In fact, the Raksuran are ruled by queens. But there is no mention whatsoever of women being less than men. Not that there are no status differences, there are. And what I like the most about all of this, is that all characters are very, well, egalitarian. As for the characters, Moon, Jade, Pearl, and Stone are all well-drawn, and believable. The Raksura are cool: I like that they have their own status system and customs that are clearly well-thought out, but again, the author doesn't feel the need to club you over the head with it. The same goes for Moon's past and his introduction to the Raksura.

The world and the races are well-described, but not so much that it gets boring. Unfortunately, his people are in trouble.What I like about this book is that everything seems to have been done just right. Again, he struggles to be accepted and to learn the ways of his people. Something goes wrong very often, though, and at the beginning of the book, something does just as he encounters his own species for the first time. Because of that, he keeps his second shape hidden when he tries to blend in with one of the groundling races. Unfortunately, in his flighted shape he resembles the Fell, a race of conquerors. He is a shapeshifter who can alternate between two shapes: a fully humanoid one (his 'groundling' shape) and a flighted one. Our main character doesn't know which race he belongs to, since his family died when he was very young. This is one of the more original fantasy books I've read in a while.

The cloud roads series