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Reap the Wild Wind
Group Reads Discussions 2022
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"Reap the Wild Wind" Discuss Everything *Spoilers*
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I did this one in audio, because I’m one of the nuts who thinks reading outside of publication order is evil. But listening outside of publication order is moderately acceptable if you pretend you’re “sampling” the series to see if you want to spend precious print reading time going through it in the proper order.1. What did you think of the world?
The world was really interesting, but it was a struggle for me in audio. The narrator was fine, but I do much better absorbing large numbers of unfamiliar terms in print. I followed the general story ok, but I was several hours into the story before I really started to feel like I understood the world and its races and clans. Even so, I’m sure I missed a ton of nuances while my brain was scrambling to turn all the unfamiliar sounds into something meaningful.
2. What ideas do you think this book was exploring, and what were the results?
The one that stood out to me the most was the fear of change, and trying to maintain the status quo while stagnating the growth of people who could be more and do more. One could draw real-world parallels both on an individual level, and on a racial level. Although I’m sure Aryl’s mother would strongly disagree, I think trying to maintain the status quo prevented her people from being as prepared as they could have been to deal with their difficulties. Change is inevitable. Even if you try to avoid change, you’re still going to be affected by external changes outside your control. If you don’t allow yourself to change and grow and explore different possibilities, or if somebody else is holding you back against your will, you might not be as well prepared to handle external changes when they’re forced on you.
There were also maybe some themes surrounding consent, explored through the telepathy. And I found it particularly disturbing how much Bern appeared to change due to the mental influence of his chooser.
3. What worked or didn't for you?
For some reason I kept spacing out on Enris’ story for the first few interludes and was therefore a little lost in those sections for a while. Once the alien artifact was brought to him for analysis, I did a better job of following his story. Once I got to know him better, I really liked his character. I also really liked Aryl and her determination.
4. Overall thoughts?
I think I’ve run out of thoughts by this point. If anybody was curious about my verdict, I did decide that yes, I’ll probably revisit this in print someday. Probably not in the very near future, but it’s on my list to come back to. But I’ll do so in the proper publication order!
Edit: I just wanted to add that I really gave this 3.5 stars. I rounded down to 3 here on GR, but I’m pretty sure I would have rounded up to 4 if I’d read it in print, or possibly given it 4 stars to begin with.
On the whole I liked it. I listened to this one and struggled with grasping the intricacies of the world and different clans.I'm also thinking I might enjoy this series more in publication order.
Finished the book today. Overall I only found it ok. It definitely read as a prequel. It was interesting enough that I will read the next book in the series to see if it gets better. There are enough positive reviews on this author to keep me interested in more of her work.
Mod
Allison wrote: Anyone else expect the story to end somewhere else? As in a semi cliff-hanger? I was not surprised, as several other of the author's books do as well. I will most definitely read the sequels. Having read the other six books, I sort of know how the third book will end, but not the details.
Mod
I don't mind cliffhangers in a series, so long as the series comes to an end. (Nothing worse than an unfinished series. P. Rothfuss comes to mind.)
My review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...I found the story good not great and plan to read more one day
At 75% and very curious to see where the story goes now.1. What did you think of the world?
Interesting setup with the three species and their Pact on how to share the world.
2. What ideas do you think this book was exploring, and what were the results?
Change, fear of change, contract law, societal norms.
3. What worked or didn't for you?
+Connecting parts, like the clans with the language, people going on Passage to other clans, Oud bringing the shuttle part to Enris for investigation.
+Turning the tables on Aryl / Marcus so quickly and thoroughly
+Om'Rays' view of the world stretching as Aryl realizes she has to change paradigms.
-Hard time visualizing many of the things: sentient beings, creatures, all the plant parts, fiches, alien shuttle etc.
-Thought the Interludes could just have the POV character's names, or have sections called Aryl / Enris.
Marcus is all "Well that was an accident." Yes, there are accidents but he seemed awfully blithe about the consequences. Are there any rules of engagement for this Triad?
I’m not done yet (currently listening to ch. 21), so I’m not reading everyone else’s comments yet and I’ll also engage with the questions only once I’m done. However, I’ve been wondering for a while if “Om’ray” is a……transformed version of “hombre”? Could the “Om’ray” have grown out of a former colony of humans on this planet?
I'm finished, loved it, and have started on the next book in the trilogy.World building was excellent (though it did help having read the other six books in the series.)
Not sure about the big ideas part. I tend to read for the pleasure of the immersion, so I don't necessarily need big ideas. Sometimes they even get in the way.
Pretty much everything worked for me, except Aryl's age. Seemed too young to be believable, even though she is non-human.
Some of the plot elements remind me of the Steerswoman, but I like RtWW much better. I like this book the best of the six I've read for BotM.
Some people have raised points or asked questions I can't comment on without spoiling what will happen in the next two books. I have a general idea (unfortunately), having read the rest of the series, but I don't know the details yet. All I can say is that there is more to come, and many questions will be answered.
Mareike wrote: "I’ve been wondering for a while if “Om’ray” is a……transformed version of “hombre”? Could the “Om’ray” have grown out of a former colony of humans on this planet?"Sounds quite possible. I also think that both humans and two other races aren't native to the world
It's been 4 or 5 years since I read this and I've read the first couple of Trade Pact books and there's no indication that the Om'ray has that etymology. However, I've not read the next 2 books in this trilogy so...
Rick wrote: "It's been 4 or 5 years since I read this and I've read the first couple of Trade Pact books and there's no indication that the Om'ray has that etymology. However, I've not read the next 2 books in ..."Interesting! Thanks for the insight. I was mostly speculating wildly and probably influenced by how the audiobook narrator pronounced the word.
1. What did you think of the world?
I found it really fascinating. Especially all the different societies and the connections/relationships between them. Like YouKneeK, I struggled a bit in the beginning with figuring out the world and how things worked because I was listening to this, but I also really like when I have to figure some things out for myself. So some of the slight initial frustration was due to the medium more than anything else.
What I found particularly well done was how the world widened as Aryl ventured further away from Yena and how that shifted both her and our perspective on….well….everything.
2. What ideas do you think this book was exploring, and what were the results?
Again, I find myself agreeing with YouKneeK in that change is a big topic. Somewhat bound up in a story of generational conflict - at least where Aryl and her mother are concerned - but not confined to that. Since Yena’s First Scout was clearly happy to push some boundaries around new powers, as one example.
And consent is definitely a big one. Aryl’s mother trying to use her to kill Marcus and the chooser from Enris’ clan trying to force a joining both got to me a little. I was pretty upset by the fact that he was made to leave his clan after that.
Balances of power and how knowledge influences those is another big topic, I’d say. Once Aryl learns more about the world and the other societies, she (and we) realizes that things aren’t as balanced and as….easy as she had been taught.
I also liked that it’s a “first contact” story, but from the perspective of the aliens on the planet (or at least one of them). One could even say that it’s several “first contact” stories, since Aryl and Enris both have contact with the Tikitik and the Oud even though they’re not supposed to.
Connected to this, I liked that the “Seekers” weren’t just humans, but a coalition of different species as well. I look forward to finding out more about those Triads in future books.
3. What worked or didn't for you?
I liked the structure. Having Arya’s storyline woven around the “Interludes” focusing on Enris was a really neat way of introducing two different parts of the world and highlighting that the different Om’ray clans have very different lifestyles without having to pause the plot for long lore dumps. And this structure kept me wondering when these two threads would converge. I was quite happy when they finally did.
I also really liked Enris’ reluctance around “Chosing.” I wonder if he could be read as on the ace spectrum.
And now that I’m thinking about it, I’m also wondering if Aryl’s powers have something to do with her being what could be described as a late bloomer.
I don’t have anything that didn’t work per se. I maybe felt a little emotionally disconnected from the characters at times, but that may also have been a me thing.
4. Overall thoughts?
This was my first book by Julie E. Czerneda, but it won’t be my last. I’m always happy to discover authors who write truly “alien” aliens and focus on exploring societal dynamics.
I liked the author's ambitions, taking on things alien, and her ability to raise a lot of questions in the reader's mind especially in the first third. Ultimately the book didn't work for me as I felt I couldn't identify with the characters or community in a meaningful way. I never had a feeling of the culture's play, art, or what they really cared about. The narrative was too overtly in service of metaphor for my taste, despite me being interested in societal power structures and dynamics therein. So...yeah but no.
Mareike wrote: "This was my first book by Julie E. Czerneda, but it won’t be my last."I just finished the last book of the trilogy, Rift in the Sky. Even though I had a general idea of how it would end, given that I had read the other books in the nine book series, it still came as a surprising and very poignant end. Overall, I give this trilogy five stars.
PS: My only dislike about the series are the covers, which are somewhat misleading.
I finished this last night. I really like the world building of this but Aryl being so young gave the character a YA feel so at times that was a little more of a challenge. Overall I enjoyed the book and story. The library doesn't have the next book so not sure if I will ever get to it. I am interested in reading up the series that this is the prequel to.
A few optional questions to get us started:
1. What did you think of the world?
2. What ideas do you think this book was exploring, and what were the results?
3. What worked or didn't for you?
4. Overall thoughts?
Non-spoiler thread here: First impressions