I apparently got my spouse into [a:Martha Wells|87305|Martha Wells|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1397566224p2/87305.jpg] and so he went and ordered her other books. I chose...wisely.

Her Raksura books are, at least superficially, very different from the ersatz Europe of Ile-Rien. In many ways, these were much more like a traditional fantasy novel (and needed the same kind of introduction that those usually require - a character who conveniently knows less than the reader), but Wells is a solid wordsmith and spent way less time info dumping than I was worried, to the point that I occasionally found myself a bit confused.

My opinion of her writing hasn't changed - it's not that she transforms the genre in large ways by upending paradigms, but the smaller changes she makes to familiar narratives that subtly alter the stereotypes and cliches of the form (because all forms have those) make her work very fun to read.

The differences between the Raksura and Ile-Rien were unexpected enough that I think it took me a while to come to terms with this book as the book I was actually reading.

For example, most fantasy novels have a hard time with complex, well-rounded villains whose motives are transparent and even understandable (well, ish) from their perspective without going full tilt into redeeming them and finding some way to keep our heroes from having to kill people who feel like people or making everyone feel like the villain (Game of Thrones, I'm looking at you).

Wells manages that. She lets you encounter the villains, grow to understand them and then lets her heroes do what they need to do to survive. And I appreciate that.
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I have a policy of not changing ratings on rereads, which is a bit of a shame, because once I like a book enough to reread it, it probably deserves a higher rating.
These books are quietly brilliant and, rereading them, I get a very good sense of why Wells can do such a good job with Murderbot.