Book Review: Untethered Sky by Fonda Lee
ARC provided by the publisher—Tordotcom—in exchange for an honest review.
Cover art illustrated by: Jaime Jones
Untethered Sky by Fonda Lee
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Series: Standalone
Genre: Fantasy, High Fantasy
Pages: 160 pages (Hardcover edition)
Published: 11st April 2023 by Tordotcom
Judging this by my novella standards, Untethered Sky is one of the best standalone novellas I’ve read.
“We cannot know the price others pay for their good fortune.”
Fonda Lee is one of my favorite authors of all time; if you have followed my reviews and channel for a while, you will know about that. The Green Bone Saga is a refreshing and monumental achievement in the fantasy genre, and ever since I finished it, I promised myself to read every new publication by Fonda Lee. Eventually, I know I will read her books published before The Green Bone Saga, too. When I saw the cover art to Untethered Sky, a standalone novella with a cover art by Jaime Jones, I was immediately intrigued and excited. The cover art to The Green Bone Saga doesn’t do the content of the books justice, and I am so pleased Fonda Lee is finally getting the glorious cover art treatment she deserves with her books. And although novellas usually don’t capture me, and I certainly would STILL prefer this book to be a standalone novel, it is sufficient to say Untethered Sky met my high expectation.
“When I was thirteen years old, I learned that when disaster arrives, it does so without omen or portent. The truly terrible moments strike us the way a roc strikes its prey— without warning, out of the clear blue sky.”
The official blurb says the synopsis nicely. Ester’s family was torn apart when a manticore killed her mother and baby brother, leaving her with nothing but her father’s painful silence and a single, overwhelming need to kill the monsters that took her family. Ester’s path leads her to the King’s Royal Mews, where the giant rocs of legend are flown to hunt manticores by their brave and dedicated ruhkers. 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. Beyond this, I believe it is better for you to experience the story yourself. Untethered Sky is about 160 pages long, and it took me more or less two hours to start and finish. It is a great novella about the bond between humans and animals, vengeance, and loyalty. And if you are searching for a novella with an emotionally impactful ending, this is for you.
“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.”
Due to the relatively shorter length of the book, it is not a surprise there wasn’t enough time to explore many of the characters in the standalone novella beyond the main characters. Ester’s relationship with Darius and Zahra was certainly one of the two main focuses of the novella. The other is vengeance against the manticore stated in the blurb. As expected from Fonda Lee, she managed to make me care about Ester and Zahra in such a short amount of time. And, of course, because I loved this standalone novella, I wish it was written as a novel instead of a novella. This is not a fault against the book. It is my pet peeve with practically all novellas. When I end up loving them, and it is already comparatively rare for that to happen, I always want more out of the story. And in my opinion, Untethered Sky would be superior if it received more pages and word count.
“My love was entirely possessive. When you love a person, you are expected to give them their freedom, but when you love a monster, you keep it caged. A monster can’t love you back, so there’s none of the guilt of a reciprocal relationship. You’re already subjugated. You’re already holding yourself captive in a cruel way, so you justify whatever unusual bonds you level in return.”
Untethered Sky marked the first time I read a book by Fonda Lee that doesn’t take place in The Green Bone Saga series. And as a diehard fan of The Green Bone Saga, I will let you know now that Untethered Sky is a different kind of book compared to The Green Bone Saga. First, the novella is told through the first-person perspective of Ester, unlike The Green Bone Saga which uses multiple third-person POV chapters. Untethered Sky is also more high-fantasy in its nature than The Green Bone Saga‘s urban epic fantasy. And I liked the change in direction here.
“A person might pass a tree on the path every day and not notice it until it springs fruit at a time they’re hungry.”
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 loved Untethered Sky. As I said, I do wish the novella was longer, but that’s only because I can’t get enough of Lee’s writing and storytelling quality. Fonda Lee hasn’t let me down yet with her books. And I believe this trend will only ceaselessly continue, especially with Jade Shards upcoming publication later this year and more.
“And then she was aloft. It seems impossible, when you think about it. How something so huge can conquer gravity. But we’ve always known that rocs are more than mere birds. There’s a reason they’re the subject of myths, why they adorn royal crests and are carved into the sides of temples.”
You can pre-order this book from: Blackwells (Free International shipping)
The quotes in this review were taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication.
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