I decided to try Martha Wells’ fantasy series about the Raksura and am enjoying them.
The premise is that there is a race of shape-shifters … they seem to be sort of a cross between dragons and winged humans, though the cover picture doesn’t really match what the book seems to “show” they look like. Moon is a “feral” Raksura who was the last survivor of an attack by the evil Fell, who look similar to the Raksura. Moon has been roaming around alone for most of his life, ignorant of his race and his culture, staying with various villages of “groundlings” … until they eventually kick him out for being too different.
The last village spotted him in his winged form and assumed he was a Fell, so they drugged him and staked him out for the local giant predators to eat. Fortunately, Stone, a “line-grandfather” Raksura, spotted him and rescues him before he can be eaten. Stone takes him to the court of Indigo Cloud, a tribe of Raksura who desperately need new blood. And it turns out Moon is a consort, one of the few fertile males who can mate with a queen. There are a few unlikely coincidences in the book, but overall it’s a good read. I’m working my way through the series now …
