Stunning book for fantasy and dragon lovers with a strong queer rep!

What a rollicking ride of a book! It starts off with a bang, or perhaps a rumble, as a party is interrupted by a dragon with an ultimatum: find Anahrod Amnead (our FMC, presumed dead!), or ELSE. This book did not let off the gas pedal at all. Plot and pacing were amazing. Loved the heist, political intrigue, queer cast of characters and found family who were stabby, sassy, sarcastic! Anahrod was a breath of fresh air as a FMC - survivor, reluctant heroine, can talk to animals!!

Beyond these attributes, my favorite aspect may have been the cultural commentary woven into the story. By depicting cultural norms in a fantastical worlds, the author makes a point about how our own society could be more accepting. In this world, characters wear rings that denote not only relationship status, but also sexual preference, gender identity and more. And these things are simply accepted -not judged.

I loved that the story wraps up neatly but with a chance for expansion in a sequel. My only critiques were that the worldbuilding is hard to keep up with for the first quarter or so before you can really settle in. I also would've loved more character development to really get the full story behind these character's personalities and traumas, it would've made the relationships more natural and believable. Also would've loved a little more on the romance side.

Really enjoy this world building. I appreciate the attention to detail regarding cultural details that separate the Skylanders from the Deepers.

The rings denoting basic personal information- sexual orientation, marital status, etc is something that would make real life socialization so much easier.

Initially the confusingly written character introductions made it difficult to remember who was who in the party. Readers more used to that flash in the pan type of start to a novel aren't going to find that an issue though.

The Sky on Fire is a masterclass on developing multiple types of relationships throughout a standalone novel. Through the well constructed worldbuilding and character interactions I got that sense of scale and wonder that a lot of adult fantasies lack. The only achilles heel I find is the romantic pairing of Ris and Anahrod. At least to me I feel like there is rarely any connection between them that doesn't feel spurred on by base physical attraction and that makes their connection feel a lot more hollow in comparison.

I think people do this book a huge disservice boiling it down to just being about a dragon hoard heist. It's a lot more than that.

What an incredible and epic story! It started off really fast-paced, and I was hooked from the start! What I thought i was getting myself into was totally different from what was actually happening and how the story unfolded.
Most books have beautiful and unique magic systems, which this book definitely does. But what intrigued me more was the social cast system and the use of wearing rings where each different symbol in a ring indicates a person's class, status, and sexuality. It's something I've never come across in a book before and loved the idea of it! The romance in the book is a minimal subplot, so if you're expecting a romantasy, this is not the book for you.

The story itself was so intriguing. An epic fantasy revolving around stealing from a dragons hoard. I loved all of the characters, I think Sicaryon has got to be my favorite. I found that even though the story followed two characters specifically, there was equal spotlight on all the supporting characters, too.

I did find that near the middle of the book, it got a little but slow. However, it was all context and world building for what was an incredible ending.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and I'd highly recommend it to any fantasy lover.

Oh my dragons! I really wish this wasn’t a standalone novel because I want to see more of this world. I want to know what happens next and to see more of the dragons and how their hierarchy works. It’s such a lushly described world with so many interesting things happening in it.

The society is built around humanity preventing dragons from going on rampages due to their own magic, by bonding with humans to share this magical burden. I really enjoyed this concept and the implications of what this means for humanity. I also love that there aren’t just dragons in this world but there were also wyrms and drakes!

And then the characters were all so fun and interesting! I love the complicated relationship between Anahrod and Sicaryon, as well as the bond that develops with Ris too. And all of the side characters have their quirks and create a fun group full of banter and interesting dynamics.

I didn’t expect The Sky on Fire to be one of the most unique dragon books I’ve ever read. There are dozens of stories about people becoming dragon riders - from Eragon to Fourth Wing, but The Sky on Fire focuses on someone who is trying very, very hard to avoid dragons and their riders entirely.
This follows Anahrod Amnead, infamously known in the Skylands as Anahrod the Wicked. We are first introduced to her as she and her six-legged titan drake are trying to outrun hunters sent by a man named Sicaryon, the self-proclaimed King of the Deep and Anahrod’s former friend. Rather unexpectedly, Anahrod runs into a group of Skylanders who are willing to pay a huge sum of scales for her to act as a guide. Even more unexpectedly, this group (Gwydinion, Ris, Naeron, Kaibren, and Claw) are actually after Anahrod herself and they kidnap her and take her back to the Skylands, where she was originally from. You see, they need Anahrod’s help to break into the vault of Neveranimas, the terrifying dragon that is currently ruling things because Anahrod supposedly broke into the vault years before and that’s why she was thrown off the side of an airship.
If that isn’t enough to pique your interest, then all hope that you’ll read this book is lost. This book is next level. There’s so much going on with the plot and the characters that I could never hope to summarize it well and I wouldn’t want to because it would spoil all the fun! Needless to say, there is a heist segment, but there’s also a brief stint on a leviathan hunting ship, and a rather important section at the school for potential dragon riders. There’s also some fantastic worldbuilding and cultural elements that added so much richness to the story. I don’t usually expect something so vibrant from a standalone because worldbuilding takes time and it has to be balanced with plot and character development. I love the dragon lore, the tidbits about religion, the description of the cities, and the exotic locales found in the Deep. Oh, and the concept of using rings to describe oneself - from basics like careers to more personal things like sexual preference - there’s a ring for just about everything!
I am honestly so pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed The Sky on Fire. It was action packed and had a great group of characters all around. Anahrod and Gwydinion were by far my favorites, but I certainly appreciated Claw and her violent tendencies. I can’t forget to mention Ris and Sicaryon as well, and while they were certainly important to the plot for a number of reasons, I think the most standout reason was how their fondness for Anahrod helped bring the two halves of her life together. Plus, the dragons are just damn cool. They rule things, overuse of magic can drive them to madness, and they horde all sorts of oddities. Overall, this book was definitely a win for me!

this book is perfect for fans of fourth wing and six of crows.

the first thing, besides the stunning cover, that caught my attention was dragons. the second was heists! who doesn’t love a book about dragons and heists?? two of my favourite things.

sky on fire is filled with great world building and strong characters. i really enjoyed the inclusion of lgbt+ individuals.

unfortunately, this book is overshadowed by the writing style. i couldn't get into it despite it being everything that i wanted in a book. while i love the idea of dragons and heists, it didn't make up for the slow pacing and lack of plot. the characters were enjoyable, and that was it's saving grace.

Thank you to Tor and NetGalley or the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I will start off with the positives:
1. I enjoyed the world this story was set in and the two faction of people occupying this world. Most importantly, this story is quite unique as it is set in a world where the dragons are the superior species. The dragons can actually speak through their riders. I really liked the concept.
2. The main character has a very cool ability of being able to communicate with animals and sense them, as well as embody her dragon.

Now the negatives as sadly, this book was not for me.
1. The writing style was difficult to read. It was clunky and many sentences I had to re-read just to make sense of them. This is not because this was an ARC as I am not referring to any grammatical errors but the writing style across the book. It was as if the writer was trying too hard to made it very wordy but the effect was just pure frustration.
2. The main character's dragon was called Overbite and once I saw that, all I could imagine is a massive flying put. I appreciate this is a me problem but it broke the immersion for me.
3. The reader gets dropped in middle of action, with a bunch of characters present already and it makes the starting reading experience very disjointed. We don't have any time to care about these characters of even learn about them properly. That is also true of the actual main character too. It was hard for me to care about any of them. They were all very one note.
4. Many characters were only dumped into the story as a plot device to move it forward. This lead to an over saturation of characters I cares little about.
5. Main plot points were happening as a result of coincidence or luck as opposed to character actions, which for me is a deal breaker in any book.

I am giving too starts as I think there are readers who would enjoy this as an easy story, if you can get over the difficult writing style.

This book has a lot of potential, and maybe should have been broken down into at least a duology. There are a lot of nuances to the world and I think some of the detail was pushed aside to make room for more action. As a consequence, I found myself forgetting who the characters were and what their roles/relationships were. There are a lot of people to keep track of (on audio this becomes especially challenging).

I love the fact that the dragons hold the power over the riders. For me this was a very unique take on dragons and riders in the fantasy world. There is of course a bond between the dragons and the riders, but this book introduced some new concepts about the relationship and power dynamic.

There is basically a band of ....friends? allies maybe? who are working toward a common goal. It wanted to be found family, but without a lot of background on each character it was a little bit of a miss for me.

There are some hints at romantic themes, some queer love, but no true romance (which is fine - but don't go in expecting it).

I would definitely read more by this author - especially if it is a series. I think with a little slower world building and character development, I would really enjoy her books. It is definitely challenging to stuff world building, romance, action, and a unique plot into one book in the fantasy world.

I am a lover of dragons, especially books with dragons! This was a hit for me. It was my first Jenn Lyons book and I really enjoyed it! What I found that I really enjoyed was the representation for sexuality! The ring system was wonderful and interesting way to represent your lifestyle and sexuality. It was different from other books that I have read and it was great! The world building was beautiful and done wonderfully.

Thank you so much for allowing me to read this book early! I will definitely be recommending this book to others :)

Very entertaining book! The characters were great and had a fun banter between them all. There was a romance between Anahrod, Ris, and Sicaryon. It wasn't very tension filled, but it was sweet. I will admit that Poly relationships are not my thing, but I know they don't have enough representation in a lot of books, so others will be PSYCHED for this! There were also quite a few people who were "late-blooming" which meant Trans and I really enjoyed that detail. There was no hate and every love was normal in this world. They even had this really interesting ring system where you wear rings for your lifestyle (into men, into women, into everyone, single, married, likes to watch others get it on...) It was very unique and I enjoyed that a lot! How bizarre of a world would it be if you just put it all out there for everyone to see?

The dragons are friendly enough that they bond with riders, but can still go Rampant and be the types of dragons everyone fears. There is some mystery about the dragon bonding process that I wish was explored a bit more. Also, each dragon has its own unique breath power (fire, ice, acid, etc) which was much more entertaining than just regular fire breath! They also get to share consciousness with their bonded riders and I have so many more questions for that.

The world building was excellent! We get multiple cities, a dragon rider training school (not as good as Fourth Wing, but the focus was on the heist here more than the schooling). Speaking of the heist...heist within a heist... very entertaining.

My biggest complaint is that there was SO MUCH in this book and I wish it would have been spread out between two books at least.

Some tropes include:
-Heist
-Dragons
-Poly relationship
-Found family
-Trans welcoming

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor books for this ARC. My thoughts are entirely my own.
Completion date: 6/28/24, Publish date 7/9/24

I DNF-ed this book at 17%. I’m a huge fan of Jenn Lyons’ Chorus of Dragons series, but this book just didn’t hook me. The writing style and story made me think of Dungeons and Dragons and if you enjoy that then you may enjoy this book, but I’m finding that I enjoy that style more in movie than book form.

4.5/5 stars! This. was. phenomenal. Top to bottom, this book drew me in with incredible characters and lush worldbuilding, which is always my favourite combination. There is nothing like reading an actually satisfying, concise story that is well thought out and executed well by the author as well. I read this in tandem with the audiobook, and it was the best experience i've had reading a book lately.
I really enjoyed the way this unfurled bit by bit as a (mostly) single POV story told from Anahrod's perspective, but occasionally peppered in with important folks to the storyline to give the other angles that were needed to carry the story forward if Anah was stuck somewhere or doing something. From the moment we arrive in the Deep to the Leviathan farming up in the skies, every ounce of this world is well drawn and beautifully executed - and the characters that play within it are some of my favourites of 2024. I loved how immediately we are introduced to their individual quirks and personalities, and the way they all shine off the page was exceptional. ALSO - It was SO FANTASTICALLY QUEER! I loved loved loved this. Bring on more sapphics with dragons!!!!

I really hope Jenn Lyons writes more in this world, because this was truly a treat.

DNF @ 20%

I wanted to check out Jenn Lyons, as I've heard excellent things about her A Chorus of Dragons series, but I don't think The Sky on Fire is for me, unfortunately. I thought the premise of a heist story with dragons sounded super fun, but the world building and setup getting to that point is clunky and not interesting. The characters aren't really doing anything for me either, so just overall my motivation to pick this one up is low.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Books for the ARC!

DNF @ 20%

This very much didn't work for me. I'm not sure why Lyons loves to drop readers into an ongoing scene with a bunch of characters and names thrown around with little to no explanation in the opening of books. This made it very hard to connect to characters to the point I wasn't at all interested in the plot. Considering this is a standalone, I'm not willing to put in the time to see if there will be enough character development to win me over and make me feel something towards the story.

I love dragons, I love books that feature dragons, I especially love when dragons are main characters! The Sky of Fire features a world in which Dragons rule and humans are inferior and exist essentially to stop the dragons from succumbing to their magic. I loved the dynamic and twist of dragons being in control of their rider and humans in general. The FMC, Anahrod, is tough and smart but is dealing with some intense trauma. Her ability to communicate with animals is incredible and was one of my favorite parts of her story.

Besides the dragons, I enjoyed the world-building in this book. It is rare that I have to re-read sections of books because I really need to absorb the dynamics of the world but it happened to me a few times during this book (which I love!). The imagery is so well done (especially the bog and crystal spire). There is a large cast of characters in this book and I found the development of the characters perfect. There are betrayals and surprises that come from all the characters. The FMC was my favorite character and I found her quirks and attitude believable and relatable. Also, the banter between characters was top notch and there is definitely a found family aspect.

The only thing I did not really enjoy was at times the book felt like there was too much going on. Between the dragons, the cast of characters, and the heist, some parts of the book did not flow as well as they could have. Overall a great read though!

Thank you to Tor Publishing and Netgalley for this book!

“𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴, 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘢 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢 𝘵𝘺𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘵, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘵? 𝘐𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘸𝘢𝘺.”

One of my favorite things about Jenn Lyons’ work is how diverse she is with her worlds and characters. There’s representation for miles, in race and culture and sexuality. Sheldon builds queernormative, inclusive, dragon filled masterpieces that have me just wishing other authors could create worlds like these. That’s my favorite. Immaculate, unique, ever fascinating world building.

“𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘨 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘧𝘧. 𝘓𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘺𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘵𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧.”

The Sky on Fire is no exception. First—dragons. Who doesn’t love them? Dragons rule this land and though some do have dragon riders, a lot of them are more akin to employees and people to use, not equals like you would typically see with this kind of bond. Some even go so far as being mentally and physically abused by their dragons as we see in rider Jaemeh. But the trick is, the bond created between a human and a dragon is what keeps a dragon from going rampant. Their use of magic and influx of power can overload them, leading to massive destruction and typically death for the dragon. A rider is here to rein that in and take some of that power and channel it away. Amazing concept.

Now this story revolves around Anahrod who was sent to the Deep, dropped in her execution for defying the dragons. She survived and now has been called back by a band of renegades years later. Her troupe has one major goal: steal the hoard from the queen of dragons herself. That’s right folks, this is a dragon heist!

“𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦, 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘱, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺.”

I like the characters we meet. Sicaryon in particular immediately endeared himself to me as a self proclaimed King of the Deep. A snarky man with an attitude, an air of great flirtation, and a long history with Anahrod.

𝘏𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘰𝘧𝘧. 𝘏𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘢𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰’𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮. 𝘏𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘦𝘳, 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘰 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥: 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦.

The rest of the crew rounds itself out with another sexy dragon rider Ris (be ready for that polyamorous trio to hit you hard), Rogue like Claw, Kaibren the poet, Naeron a magic user, and Gwydinion “Sunshine” Doreyl, a 15 year old boy with the ability to talk to animals…just like Anahrod.

I liked this crew, they were rowdy and fun, snarky and invested. I do wish we got to know them a bit more. We learned a bit about their pasts—most focused on Gwydinion, Ris and Sicaryon, and even then it feels like we only scratched the surface. I’d love if this was more than a standalone so we had the opportunity to learn more.

While I love this world and boy do I, that’s the only fault. It focuses so much on the plot and the story that the characters get a little lost along the way. Thats not to say they’re not very important to the story, it just feels like a lot of the time, that’s all that matters. I want to know them as people and see their relationships grow more real. Our poly trio is beautiful and clearly they have some sort of connection, but it doesn’t ever really feel like we see it growing. It’s a little more telly than showy.

It was also funny as hell! I kept laughing out loud. I’ve got a whole page of quotes, both funny and raw, written down because they were just so good. I couldn’t even include all the ones I loved here. 10/10 love a story that can be easily humorous.

𝘏𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘰𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘐𝘷𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘰 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥’𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘮.

The dragons!! I loved the dragons. I really liked the intrigue behind Peralon’s backstory and I kept itching for more details about him and Ivarion. (Please Jenn give me another book so I can have more of them.) Neveranimus was also such a fascinating concept for an enemy dragon also ruling the country. Her history with Anahrod, her motivation—fascinating.

All around, I really enjoyed this book. All of Jenn’e book take some time to digest because there’s so much going on, but if you take your time and focus on the plot and the intent, you’ve got an awesome story.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC and thanks to TOR as well!

Great fun! Had a blast reading this. Well written characters, action was easy to follow and fun to read. Plot was built really well and had a good pace.

The Sky on Fire by Jenn Lyons 🔥
Overall Rating 4/5 ⭐
Release Date: July 9, 2024

I wasn't sure exactly what to expect from this book and was worried it wouldn't hold up to some of the other dragon books I've read recently. That being said, I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed this book quite a bit.

The characters were interesting and the plot kept me engaged throughout the whole novel. Sometimes things got a bit confusing for the world building of it, but overall a solid fantasy read.

I really enjoyed this! It easily could have been a duology instead of a standalone and I am a little torn on that. On the one hand, I do want to spend more time in this world and with these characters; on the other hand, it feels like everything is a series these days and so it was refreshing to actually get to the end of the story within one book.

The worldbuilding was complex (definitely a lot thrown at you for a standalone) but I really liked the details, including the system of identities via rings, the subversion of expectations with the Deeper culture, and the way dragons are sort of revered but more often reviled. It was a lot to keep up with the various characters and some of them were not as in-depth as they could have been but I felt like the glimpses we did see were well done and helped shape character motivation and background. I loved Anahrod and I was surprised, given the set up, how much I ended up enjoying Ris and Cary.

Pros: Queernormative world, really smart way of talking about sexuality and preferences without it feeling like a whole thing, loved the characters, found family heist vibes
Cons: So much packed in to the story that some of it didn't have the space to develop

Reviews going live on 6/27 on Goodreads and Storygraph; either 6/26 or 6/27 on Tik Tok

I feel that this book could have benefited from being expanded into a duology or trilogy.

There was so much from Anahrod's past that was just glossed over when her backstory alone could have been its own book. The history between Anahrod and Cary was just hinted at when that should have been explored more as it would have lent weight to his involvement in the heist and need to protect Anahrod.

The middle portion of the book up until the end of the heist was the best part. We had really great plot and character development that made sense . After that however, I felt the climax was rushed and a bunch of history/magical lore was just dumped onto us without the appropriate set up. Anahrod bonding with and waking Ivarion came out of nowhere as there wasn't enough lead up to it.

Lyons should have also sticked with either one POV or two POVs the entire time instead of just randomly jumping to 2 POVs during the last 15% of the book.

However, I really did love this world and the characters. The story had good bones, it just didn't get the right execution.