Untethered Sky

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But the superb strengths of The Green Bone Saga's storytelling are retained here, even if they were delivered in a different and smaller format. The dynamic between Ester and Zahra was engaging to read, and the terrific action scenes you can expect from Lee's writing are evident in the text. The last chapter was a breathtaking hunt sequence filled with emotions and tension. Plus, it was refreshing to see the implementation of popular creatures in Middle-Eastern mythologies like Roc and Manticore. Whether by Fonda Lee or other authors, Roc and Manticore rarely appear in fantasy books, especially when compared to dragons and other famous DnD creatures. I fell in love with Fonda Lee’s Green Bone Saga when I read Jade City not long after it won the World Fantasy Award. It’s filled with adventure, magic, and life, and I knew immediately that I wanted to work with Fonda at Tordotcom. We started talking about how we’d work together when we’d meet at conventions. I have clear memories of sitting by the river Liffey in Dublin and discussing novellas, and I couldn’t be happier to be helping to bring Untethered Sky to the world now. It’s a story filled with tragedy, drama, and romance. I was captivated by Ester’s tale every bit as much as she was captivated by Zahra, her greatest passion, and I think readers will be too. I have seen this compared to dragonriders of Pern, and not so, IMO; the roc training here is pretty clearly falconry like. No riding, no telepathy, just plain old falconry but with extra big and mean birds and prey. Gripping action set in vast spaces writ as clean and spare as a dry bone . . . the result is tremendous."— The New York Times

I was six years old the first time I saw a roc. At first, I thought it was an especially large buzzard circling overhead, but then it drifted lower in the sky, and I saw the shape and color of it, the sheer size of it. I started running, laughing and shouting, toward the open ground beneath where it balanced on the stiff wind. I wasn’t afraid, just childishly delighted, as if I’d seen a horse the size of a tree, or a dog the size of an ox. Here’s what you need to know if you haven’t had the absolute pleasure of reading fiction from Fonda Lee: She can write her damn heart out. And she will rip yours out in the process and you will say, “Thank you, Fonda Lee, you have earned this.” This was my experience (and many readers’ experiences) with the Jade City trilogy, and it was my experience again with her latest, Untethered Sky—a lean, vicious, beautiful and bittersweet story of grief, loss, and rage.the writing. ugh fonda lee and her writing gets. me. every. time. 😩 you can't not just read this “ when you love a person, you are expected to give them their freedom, but when you love a monster, you keep it caged. ” and tell me that line did not hit all the deepest corners and crevices of your heart and soul. The combination of rocs and manticores inspired Lee’s descriptions of Dartha. “ Rocs and manticores both originate from Persian mythology, so I wanted the fictional kingdom of Dartha to evoke the monsters’ ‘natural habitat’ of the Middle East,” she described. To keep the worldbuilding tight for the length of the piece, Lee focused much of her real-world research on the art of falconry, on which the role of the ruhkers is based. “I did a substantial amount of research into the sport and culture of falconry,” Lee revealed, “and also into the climate, landscape, plants, and animals of what is now modern-day Iran. I wanted to make all the little details of Ester’s day-to-day life feel real and authentic (within the context of a world with giant birds and man-eating monsters).” But where Lee found elements from history that would have limited her storytelling, she let them fall away. Commoner women would have been unlikely to attain a position as royal falconers in Persia, she confessed, but “I felt quite free not to adhere to that in my fantasy world, where the widespread threat of manticores led to the development of the ruhking profession, and the only creatures that can kill manticores sometimes have strong gender preference (as parrots and other domestic birds often do).” Ughhhhhhhhhh Untethered Sky GUTTED me. The world-building. The emotion. The precarious bond between roc and ruhker. The STAKES. THE TRAGEDY. THE HOPE. Ester’s path leads her to join the King’s Royal Mews, where the giant rocs of legend are flown to hunt manticores by their brave and dedicated rukhers. Paired with a fledgling roc named Zahra, Ester finds purpose and acclaim by devoting herself to a calling that demands absolute sacrifice and a creature that will never return her love. The terrifying partnership between woman and roc leads Ester not only on the empire’s most dangerous manticore hunt, but on a journey of perseverance and acceptance. People have admired rocs for centuries. Artists paint them, sculpt them, tell stories about them. I wanted to be one. I wanted to be the monster that kills other monsters.”

Untethered Skyis a powerful story I would wholeheartedly recommend to pretty much any fan of adult fantasy. It’s a short, snappy read that nonetheless feels epic and timeless, with fantastic character development, worldbuilding, and a fascinating animal/human relationship. My only regret is that there isn’t more of it.

The x-factor in books for me tipping them over from just good to freaking amazing seems to be a combination of pacing and momentum. This story had the perfect balance of both, leaving me reeling at the end of the book in the best way possible. I haven’t finished Green Bone yet, but if this novella and the wild popularity of that series are any indication, I’m in for quite the ride. When you love a person, you are expected to give them their freedom, but when you love a monster, you keep it caged. The characters are written superbly. Even though the writing was understated, I could tell exactly what kind of people (or rocs) they were from the brief time I was with them. Every part of the book was crafted with this same care. I love stories like this: Untethered Sky doesn’t stay longer than it needs to, but it left an indelible impression on my heart nevertheless. darius. darius and ester's relationship actually made me hurt sm. they. could. have. had. it all. 😭 they may not make grand gestures or profess their love loudly from the rooftops. but their love is real, and it's deeper than any words or actions could ever express. sometimes, the most powerful love stories are the ones that unfold quietly, in the spaces between words and actions. and in those quiet moments, their love speaks volumes ❤‍🩹 i actually cried myself numb when darius watched ester leave and he stood there stupidly without following her. but that ending healed me and gave me hope, that they got the chance to be happy and together someplace safe. the real star of the book was ester and zahra though <3 If you like reading about falconry, and animal training hunting scenes, this book will be a treat for you because that is basically what this is about. Me, I was bored and bored.

If you like extremely tense political maneuvering and intrigue, you will love Jade City. Fonda Lee is the new Mario Puzo; Jade City has officially dethroned The Godfather."—Sarah GaileyThe worldbuilding was interesting and if Fonda Lee decided to write a whole series set in this world, I would be thrilled. I think there is a lot of potential for things that were introduced in this story to be further expanded upon in future works if she decided to. Arnan’s voice didn’t seem to be receding at all even though I was walking away as fast as I could. Finally, his screams cut out, presumably because he’d run inside to complain about me, and I closed my eyes at the bliss. The bees droned again. The birds chirped once more. This isn't the rich sprawling fantastical experience of Fonda Lee's saga. Here, you will find unexplored character arcs aplenty and dead-end roads of adrift possibility that The Green Bone saga will have spoilt you to expect. I relieved myself in a straw-filled chamber pot and received one change of clothes through the bars. I drank water from my canteen in small sips every few minutes, but even so I wore my throat down. Ruhkers can barely talk at all after the dark days. What I said was not important, only the sound of my voice. So I told Zahra about how long I had been waiting for her. I told her about the other rocs and ruhkers in her new home. I told her about our future, about how we would always hunt together. I told her everything about my family and the place I grew up: olive trees and goats, the stone house, creek water ice-cold from the mountains, falcons waiting on above. Mother and Father and Arnan. When boredom and exhaustion turned my constant talk into babbling nonsense and dragged my chin to my chest, I slept.