Rachel Neumeier

Trei is orphaned when a volcanic eruption buries his city. His father's brother rejects him, so he crosses half the Empire to the Floating Islands. There, his mother's brother welcomes him. Trei is captivated by the famous Island flyers and yearns to join their ranks. Meanwhile, his cousin Araene wishes to become a chef, but girls in the Islands have no life open to them but marriage and family. When the expansionist Empire seeks to add the Floating Islands to their territory, Trei is caught show more between loyalties.

This is refreshingly unlike other quasi-medieval fantasies. The setting is not generic, and the plot takes unusual twists. From early on, it seems obvious where the plot is going to go. And it does, but in unexpected ways. There are both a mage school and a school where boys learn to fly using dragon magic, but this is not a typical school story. There is a militaristic empire and an invasion, but it is not a war story in the usual sense. The magic has its own forms and rules, and the dragons are not generic, either.

Now I have to go find Neumeier's previous (unrelated) books. show less

This is is the sequel to The Floating Islands and it’s kind of perfect.

I didn’t know what to expect in terms of the actual plot, especially as it’s over eight years since I read The Floating Islands. But the rest was exactly what I expected from Neumeier: lovely prose; vivid sense of place; main characters who are lively, resourceful, courageous and thoroughly decent; tense plot developments; and satisfying resolutions.

Araenè sighed. She found herself longing for her old, ordinary

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life where you never stumbled across stringless harps that changed into dragons or strange spheres that looked like glass but weren’t. But her old life was gone, locked unreachably in the past. Memories of that old life, of her parents and home, rose up forcefully. Araenè blinked hard and, to distract herself, picked up the mysterious sphere.

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The second book in Tuyo series is really a prequel, in which Nikoles, a side character from "Tuyo" becomes out main POV character.

Me: what, no Ryo? Where is Ryo? I want Ryo! But we reconciled quickly, the book and me.

It starts with a traumatic event Nikoles tells about in the previous book. Overpowered by anger and desire for vengeance, he made a wrong decision. Experiencing the consequences from Nikoles’ perspective was very brutal. A bitter conflict between the Lau and the Ugaro is show more brewing.

Enter Aras, Lord Gaur, to handle the situation. It was interesting to see Aras through Nikoles’ eyes (Aras was busy being awesome and clever, of course), and seeing the summer country from a Lau’s perspective. I liked the extra layers and colour it brought to the series.

Nikoles is attracted to competence, I think, and he wants to do right things so badly, after having done the wrong thing. He puts himself forward and starts helping Aras… and telling it like it is:

“But his words could be taken as permission to speak freely, if a man chose to take them that way and had no sense of self-preservation. Nikoles took a breath, straightened his shoulders, looked the scepter-holder in the eye, and said in his most level, matter-of-fact tone, “Lord Gaur, you are being a fool. …”
Aras takes it rather well, but does it his way anyway.

Nikoles’ family connection to the winter country and the Ugaro is a poignant story (and one that I would love to read), and serves as a good plot device in the book’s present. Perhaps there were too many coincidences, but I still liked how it came together.

Nikoles gets lessons in justice; lessons in responsibility; lessons in belonging. It was touching. I loved seeing him being quietly competent as he was adjusting to his new life. I was inhaling the book by this point.

“That was what this solidity was; he recognized it now. It was confidence in his place with Lord Gaur and with this company; a surety that he had come to rest in a place that would become a home.”

I am looking forward to the rest of the series! show less

How easily this book pulled me into its embrace…

I like it when my genre fiction transcends its borders and bursts from its constraints. This is such a novel.

Ryo, a young Ugaro warrior of the winter country, is left as a tuyo, a sacrifice for his people, to Aras, a victorious Lau warlord of the summer land. He doesn’t seem to be eager to put Ryo to death, though.

This is about the journey from enmity and bitterness to trust and friendship, a journey that is touching, cruel, frightening, show more heartwarming and wise. The world is harsh and these are harsh people who will be ruthless if necessary. But the willingness to learn was there, and so was the need to do everything with honour and justice.

The world building was so very interesting, and left me wanting more. I want to know everything there is to know about the peoples who live in this universe! The sorcery was truly terrifying, I don’t think I’ve ever read anything quite like that before.

Ryo’s journey (this is also a coming of age story, among other things) is delightfully heartbreaking to follow. Being in his head is… Wonderful? Scary? Exasperating? Really nice? It’s all of the above and more.

“I had not realized how much I depended on any sign of goodwill from him. Still, I saw that it must be so for a man captive among enemies, and decided that I need not consider this a sign of disgraceful cowardice.”

I want to quote so many conversations!

“It’s not your responsibility to make me feel more comfortable about what I am doing to you, Ryo.”

I love books about people trying to be good in the face of dreadful events and horrible choices. I loved Ryo, I loved Aras. You are both awesome, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Their dreadful journey through the winter land after very traumatic events; the healing afterwards – these are the kind of pages that stay in your mind long after you finished your book.

Oh, Ryo’s family is quite awesome too. It took a lot of chapters until we met, but it was worth the wait. Here you have Ryo and Aras meeting Ryo’s mother.

“So you had won my son’s trust,” observed my mother. “How long did it take you?”

If I am to have any complaints at all, it would be that the evil villain of the story is very eeeeevil indeed. All the other characters are so wonderfully drawn, but the evil one is mostly just eeeevil I forgive this – easily, easily.

The latter part of the book is very exciting, very dark, very emotional. The ending feels like a reward ;)

I am very happy to have discovered this author and this series. There are more books! This includes those with Ryo’s POV. Good, I do need more Ryo in my life. show less