monster-hunting nature memoir” THAT FOR A BOOK SO SHORT, WAS ABLE TO RUIN ME THIS MUCH

i place the vibe and tone of this in the same category as The Sword of Kaigen. A standalone novella that’s adventurous and heart wrenchingly brutal wrapped up in a nice little falcon-shaped bow.

It has a cozy, warm feeling when you’re out in the forest but have a sinking feeling that anything can happen. Getting sucked in felt like i’m in a cabin in the woods with the sound of birds softly chirping at the background or in an open field with trees running for miles long.

“We didn’t bring up either topic again. Not because we avoided them, but because there was simply no need. Our pasts didn’t matter when we were with each other.”


Fonda Lee went hard with the world-building and the ground work was set up perfectly to launch the story once it was all laid down. I love how the progression in her stories are so subtle that you barely notice it happening until it’s right in front of your face and have no other choice than to face your denials. The subtle transitions of the plot and the character development over time was written seamlessly, as like her signature style in Jade Legacy.

The characters are written in a way that I found relatable, investing, and still somehow made me feel like they were my own fledgelings to keep safe but know I have no real power over. The dynamics are achingly realistic.

She writes like she’s carving my heart out. This is a perfect intro to FL’s writing if you haven’t read Jade City yet or if her series are too much of a commitment for you right now. I would also recommend this if Jade City wasn’t to your taste because this is set in an entirely different environment, it doesn’t have an ounce of urban fantasy but the progression in the details is still in her signature style.

The inspirations of this novel translated incredibly well from the chariots, falcons, and set up of the kingdom. Fonda Lee said that part of the inspiration was from when she went to see falcons with her family and I could feel it in every step that Ester took in the mews and in every flap of Zahra’s wings. FL went from a wide arching multi-POV urban fantasy to this bite-sized standalone high fantasy but I can still tell it’s her writing through and through.

I received the ARC of this when I was in the midst of my reading slump after Jade Legacy and perhaps it was a good thing that I didn’t read this right away because I might not have recovered lol

— This is an Adult SFF novella that is adventurous, emotional, and brutal that is perfectly paced and makes me genuinely wish it was longer (i rarely say that but i’m saying it for this one). Wherever you stand on the spectrum of knowing who Fonda Lee is as a writer, I offer you this book while kneeling on a chariot with a falcon hovering above me. —

i wrote this review while simultaneously mopping up my tears

*ARC was sent by the publisher @Tor before release date (thank you!) but I only got to reading it now. Quotes included are from my ARC copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own*

*I own a physical copy*

In 2019 my health started going down hill and I didn't take into consideration what that would mean for my book reviewing. Sadly, I've been trying to play catch up for years and it's been affecting my ability to keep up with present day tasks. So I greatly apologize for this but I am going to clear out all these older review books and focus on present day. I will come back and update this review if I end up reading the book, which is very possible as a lot of these books are still ones I would like to read, I just don't think the pressure looming over me is helpful. Thank you for giving me a chance to early read these books and I am so sorry I wasn't able to provide what was needed.

Thanks to NetGalley & Macmillan-Tor/Forge for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

It was a pretty entertaining novella, though I wish we had more with the Rocs and just general worldbuilding. I feel like it was too short and could have been longer.

This was a very interesting story with well developed characters and world building (I loved the concept of roc riders). My main complaint is that the story it felt a bit too short and underdeveloped - it felt like we didn't have quite enough time with the characters and the world for the ending to have the full emotional impact I think it was going for.

Really great novella. I didn’t mesh with the writing as much as I was hoping too, but I really enjoyed the story and world building.

The Green Bone Saga is my favorite fantasy series of all-time so I know that Fonda Lee can write a really good story and even better characters. With this being a novella, I had qualms about whether or not I would have the same emotional connection to the characters but Fonda Lee truly delivered with this one! In a little over 150 pages, she was able to pack in solid worldbuilding and I was immediately invested in Ester's tragic story. The plot itself is pretty straightforward and simple, the ending slightly anti-climactic but that didn't take away from my enjoyment of the book. Describing this story as a fable is pretty spot-on but I would be lying if I said I wasn't hoping for a full-length novel instead.

Thank you Netgalley and Tor for the readers copy of this book and sorry (mostly to myself) for taking so long to read it.
I didn't have any specific expectations for this book, honestly the incredible cover art is what prompted me (yes sometimes I'm that vain) but even so this wasn't at all what I thought the story would be.
Fonda Lee has made a story, which is for the majority about falconry (but make the birds behemoth) and spun a beautiful meditation on grief, obsession, devotion and possessive nonreciprocal love.
I've never read a story about loving an animal to the point of devotion and it was contagious. I felt the myriad of anxiety, elation and nurturing for this fictional bird that's big enough to kill a person in one fell swoop (hehe).
It's not the fast pace, action-packed fantasy you'd expect from the author of the Green Bone saga but more a slow, reflective tale of a young woman trying to live her dream.
I loved it.
4.75 ★

Untethered Sky by Fonda Lee was just beneath the Hugo finalist cut-off this year, and it's a very well-crafted fantasy novella: Ester's story has a strong thread of revenge, but there's also more going on: her progressing in her vocation as a rukher to a roc named Zahra, the relationships she builds with her comrades (and her bird), and the strains of being part of a military campaign whose political and propaganda motives seem at odds with actually making the Kingdom safer. Untethered Sky does suffer from the "author of incredible thing (Green Bone Saga) goes on to write pretty good thing" but it works great.

A really nice fantasy novella for those who like Fonda Lee and an expansive world in a short amount of time. I do wish it was a little longer, but it made me very excited to try more of the author's books.

I’m astonished at how Fonda Lee managed to evoke specific, piercing emotions in me in such a short book. The ending left me in tears.

This bite-size snack fantasy was a well-written, engaging character study set against a unique backdrop of mythological creatures and clan-like societies.

I'd heard of Fonda Lee prior to reading this, as the author of the popular Green Bone Saga fantasy series. After finishing this novella, I am definitely going to check out that series! I really enjoyed her character-focused writing in this story; I felt connected to the main character, Ester, through her early (and violent) traumas at the hands of a savage manticore to her development as a ruhker (trainer of and companion to a roc, a giant bird from Middle Eastern legends). She was constantly evolving as a character, learning how to navigate the world without her family and grow into a mighty ruhker. I liked, too, that her development as a character tied so well into the ruhking. It wasn't just a fun fantasy role; Ester's roc companion hunting down manticores was tied into her personal journey very organically.

The small cast of supporting characters were just vivid enough to satisfy, and Lee's prose work served both a utilitarian and artistic purpose. I would love to see this world of rocs and ruhkers expanded into longer stories, but if this is all we ultimately get, it was still an exceptionally tasty and satisfying snack! I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this book to fantasy lovers in need of a quick read, or those dipping their toes into fantasy but who are daunted by those big, thick, multi-volume doorstopper series out there.

Thank you to TorDotCom and NetGalley for an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this novella in exchange for my honest review!

Fonda Lee is such a talented author and dare I say one of my personal favorites.

This short story was not what I was expecting. Truthfully, I didn't know this was a short story when I picked it up. But it was exactly what I needed. Something short and fantastic.

One of the things I love most about Fonda Lee is she knows how to tell a story. And I truly hope this is a story she continues to tell. I am not ready to let it go yet.

If you loved the Greenbone Saga, this one will also capture your heart.

This was an okay read. It ended rather abruptly and it didn't feel as if I knew the characters as well as I could have. If this was a full fleshed book compared to a novella, I think it would have been much better!

Fonda Lee can do no wrong in my eyes! Untethered Sky takes a unique twist on animal companions. It examines the bond between a trainer and their companion and the differences and similarities between humans' relationships with each other and the relationships with their animals. The pure love and devastation it takes to understand your animal and their needs, especially when seeing them at their freest sometimes means letting them go. Untethered Sky was only a novella, but I would have read 300 more pages.
I don’t know how Fonda Lee is able to pack so much emotion into such a small amount of pages. I loved every second of it.

Untethered Sky is a wonderful short read. The prose was beautiful, the story was wonderfully written. The only thing that prevented me from giving it a 5 stars was the unsatisfactory feeling I had at the ending. I feel as though the novella felt too short, unfinished or an abrupt ending. I think there could have been more to it but otherwise, the rest of the novella definitely lives up to Fonda Lee’s other novels.

I enjoyed Untethered Sky by Fonda Lee, I thought it was a fascinating glimpse into a world where Rocs and Manticores exist, and the family tragedy surrounding Ester. I found Ester to be such an intriguing character, and her relationship with Zahra was one that I absolutely loved reading about in these pages. However, I did find that the story would've benefitted from being slightly longer, just so that we could develop the world and slow the pacing of the book a little.

I fell in love with Fonda Lee while reading the Green Bone Saga and was looking forward to trying more of her books. I didn't end up as invested in the characters nor the story but it was an interesting "slice of life" which I don't see often with Fantasy books.

This wasn't really for me, but I admire Fonda Lee's skill when it comes to writing! I know there will be a lot of people who love this and I can't wait to help my patrons find this book.

This was breathTAKINGLY BEAUTIFUL. The writing, the worldbuilding, the imagery - all of it was just so gorgeous. I would read a 500+ page book set in this world. Someone tell Fonda Lee. She can have all my money. As a kid who's favorite Disney movie (well, one of them anyway) was The Rescuers Downunder, I stan eternally a giant eagle that could kill me if she wanted to, and Lee's description of the rocs in Untethered Sky made me want to go ahead and hug the bird and take my chances with death.

For at 152 page novella this story felt immense, and I know it's definitely a book I'll be revisiting in the future.

This was an interesting and beautiful read. Having read Lee's Greenbone Saga, I know that her world building skills are on point and she certainly did not disappoint with this world. I loved the different monsters and was particularly fond of the Rocs. I know this was a novella but I would have loved to dive deeper into where manticores came from and what other animals may be plaguing the land.

Outside of the world building, something I enjoyed was the MC and the relationships that she built with Darius and other members of the story. Somehow I was expecting the plot to be a bit more fast paced and have more elements of revenge or single minded obsession on Ester's part, idk why maybe should have paid better attention to the synopsis lol. But as I said before this was such a beautiful story, the ending left me feeling sad, like I know that Zahra would leave eventually, rocs leaving their riders was mentioned so often, it had to be foreshadowing lol but even when it happened it was still really sad.