The Siren Depths

Wells%E2%80%99s third Books of the Raksura fantasy is rich in SF world-building and fascinating, character-driven drama. Moon is married to Jade, one of the matriarchs of the Indigo Cloud Colony, but he doesn%E2%80%99t quite fit in. Orphaned young and forced to fend for himself, Moon is more rough-and-ready than a proper young consort should be, and he doesn%E2%80%99t know his birth family. When representatives of the Opal Night Colony arrive and claim to be his birth clan, Moon doubts that his mate Jade will fight to keep him. But Opal Night is just as unconventional as their prodigal son: secretly, some of them are crossbreeds, descended from the predatory enemy Fell. Can they be trusted? Can the Fell use them as a weapon%E2%80%94possibly against their will? Against a backdrop of matriarchal clans and rival intelligent species, Wells examines tricky questions of gender, nature and nurture, and the nature of belonging. This is an unusual and satisfying novel. (Dec.)