The Floating Islands

After his family are killed, Trei travels to the floating islands to live with relatives. He takes one look at the Kajuraihi, who fly on the winds, and knows that this is what he wants to do. His cousin, Araenè, dreams of becoming a chef, but the closest she can get is dressing up as a boy and sneaking into university lectures.

This starts as a story of Trei and Araenè dealing with loss and pursuing their respective dreams despite those of would say that they don’t belong - Trei’s Tolounnese father and upbringing mean his loyalty to the islands is questions, while Araenè worries about people seeing through her disguise. But then the islands are threatened with war, both of them are willing to take risks to protect their show more home.

Floating islands have some unique defences, but they have their vulnerabilities too.

The Floating Islands is such a lovely, quiet story about grief, and friendship, and flying. Flying! Also dragons, and a hidden magic school, and people making sacrifices. I found it appealing and compelling with an intensity I hadn’t expected based on the opening chapters.

Then he said, “Kajuraihi have been soldiers, Trei, a first line of defense for the Islands, but not for a long time. Now they’re more often couriers. Discreet couriers at the highest level, but still fundamentally messengers. Does that sound like something you’d like to do?”
Trei didn’t answer. If the question had been just that - do you want to be a courier? - then the answer would have been no. But if the question was, are you willing to become a courier if it means you can fly? - in that case, he thought, the answer would be yes. Because when he imagined walking the streets of the city, watching winged men soar overhead and knowing he would never be among them... the thought was almost a physical ache within him. show less

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 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 show more 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

Trei comes to the Floating Islands, which are held aloft by wind dragon magic, from Rounn - a long way to the north in Toulonn - having lost his home and family and town to a volcanic eruption. His mother's family welcomes him in - but he has seen the kajuraihi who ride the winds, and has been taken by a deep longing to be one of them. His cousin Araenè is a gifted cook, but her future is circumscribed, as she is a girl in a society where girls are not provided with an education and are only expected to marry well. Trei, too, faces opposition to his chosen career, as a half-breed Toulonnese boy; Toulonn being a war-like nation from which the Floating Islands consider themselves independent. But Toulonn has other ideas about that.

I show more really enjoyed this story. The chapters alternate between the two cousins, giving us a dual viewpoint of the city of Canpra, which is the capital of the Floating Islands. It is well written, though not complex, and kept me wanting to read on.

Recommended.

Five stars. show less

The moment Trei, a newly orphaned Tolounnese and Islander half-breed, arrives on the Floating Islands to live with his uncle’s family, he is immediately drawn to the kajuraihi, men trained to ride the magicked winds that protect the Islands. As Trei trains to become a kajurai, his cousin Araenè has dreams of her own. She wants to become a chef, but Island women are only supposed to want and run their households.

Tragedy forces Araenè down a completely unexpected path: training to become a mage and learning to use magic. When war-happy Tolounne threatens the Floating Islands with new and frightening technology, Trei, Araenè, and their new respective friends find creative ways to use their new skills to help save the Islands.

It’s no show more secret how much I love a good well-written high fantasy, one replete with intricate societal customs, political upheavel, and, of course, magic. So I was delighted when THE FLOATING ISLANDS was exactly what I wanted: a captivating and gorgeously written fantasy world.

I don’t think I have the words to describe why I loved Rachel Neumeier’s writing style so much. It’s not “purple prose-y” in that poetic, whimsical, or heartachingly beautiful way that I like in other books; instead, it’s like the perfect prose-prose, uncomplicated diction that paints an astonishingly clear picture of the setting. You see what the characters see without needing to read ten pages of minute description per scene. It’s hard to explain. It just…does the job of descriptive prose exactly right, and that’s why I call it perfect.

Araenè and Trei are wonderful protagonists with curious and unique adventures. I think Araenè will appeal to people who like reading about girls masquerading as boys to do grand things. The type of magic that she learns is fascinating and a feast for the senses, featuring glowing glass spheres, doors that don’t always lead to the same places each tiem, and flavors of spieces and herbs.

Trei’s experience as a kajurai was cool, too, if slightly less well described than Araenè mage-learning. The kajuraihi also brings us Ceirfei, Trei’s friend and fellow kajurai, who is so noble, level-headed, and admirable. Mages and kajuraihi alike contribute to the protection of the Islands in a fascinating set of tense war scenes.

All in all, as a fantasy enthusiast, I loved THE FLOATING ISLANDS. It effortlessly presents to us a different and thoroughly imaged world, yet dumbs nothing down for readers. The ending is satisfying and yet hints at the possibility of a sequel, which I would most happily welcome. Definitely a book I want to reread and that I’ll be recommending to lovers of high fantasy! show less

I was expecting to be blown away by this book given all the rave reviews I've read about it. I wasn't, but it was still a good read. There's more complexity here than in other YA books, and some truly fantastic worldbuilding that made me want more. The plot was okay - it wasn't anything truly unique, and to be honest, didn't quite hold my attention until three quarters of the way through, after things have already been blown up (literally). But that last quarter of the book was fantastic.

I also never felt very connected with the two main characters. I liked them, and wanted to know what happened to them but I never felt truly invested in their well-being and story. The entire book had a detached air that made it really hard to get show more sucked in. show less

Jessie's List of Reasons Why *You* Should Read The Floating Islands:

~ magic!
(Of the two novels by this author that I have read so far, she takes pains to create unique, if somewhat similar, systems of magic for her fantasy worlds.)

~ magic dragons - some of wind and some of fire!
(And both kinds are key to the plot of the story AND the backstory of both the main characters Trei and Araenè. Their respective connections to my favorite mythical beast added to the story.)

~ girls masquerading as boys for the freedom that gender provides
(Araenè is one of the prickliest and grouchiest protagonists I've come across in some time. However the restrictions on her life, due to gender and her society's repression of woman makes it understandable and show more her sympathetic in her flaws.)

~ dragon-given ability for people to fly with man-made wigs
(They're called kajuraihi - and this one aspect of unique worldbuilding and magic does a lot set this YA fantasy apart. The techniques and history of the society aren't as explained as they could have been - but the mystery of how the sky-mad do what they do works for them.)

~an intriguing setting unlike others I've ever read
(I've read fantasy novels about islands, about avaricious empires, about complex societies and castes, but none that combined all of those in a story about floating islands fighting against a land-bound empire. I love when authors do something new in their genre, and that is exactly the case here.)

~ complex, interesting characters
(And I'm not just talking about Trei and Araenè, either. The novice master, Cerfei, Genrai, Trei's family, etc.; All are reasonably fleshed out - both good and bad aspects. It's a vast improvement over the Karah Mary Sue nature of Neumeier's House of Shadows main characters.)

~ a creative plot
(involving warring cultures, themes of loss and home, battles of steam technology versus nature, etc. Captivating and just plain fun from start to finish.)

The Floating Islands had a lot going for it. Compulsively readable, intensely unique, and well-written, it's going to easily stand out for fans of fantasy. Fans of Neumeier's previous novels will enjoy it and new fans will find it a promising entrance into the vivid imagination of a prolific and talented author. show less

Orphaned after a volcanic eruption, Trei made his way to his uncle's home on the Floating Islands and is immediately enthralled by the kajurai, men flying wearing wings and lifted by magic. Araene, his cousin, is dedicated to creating cuisine, but her position as an upper-class woman only allows a life of married domesticity.
While Trei meets initial success in his ambition to fly, both of them find their worlds overturned by outside forces that threaten the entire Island Kingdom.
This is definitely more YA than I prefer, and Araene's entire story felt shallow.