Between Worlds: The Collected Ile-Rien and Cineth Stories

Ile-Rien

by Martha Wells, Samuel Roukin (Narrator)

This collection of short stories and novelettes includes the previously published stories “The Potter’s Daughter” (a prequel to the novel The Element of Fire), “Holy Places,” “Rites of Passage,” “Houses of the Dead,” “Reflections” (the Giliead and Ilias stories, prequels to the Fall of Ile-Rien trilogy), as well as “Night at the Opera” (a Nicholas and Reynard story original to this collection, set before the Nebula-nominated novel The Death of the Necromancer).

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Fiction, Audiobook, Anthologies, Magic, Science Fiction Fantasy

Audiobook

First published April 6, 2015

About the author

Martha Wells has been an SF/F writer since her first fantasy novel was published in 1993, and her work includes The Books of the Raksura series, the Ile-Rien series, The Murderbot Diaries series, and other fantasy novels, most recently Witch King (Tordotcom, 2023). She has also written media tie-in fiction for Star Wars, Stargate: Atlantis, and Magic: the Gathering, as well as short fiction, YA novels, and non-fiction. She has won Nebula Awards, Hugo Awards, Locus Awards, and a Dragon Award, and her work has appeared on the Philip K. Dick Award ballot, the British Science Fiction Association Award ballot, the USA Today Bestseller List, the Sunday Times Bestseller List, and the New York Times Bestseller List. She is a member of the Texas Literary Hall of Fame, and her books have been published in twenty-five languages.

She is also a consulting producer on The Murderbot Diaries series for Apple TV+.

Reviews

[Rachel Neumeier · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you’ve already fallen in love with the Ile-Rien novels by Martha Wells—and, really, haven’t we all?—then you need the stories collected in Between Worlds. How exactly did Ilias become Giliead’s foster brother? What was it actually like, growing up as a god’s Chosen Vessel? What were the experiences that forged Giliead and Ilias into such an effective team? These are the stories that will fill in those gaps for you.

Besides the four stories that show us these earlier adventures on Cineth, Between Worlds also collects a story set before before The Element of Fire and featuring Kade Carrion. Better yet, the all-new “Night at the Opera,” takes place before the Death of the Necromancer and showcases Nicholas Valiarde and Reynard Morane—just the allies you want on your side if you happen to encounter the world’s creepiest blackmailer. And hey, if by any chance you haven’t yet encountered Martha Wells, these stories, all prequels to her various novels, offer a fine introduction.

[Peter Tillman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review is (for now) only for "Night at the Opera", a short fantasy story first published in this collection, and also available here, https://podcastle.org/2016/01/26/podc... -- in both text and audio. First-rate story, and I'm likely to seek out the rest of the collection. In the meanwhile, for Ile-Rien and steampunk fans, here's a good sample story! Really, for anyone who likes a good tale well-told.

This elegant faux-historical story, set, well, you already know where, reminds me of another, more-famous one. And if I think of it, I'll be back. Or if it tickles your memory-bone, please comment!

[Alissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

No spoilers! Nice addition to the Ile-Rien series. All but the first story can be read as stand-alones, and even the first one set before the Element of Fire is quite good on its onwn. It’s a real treat for returning fans though.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Circles back around to add a review to this...anyway! I always enjoy Martha Wells books and this was no exception. I did enjoy some stories more than others, which is pretty usual for collcetions of short stories! The Potter's Daughter was perhaps my least favorite, although I still liked it; it's set before The Element of Fire and therefore takes place like centuries before the Ile Rien trilogy / Death of the Necromancer. While I like Kade, she's unfairly pitted against Ilias & Gilead and Nicholas, all of whom I vastly adore.

I really enjoyed al the Gildead & Ilias stories, and thought they did well on expanding on the Syprian worldlore, which I always loved. I can't really pick my favorite story, but maybe it was Houses of the Dead? I was always curious about that aside (that is, the brief story they told) and I thought it was a really good look into Gilead's unique mindset about wizards. He's capable of believing that wizards can love other people, despite this being a fair ways into his life as a Chosen Vessel, and that says a lot to me about his character. I did, too, enjoy Holy Places, though. The start of Ilias and Gilead becoming Ilias And Gilead was really great to see and I liked learning more about Chosen Vessels as children, how they operate.

Night at the Opera was another enjoyable Nicholas Sets Things Aflame, Because Nicholas romp and overall I adored the collection, so. A+?

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great collection of short stories from Wells' Ile-Rien books. Nice to see characters in stories from before their respective novels. The Fall of Ile-Rien ones were particularity good giving a deeper background on the wizard hunters from that series.

[Mimi]

"Night of the Opera": http://podcastle.org/2016/01/26/podca...

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved getting more stories about Kade Carrion and Ilias / Giliead. I wish there was more.

With all of the novels, there are so many interesting stories that are just hinted at, but never told. (Like more of Kade's childhood, Nicholas's escapades, and Tremaine's backstory.)

1. The Potter's Daughter - 4/5 - Before The Element of Fire. Poor Kade. A bastard noble kills a random old woman in Kade's 'territory' to get her attention and a traveling bard smitten with Kade gets caught in the crossfire. Kade just seems resigned and tired of it all.

2. Night at the Opera - 3/5 - Before The Death of the Necromancer. Just before Nicholas meets Madeline. Reynard Morane is hired to provide some vigilante justice on a sorcerer who faked some naked blackmail photos of a young noble girl who scorned him. Turns out the guy is a bit of a serial killer who steals the money his victims, and then murders them. Valiarde helps. The story drops some hints about the court sorcerer's falling out with the Queen, and Valiarde's crush on Madeline.

3. Holy Places - 5/5 - Before The Wizard Hunters. Cineth. Giliead and Ilias meet. Ilias's origin story. He's eight, and Giliead is slightly younger. His step-father brings him to a hill where children are left to die. He finds his way to Giliead's home, where Giliead is starting to take his place as the new Chosen Vessel, and witnesses his first wizard attack. Ilias confronts his family, but they refuse to take him back claiming that he ran away. Ranior takes him in.

4. Rites of Passage - 5/5 - Before The Wizard Hunters. Cineth. Giliead, Ilias, and Irissa. Giliead and Ilias face what it really means to be a Chosen Vessel. Giliead hunts down his first wizard, who deliberately targets him by a [poet] proxy, and curses his father, Ranior. Ranior goes insane. He says some very hurtful things to Ilias, and then dies. The three find and kill the poet, but it's a hollow victory. Ranior is still dead, and they and their loved ones will always be in danger. I think this is the same wizard from The Fall of Ile-Rien trilogy.

5. Houses of the Dead - 3/5 - Before The Wizard Hunters. Cineth. Giliead and Ilias's second wizard hunt. A town forms beyond/between the territories of two gods. A traveling wizard passes through and they kill him, but in his death, he takes over the guls in the area and causes the death of the town. Giliead and Ilias investigate and the shade of the wizard and his sister to rest.

6. Reflections - 3/5 - Before The Wizard Hunters. Cineth. Another Giliead and Ilias wizard hunt. Giliead is lured into a human eating tree. A curseling mimics him and try to ensnare Ilias.

[kavreb · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those yearning for more stories with the characters of the Ile-Rien series (the whole four of us or so), the collection delivers more than I honestly expected.

The Giliead and Ilias stories especially surprised, as most of them are tales that were referenced in the Fall of Ile-Rien trilogy, so if you read that one, you know where half of them are going (and might not be all that excited about them), and yet Wells pulls you in with such feeling for the psychology of her characters and skill for writing thrilling scenes, that it quickly stops mattering whether you know or do not know - you just want to find out more.

The first story, The Potter’s Daughter, is perhaps the weakest (or Reflections, which honestly I’m already forgetting …), feeling almost lacking in depth, but it packs a punchline that sets the mood for half the stories - this time Martha Wells is dabbling in tragedy.

Especially poignant in the stories of how Ilias came to his new family & how Giliead stumbled into this first hunt, you would not be at fault coming away from them feeling heavy with the sadness of loss & the cruelty of people.

But Wells has few character here that are truly evil, except perhaps the deepfake-pandering murderer of the Opera, and the villain of the first tale, and actually no, there are quite a few, but in most of them there are touches of humanity to stop them from becoming too much of a stock type, and to add that tiny bit of uncertainty to certain heroically murderous proceedings.

There's a sense of sadness as well in that this is truly the last of Ile-Rien there was for me to read (though to be honest, you can read them before their corresponding books, and might even want to - to have a bit more thrill). When I started the series, I wanted something that would last for a while, and it did. But everything ends, and on the other side of an ending is sadness and grief, especially when the preceding story lasted a while, and well, here we are.

I got exactly what I wanted. And goddamn, Martha Wells is a great writer.

[Nicole Luiken · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not much for short stories, but will make an exception for stories about characters I already care about. I enjoyed all the stories, but the main effect was to make me want to reread all my Martha Wells' books because I like novels better.

My favourite of the stories was Holy Places, an origin story for how Ilias and Gileiad met as children, but very much focused on Ilias. I cried.

[Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

These stories are simply wonderful, and I’ve gotten a copy of The Book of Île-Rien which I’m so excited to read!

[Kat Heatherington · Rating 4 out of 5]

The collection is a lovely set of prequel stories to the Ile-Rien novels, now collected in one place. Unfortunately, it's only available in audiobook and the narrator is awful. He sounds angry all the time, like he's spitting out the stories. Dreadful choice.

[Beckyjmcc · Rating 5 out of 5]

8th June 2022: If you love the Ile-Rien books then you NEED to read these short stories. Seriously. You get little Ilias and Gil meeting for the first time AND their first two wizard hunts... as well as all of the danger and tragedy that usually follows our favourite chosen vessel and his brother.

The stories are short - about an hour-ish each. They're easy to read. The characters are just as strongwilled and sassy as always. Nic and Reynards story was a fun one, but the rest will leave you hollow and possibly heart broken. I think all of these stories do a great job at adding to the characters. Especially the Ilias and Gil ones. It was really powerful to actually be there with them during events that they mentioned in The Fall of Ile-Rien Trilogy.

These stories are all so good. I'll be back to read them again soon I bet. I used to read these in class at marthawells.com on the school laptops back in 2010-2012. Little me would be so happy that they're audiobooks now. Not that these stories are happy... they're mostly sad. But spending time with Kade and Reynard and Nicholas and Ilias and Giliead is always a pleasure.


28th November 2020: This was a really enjoyable and quick read. It was a lot of fun to revisit my favourite characters from Ile-Rien and Cineth again. I think that the stories give some great backstory to their characters and expand the already rich world that they exist in.

READ THIS BOOK!!! I thought Kade's story broke my heart but then baby Ilias came along and broke it even more 😭😭

[Maegrauko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before reading this bundle I was afraid that perhaps I would connect to the characters better if I had read their books first but I didn't have to worry. I will always wish I had more time with Nickolas Valiarde and Reynard since I raced here right after Death of a Necromancer, but on the other hand, this was my first taste of Cineth and I got to know Giliead and Ilias which was a pleasant surprise. I will certainly continue with them.

[Naticia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't read any of the novels set in the worlds of these stories, but that didn't matter as the world building and characters drew me in immediately. I will definitely be seeking out the other books in this series, and everything else by this author.

[Peggy · Rating 4 out of 5]

MMMMore Marth Wells. Looking forward to associated books. A Murderbot fan, digging into her backlog.

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

13 From the authors website:

"The Potter's Daughter"
Elemental, May 2006
Kade Carrion investigates troublesome magic in a small village. . Travelling musicians, the fae. All elements in a cracking story.

"Night at the Opera"
Original to this collection.
A noble Rienish family asks Reynard Morane to thwart a sorcerous blackmailer, and he recruits a reluctant Nicholas Valiarde to help. Performed in audio on Episode 400 of Podcastle. This one was just meh for me.


Cineth

"Holy Places"
Black Gate #11, August 2007, Lightspeed Magazine #42, November 2013
Ilias is abandoned by the Finan family and finds Andrien, just as the house is attacked. This was quite unsettling.

"Rites of Passage"
marthawells.com, April 2014
Most people in Cineth believe Giliead is too young to take up the duties of a Chosen Vessel, but he may not have a choice.

"Houses of the Dead"
Black Gate #12, July 2008
Giliead and Ilias are called to investigate a strange happening in godless territory, and find a deserted city.

"Reflections"
Black Gate #10, March 2007
Searching the wilderness for a fleeing wizard, Giliead and Ilias encounter strange magic.

[M.H. Thaung]

I’ve really enjoyed the Murderbot stories, but so far haven’t got on as well with the author’s previous works. This collection seemed a good way of visiting her other worlds without too much commitment, so to say.

The stories were all easy to read, though for my tastes there was a tendency towards over-explanation. Working through the entire collection over a couple of sittings, I noticed a pattern of “xxx thought sourly to themselves” (or similar phrasing), which I could have done without.

I found “Night at the Opera” and “The Potter’s Daughter” more interesting than the rest. Perhaps it was the sense of a bigger world beyond the ones we were briefly visiting, and events alluded to but not laid out on the page. The Giliead and Ilias stories felt more like backstory vignettes, and the two major characters a bit, well, generic. Or perhaps I’m simply not the target reader for young lads growing into their destinies.

Overall, I enjoyed this as a sampler, though I’m not rushing to pick up the related books.

[PyranopterinMo · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first story, Potter's daughter, is a Kade Carrion story and takes place just before the first Ile-Rien book Element of Fire. Kade is a pretty amazing creation. You can read most of the story in Amazon's sample- It is extremely good except for the guillotine like ending. The next story is a decent, barely pre Madeline, Nicolas/Reynard story and provides a good background on the state of Ile-Rien around the time of the second book, Death of the Necromancer, without the magic spheres element.
The remaining stories are pre- Wizard Hunters/Fall of Ile-Rien #1 and all involve the two Cineth characters before the start of that book. The background story helps flesh those characters much better than the book, both characters, Giliead and Ilias, and are worth following, but the stories are formulistic about hunting wizards and removing "curses." I would rate them as above average fantasy but not amazing: good for readers who like Conan.

[RatGrrrl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I Need to Read the Books Now!

This is a wonderful collection of short stories in and around a couple of the author's fantasy series that definitely made me want to get into them, which is easy to do with this anthology and at least the first book of the series being in the Audible Included library.

Having only read The Murderbot Diaries before, it was really interesting delving into Wells' fantasy and seeing the difference in writing style, which actually reframed my perspective on the style for Murderbot. The quality and interest of the stories has some variance, as all anthologies do, but that is from pretty good to great in my opinion.

I always get excited to her Samuel Roukin's narration as he's always brilliant and has quickly become one of my favourite audiobook performers, after first coming across him in the brilliant Chasing Graves trilogy by Ben Galley.

Thoroughly recommend.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed getting to dip back into the worlds of Nicolas and getting some additional Cineth backstory vis a vis Gil and Ilias! Although of course they are babies here, and their house is a house before tragedy.

The only real trouble is that every single audiobook reader (over time, not in this one particular book) has picked a different pronunciation for Ile Rien. You can do a bit of meta work yourself by thinking about time passing in the world but the different Cineth pronunciations here after 3 books of the characters names being said differently was a struggle.

Nonetheless; I liked the stories, I like worldbuilding in bits and pieces, and I liked a little revisit. I might have to listen to some of the Fall of Ile Rien again though, because Tremain wasn't here and I missed her.

[Lorelei · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Ile-Rien books don't rank high on my list of favorite Martha Wells work, mostly because of how she's grown as a writer since, rather than a particular criticism of those books. But part of what I enjoyed the most about them was Ilias and Giliead's relationship, and the world of Cineth itself. So I was pleased to see that this collection focuses on stories of their lives before The Wizard Hunters, and I enjoyed them, as expected. Not a lot to say about these, just some nice texture and backstory to the various Ile-Rien books, some morsels of Wells to tide me over while I wait for the next Murderbot.

[Hannah]

Wonderful short stories, all serving as prequels of sorts to their respective books or series.

The Potter’s Daughter gives us a few more details of Ile-Rien at the time, and of Kade’s life. Kade is the best coolest special-est character ever and I want one million more stories about her now please.

Night at the Opera. Love love love a gas lamp fantasy mystery!!! Also love Nicholas and Reynard!

Holy Places. Yesss we get more details of Cineth’s social structures—and a non-idealistic depiction of a matriarchy. And ohhhhh poor baby Ilias 😭

Rites of Passage, Houses of the Dead, and Reflections were all fun, but not as stand-out for me as the first three.

[Red Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly, *highly* recommended if you’ve read and enjoyed the rest of the Ill-Rien series. Don’t be put off by the first story being a little flat - its companion to The Element of Fire, which is not reflective of how Martha Wells’ talent as a writer has developed or how she has developed the world of Ill-Rien et al. The stories of Cineth are a particular highlight and an absolutely necessary companion to the Fall of Ill-Rien series.

[Hung Wasson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great collection of stories, adding depth to the world of Ile-Rein and Cineth

A collection of interesting short stories, featuring characters we've encountered in the Ile-Rein novels. Kade Carion, Nicholas Vallard, Renyard Morane, Ilias and Gilead. It's fun to get these little glimpses into their worlds.

[Genna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did this one next because it was the next one that came up on my library app. I was concerned at first that the last couple of stories have to do with characters in books I hadn't read yet, but since they're all prequels, it worked out nicely and I was able to head into the next book with a notion of the characters but no spoilers. Also they're good and satisfying short stories.

[Anita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Actual rating: 4.5 stars
I loved reading all the books in the Ile-Rien series, but there were certain aspects of the first book, in particular, that did not suit my tastes.
However, I really enjoyed "Night at the Opera" and all the stories about Ilias and Giliead.
I only wish there were more stories in this universe.

[Loretta · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun collection of stories to re-enter this world. Minor nitpick about the audio-narration: it's a different narrator from the novel and pronunciation of both people and places varies a lot. Dangers of made-up worlds, I suppose. I think my favourite story was the Night at the Opera, but they were all pretty satisfying.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A series of snippets from Wells' fantasy worlds of varying length and intensity. These snapshots make me feel compelled to listen to the Fall of Ile-Rien series for additional context and another visit to a world where magic abounds and the adventure is high.

[Kari Chapman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this collection and have no idea how I missed it back when I was first reading the Ile-Rien novels. It adds nice depths to characters from all 3 time lines. I especially liked getting to see Gillead and Ilias before they met everyone from Ile-Rien.

[Jane Dingus · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is a prequel, toThe Fall of Ile-Riem trilogy. It fills in the backstory of two of the major characters. It could probably be red first before reading the trilogy, but I read it afterwards. I listen to an audiobook, and this narrator was good. Recommend.