to decide whether he can belong to a society built on rules he's never learned. Martha Wells builds an unusually detailed non-human social structure around the Raksura's court system, with queens, consorts, warriors, and soldiers each carrying distinct roles and instincts, and uses Moon's outsider position to explore belonging without ever losing the series' core adventure-fantasy momentum.
The Serpent Sea, The Siren Depths, The Edge of Worlds, and The Harbors of the Sun follow Moon's court, the Indigo Cloud, as they rebuild a damaged home tree, confront rival courts and ancient enemies called the Fell, and are drawn into wider threats to the Three Worlds their people inhabit. Wells layers worldbuilding thick throughout -- ancient ruins, alien technology, and a genuinely non-Western social structure -- while keeping the emotional core fixed on Moon's slow, hard-won sense of home.
How to read this series
Read in publication order: The Cloud Roads, The Serpent Sea, The Siren Depths, The Edge of Worlds, The Harbors of the Sun. This is a continuous story following Moon and the Indigo Cloud court across an escalating set of threats, and should be read straight through. Two companion collections, Stories of the Raksura Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, gather shorter Raksura fiction alongside the novels but aren't required to follow the main story.
Frequently asked questions
How many novels are in The Books of the Raksura?
Five: The Cloud Roads (2011), The Serpent Sea (2012), The Siren Depths (2012), The Edge of Worlds (2016), and The Harbors of the Sun (2017), plus two companion short-fiction collections not tracked here.
What order should I read The Books of the Raksura in?
Publication order: The Cloud Roads, The Serpent Sea, The Siren Depths, The Edge of Worlds, The Harbors of the Sun.
Is The Books of the Raksura connected to the Murderbot Diaries?
No -- they're entirely separate settings; Murderbot is science fiction, while the Raksura books are secondary-world fantasy with no shared characters or continuity.
Who are the Raksura?
A matriarchal, shapeshifting winged species with a caste-based court system (queens, consorts, warriors, soldiers, and more), central to the series' worldbuilding and to protagonist Moon's search for belonging.
Does the series have a complete ending?
Yes -- The Harbors of the Sun (2017) concludes the main five-book arc; Wells has continued to write shorter Raksura fiction since.
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Reading order last verified .