OFFICIAL AUTHOR BIO: Twice-nominated Astounding Award finalist JENN LYONS lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband, her cats and a nearly infinite number of opinions on anything from Sumerian mythology to the correct way to make a martini. After spending thirty years working as a graphic artist, art director, and video game producer (in that order), Lyons now spends her days writing fantasy. She traces her geek roots back to playing first edition Dungeons & Dragons in grade school—a passion she’s continued as an adult—as well as pursuing whatever craft or skill she’s obsessed with this week: pyrography, beadwork, stenography, furniture upholstery, etc. Her five book epic fantasy series, A Chorus of Dragons, begins with The Ruin of Kings.

FORMAT/INFO: The Sky on Fire will be published on July 9th, 2024 by Tor Books. It is 448 pages long and told in third person, mainly from Anahrod's POV. It will be available in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook format.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Living in the Deeps means living a life full of danger - but at least it's a life that doesn't include dragons. It's why Anahrod has spent nearly two decades surviving on her own in the deadly jungles far below the mountainous peak cities where dragons rule. In the mountains, humans live at the whims of dragons, with the threat of a dragon going on a murderous rampage constantly hanging over them. But Anahrod's past catches up with her when a group approaches her with a bold plan: they plan to rob the hoard of the dragon regent, and they believe Anahrod is the missing piece to pull of the heist. But it's going to take a lot to convince Anahrod to go along with a plot she believes is near suicidal - especially because the dragon regent will personally kill Anahrod if she ever lays eyes on her again.

The Sky on Fire is a roller coaster of an adventure ride, throwing readers into a world where humans live only so long as the dragons of the world tolerate them. The story is one escapade after another, as Anahrod has to survive everything from mercenaries to trapped vaults to riding through a storm in a sky ship. The author has a knack for writing great action, and from the moment the actual heist kicks off until the final pages, I was thoroughly hooked on the race to the finish.

The book was weaker when it came to the actual characters. We get a lot of time to understand Anahrod, as the story is largely told from her perspective. The rest of the crew, however, is largely left to be one dimensional side characters. One character for instance, speaks purely by quoting various plays (think someone from our world who only speaks lines of Shakespeare), while another is neural atypical in a way that sometimes leaves him debilitated from overstimulation - but aside from these two broad descriptions, I could tell you almost nothing else about their personalities or backstories. Other characters have a bit more depth to them, but not much.

The other thing I wish had been engaged with more is delving into the dark nature of dragon bonding as presented in this world. I read a quote from the author where she said she wanted to explore the inverse of how dragon bonds are normally presented. Instead of humans either taming a wild beast or entering into a partnership with an intelligent creature, what if the dragon was the dominant force in the relationship, and the human was little more than a slave?

But aside from a side character who is a dragon rider, we don't really get an extensive first hand look at this bond in a way that makes it personal. Anahrod herself is someone who ran away from being a rider; only one significant side character is in one of these toxic dragon rider relationships, and they're off screen for large chunks of this book. I would have loved to have seen these bonds explored in a way that was more personal than what we got.

On the flip side, the idea of living in a society where dragon rampages are so commonplace that there are built in bunkers and evacuation protocols in place is terrifying. One such attack towards the end of the book is truly breathtaking in its devastation. The author made the high level stakes abundantly clear, and that helps balance out some of the areas I wish I could have seen more of.

CONCLUSION: The Sky on Fire is a great standalone that will whisk you away for the time that you spend with it. While the characters aren't memorable, the action set pieces definitely are. If you're fine with a plot-first-everything-else-is-gravy kind of story, The Sky on Fire is worth picking up.