Buy Untethered Sky HERE
OFFICIAL AUTHOR BIO: Fonda Lee is the author of the epic fantasy Green Bone Saga, beginning with Jade City, continuing in Jade War, and concluding in Jade Legacy. She is also the author of the science fiction novels Zeroboxer, Exo and Cross Fire, and two novellas, the Green Bone Saga prequel The Jade Setter of Janloon, and the upcoming Untethered Sky.
Fonda is a winner of the World Fantasy Award, the Locus Award, and a four-time winner of the Aurora Award (Canada’s national science fiction and fantasy award), as well as a multiple finalist for the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, and the Oregon Book Award. Her novels have garnered multiple starred reviews and appeared on Best of Year lists from NPR, Barnes & Noble, Syfy Wire, and others. Jade City has been translated in a dozen languages, named to TIME Magazine’s Top 100 Fantasy Books of All Time, and optioned for television development.
She has also written acclaimed short fiction and been an instructor at writing workshops including Viable Paradise and Clarion West. Fonda is a former corporate strategist and black belt martial artist who loves action movies and Eggs Benedict. Born and raised in Canada, she currently resides in the Pacific Northwest.
FORMAT/INFO: Untethered Sky was published by Tordotcom on April 11th, 2023. It is 160 pages. It is told in first person from Ester's POV. It is available in hardcover and ebook format.
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: When Ester's family suffers a devastating loss at the hands of a manticore, she vows to join the Royal Mews to avenge them. The Royal Mews are home to ruhkers, an elite group that bond with and train rocs to hunt manticores, vicious beasts who prey on humans. Training a roc itself is dangerous; inexperienced ruhkers are just as likely to be killed by their partner as they are to form a lasting relationship. But Ester is determined to wipe the scourge of manticores from the earth, and she'll do so one hunt at a time.
Untethered Sky is a tightly woven story where Fonda Lee does what Fonda Lee does best: makes you emotionally invested in a character and then puts that character through the wringer. It's a coming of age story combined with animal bonding that harkens back to stories like The Black Stallion, where human and creature have to work together for victory (even if that creature doesn't understand the stakes). Training a roc is essentially extreme falconry, except with a bird the size of a person who may decide you would make a tasty meal instead.
As Ester bonds and trains her roc, she goes through her own unrelated rites of passage, including her first crush, as well as learning that reality doesn't always quite match up with your idealized dreams of how the world works. While at times it can feel a bit of a standard story (albeit one extremely well-written), it's all lead up for an ending that pays off everything that came before. My only real complaint is that the story ends rather abruptly after the climax, which was a bit jarring.
CONCLUSION: That aside, Untethered Sky is absolutely worth your time, especially for how brief it is. Without intending to, I read this novella in one night, unable to put it down. It will suck you into its pages and then spit you out again with your emotions in a twist. If you are at all a fan of stories that heavily feature an animal companion, I highly recommend Untethered Sky.
Fonda is a winner of the World Fantasy Award, the Locus Award, and a four-time winner of the Aurora Award (Canada’s national science fiction and fantasy award), as well as a multiple finalist for the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, and the Oregon Book Award. Her novels have garnered multiple starred reviews and appeared on Best of Year lists from NPR, Barnes & Noble, Syfy Wire, and others. Jade City has been translated in a dozen languages, named to TIME Magazine’s Top 100 Fantasy Books of All Time, and optioned for television development.
She has also written acclaimed short fiction and been an instructor at writing workshops including Viable Paradise and Clarion West. Fonda is a former corporate strategist and black belt martial artist who loves action movies and Eggs Benedict. Born and raised in Canada, she currently resides in the Pacific Northwest.
FORMAT/INFO: Untethered Sky was published by Tordotcom on April 11th, 2023. It is 160 pages. It is told in first person from Ester's POV. It is available in hardcover and ebook format.
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: When Ester's family suffers a devastating loss at the hands of a manticore, she vows to join the Royal Mews to avenge them. The Royal Mews are home to ruhkers, an elite group that bond with and train rocs to hunt manticores, vicious beasts who prey on humans. Training a roc itself is dangerous; inexperienced ruhkers are just as likely to be killed by their partner as they are to form a lasting relationship. But Ester is determined to wipe the scourge of manticores from the earth, and she'll do so one hunt at a time.
Untethered Sky is a tightly woven story where Fonda Lee does what Fonda Lee does best: makes you emotionally invested in a character and then puts that character through the wringer. It's a coming of age story combined with animal bonding that harkens back to stories like The Black Stallion, where human and creature have to work together for victory (even if that creature doesn't understand the stakes). Training a roc is essentially extreme falconry, except with a bird the size of a person who may decide you would make a tasty meal instead.
As Ester bonds and trains her roc, she goes through her own unrelated rites of passage, including her first crush, as well as learning that reality doesn't always quite match up with your idealized dreams of how the world works. While at times it can feel a bit of a standard story (albeit one extremely well-written), it's all lead up for an ending that pays off everything that came before. My only real complaint is that the story ends rather abruptly after the climax, which was a bit jarring.
CONCLUSION: That aside, Untethered Sky is absolutely worth your time, especially for how brief it is. Without intending to, I read this novella in one night, unable to put it down. It will suck you into its pages and then spit you out again with your emotions in a twist. If you are at all a fan of stories that heavily feature an animal companion, I highly recommend Untethered Sky.
3:00 AM | 
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Caitlin G. |
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