Thank you to Tor and NetGalley for the early readers copy of The Sky on Fire.

Wow! I was excited to read this and it did not disappoint. I thought Lyons executed this story wonderfully. A ragtag crew attempting a heist, and from dragons; sign me up!
This is a very approachable and easily digestible slice of fantasy. I haven’t read Lyons other series, but I can tell you that after reading this, I fully intend to move it up my TBR.
I really enjoyed the pacing in this story; Lyons successfully builds a world that feels fleshed out, yet still has room for expansion in future installments. I enjoyed the political machinations and the lore. I actually found that to be what I was looking most forward to learning more about. I typically prefer a very character driven book, so the one area that I wish I felt a bit more connected is with the characters. Jen sets them up well enough that she can easily build that deeper connection in future books if she chooses. However, I was so interested in the plot and how the heist and the aftermath would play out that it didn’t bother me. Each of the main characters is layered enough to peak my interest, draw a little connection, and has me looking forward to finding out more about them in the upcoming rest of the series. I would totally binge book 2 right now if it were available!

This book has dragons and a queer normative society, I was pretty well sold from the outset, but the vibes also hit 👌 so an easy five star for me.

Starting with the couple things that didn’t hit quite right for me before I dive into all the things that did - given this was a standalone epic fantasy, the pacing was a little off. It started a little slow, but definitely picked up in the second half. Additionally, I would have loved just a bit more world building, particularly in the societal structure! There was also one scene related to the romance plot line that I thought didn’t fit in with the tone of the rest of the book, but that was just one minor gripe.

On to what I loved - the queer normative society! I loved the setup, where they use rings to indicate to others your job, identity, and romantic and sexual interests. I would love a guide to learn what they all mean, as it wasn’t fully explained, only implied in some areas. There was a wide variety of identities and relationship setups that I LOVED - definitely diverse rep in this area, including bi, trans, and poly rep.

I also loved the characters and their interactions and growth. It felt natural throughout the story. And the DRAGONS. I loved those interactions as well and how the various dragons were characterized.

Audience: New Adult / Adult
Plot: 4 out of 5
Characters: 3.5 out of 5
Spice: 1 out of 5, very mild romance, closed-door romance
Keywords: Fantasy, Dragons, LGBTQ, Redemption, Found Family, Save-the-world, Slow burn, Magic

I received a copy of this book through Netgalley from Tor Publishing. Additionally, the audiobook was from Macmillan Audio. Thank you!

This novel is a stand-alone fantasy that is centered around dragons. In this world, dragons are the rulers, and the human dragon-riders are there to serve them. But not everyone is ready to serve the dragons, in fact, some even resent it. Enter Anahrod, a young woman who is on the run from her past. But even hidden in the depths of the darkest jungles, she can’t hide forever. She is recruited by a group of unlikely allies to participate in a heist – because she had done something similar before – but had she really? Or is it a case of mistaken identity?

The world-building in this book is very thoughtfully done. I appreciated all the details of the different societies and cultures represented by each city and general location. My particular favorite location was the Crimson Skies, a flying vessel that is used to harvest sky amber. It reminded me of the flying vessels depicted in Shadow and Bone (Netflix show), and the entire scene of Anahrod flying with the crew was one of my favorite parts in the novel.

I thought character development of the main characters (Anahrod, Ris, and Sicaryon) were done particularly well. However, one of my favorite secondary characters was Claw, who readers met as part of Ris’s heist group. From very early on, I especially liked Claw’s interactions with Kaibren, and how she would “translate” his poetic responses for everyone else, and how Claw’s “no-nonsense” attitude created some tension within the group. But throughout, readers see each character’s personal motivations for wanting to pull the biggest dragon heist – and it was interesting to find out the whys.

I also listened to the audiobook, which was narrated by Lauren Fortgang. I particularly enjoyed Fortgang’s different voices of the dragons, as well as the various characters. The pacing of the narration was very good, and the pronunciation of the characters' names (especially the dragons), was particularly helpful for me as a reader. The audiobook was about 18 hours long, but it didn’t seem like that at all. The narrator was very engaging in her presentation, and made the time seem to fly by.

Overall, the magic system is unique, the dragons aren’t all good-guys, and the world is captivating. I would recommend this book to anyone who might enjoy fantasy, action/adventure stories which feature dragons, but isn’t looking for something in a series.

2.5 stars.

i was excited to read a high fantasy with politics and dragons, but this book disappointed me. the beginning was slow to start, the middle dragged, and it felt like most of the plot happened in the final 1/3rd of the book. it had a bit of a strong start, but plateaued pretty quickly. the plot felt like it didn't really get started until halfway through. as a rule of thumb, i feel like the plot (or whatever the premise is) has kicked off before 25%, or even 20%. to make matters worse, the ending felt very rushed and there was very little resolution and pay-off after all the time spent building up in the beginning.

as far as the world-building goes, it was a pretty simple supercontinent. you have the seven crests and nothing happens outside of them. the dragons are super intelligent and have their own politics going on, and there was a hint of something about power imbalance and abuse that went nowhere. yagrahai is like a more boring, less explored basgiath. (cool name tho) it's a queernormative world, which is cool, but i just could not suspend my disbelief about the concept of garden rings, which are rings that use designs to display one's sexual availability and preferences (down to kinks). i don't believe that ALL people would adhere to this very rigid social system if it weren't enforced. they're mostly forgotten by the halfway point, and i feel like they only existed to easily shoehorn one love interest's bdsm kink, which the author did absolutely nothing with.

speaking of love interests. no love triangle. played like a poly f/f/m from the jump. don't know why anybody would call it a love triangle. the insta-lust was insta-lusting in this one. unfortunately, there is absolutely no build up to attraction or chemistry imo. it literally went from flirting and one high-stress kiss given to the former flame (that still burned) to fucking while blackout drunk. one chapter ended where they popped some bottles, and the next began with the polycule naked in bed. that's about the spiciest it gets, except some weirdly inappropriately timed dirty talk that played up the nothingburger bdsm kink. the only romance i was rooting (a little) for was with side characters that was abandoned in the climax and sees no payoff. bummer.

i only cared about exactly two (2) dragons and they were hardly in the book at all. i would've liked to see more of the one (1) dragon that the book felt like it was building up. what was given was not very satisfying. bummer.

the last 7% was pretty dope tho, ngl. it was a solid 2 stars until that. i wish the rest of the book was more like that last 7%.

3.5 ⭐️
Thank you to NetGalley for the e-ARC.
Revenge, a diamond heist, and dragons. This was like reading a fun D&D campaign which is no surprise as that is what Jenn Lyons is known for.
Anahrod, wrongly accused as a child and hunted by dragons, is hiding in the deep jungles away from the mountains the dragons consider their dominion. She is pulled back into Skylander politics by a fiery red headed dragon rider who plots revenge against her family’s killer. Their common enemy is a dragon and the current ruler, Neveranimas.
The banter was reminiscent of Firefly, a found family full of inside jokes and jabs.
What lost me was the pacing and how goofy the characters were, I wasn’t expecting it at all and is probably more a me problem. I can definitely see this being a favorite of many.

¿Alguna vez has leído un libro y has pensado: «Ojalá hicieran serie, porque molaría un puñao»?

Pues eso es justo lo que me ha pasado con The Sky on Fire, de Jenn Lyons, una novela de fantasía épica autoconclusiva con muchos dragones (de seis patas), mucha acción (desde peleas de espadas hasta batallas en el aire), mucho compañerismo (y relaciones poliamorosas) y mucho lío así en general (a los pobres personajes nada les sale bien).

Me recuerda mucho a la serie de Willow, a Renegade Nell y a la peli de Dungeons & Dragons. Las protagonistas tienen que robar una cosa a una dragona (y de paso derrocarla del gobierno) y, entre medias, les pasan tantas cosas que, cuando llega el momento del robo en sí, te das cuenta de que eso es lo de menos, de que lo importante no era el objetivo, sino el camino que han tenido que recorrer para llegar hasta allí.

Me lo he pasado en grande leyendo The Sky on Fire y me han encantado todas las aventuras y desventuras de Anahrod, Ris, Sicaryon y compañía. He leído la novela casi como si ya conociera el mundo en el que se ambienta, porque la autora lo presenta de una forma muy natural. Es autoconclusiva, sí, pero me dio la sensación de que formaba parte de algo mucho más grande; de hecho, es el escenario ideal para ambientar otros libros en él.

Pegas tiene pocas, si acaso que es un buen tocho y he tardado lo suyo en leerlo, aunque lo he disfrutado mucho por el camino. Es una novela para evadirse, para leerla como si caminaras y volaras con los personajes. Y, obviamente, si te molan los dragones, lánzate de cabeza a por ella.

Por cierto, la cubierta fue precisamente lo que me llevó a leer este libro, así que mil gracias a Michael Rogers por haber diseñado esta maravilla. Y gracias también a Tor por cederme un ejemplar en digital para poder disfrutar y reseñar esta maravilla.

I thought this book was a lot of fun, the story was interesting and I absolutely loved the writing. Dragons have always been a big love of mine, and after the disappointment of recent dragon books I'm glad to have read one I enjoyed so much.
That being said, the romance just didn't hit for me. It felt rushed and underdeveloped, and honestly if it hadn't existed the book would be 5 stars. I would much rather read a book with no romance than a bad one

I had a really hard time getting through this book unfortunately. It just drug on for me and I didn’t feel a connection to any of the characters.

This was so fun. Anahrod has been surviving in the Deep with her titan drake, a formidable pair to be sure. When she's rescued from a local warlord by a ragtag band of people, she never expects where they will lead her.

Taking her back to the Skylands, where unfortunately, the ruler wants her dead, they have few options for the path moving forward. The question becomes how will they avoid handing her over to the dragons, and how important to them will she be?

From the synopsis, I was expecting a story like “Six of Crows” with a dragons and that’s what I got but also didn’t get. Overall, “The Sky on Fire” was a good story concept but not well-written. Prepare for spoilers below.

The writing:
This book desperately needed to provide a glossary. It’s fine the story plops you right into the action but you need to provide readers with some sort of context and understanding so that they can build a better connection to the world and characters. I understood some parts of the magic but it was pure speculation. There was mention of social rings and garden rings and it would’ve been great if we had a break down of the types of rings EVEN if not all of them were mentioned in the story. It would’ve immersed me more into the world and then I could understand the connotations better of why people wore certain rings and what it meant. While not absolutely necessary, it would have been great to have a pronunciation guide. Again, I’ll sound like a broken record but it allows readers to build that repotoire with the characters if they can say the names right rather than straight gibberish in my head (which is what it was).

While a strong foundation for the world was lacking, the direction of the story was also poor. There were too many characters and no clear distinction between all of them. None of them were overly unique to make them memorable. It also didn’t help that I didn’t like the FMC, which I will get into later. I found the ending to be dragged out and skimmed the last 20% of the book.

The characters:
I’m just going to focus mainly on the FMC, Anahrod. Most of my notes on her were simply me being irritated at her drooling over Ris.

I feel like it was a smack in the face that she suddenly had a romantic connection - there was no build-up to provide a context or explanation that this was happening. It just popped out of no where and I didn’t find it believable. Again, because of the lack of a strong foundation of the world and plot, Anahrod’s romantic endeavors lacked development. What also made this romance irritating was how Anahrod was so blind to Ris’ actions and motives but was happy to let Ris get away with murder…Anahrod is meant to be mistrustful of people so why did she suddenly feel ok to trust Ris other than she’s hot?

Let’s take the time to talk about Anahrod and Sicaryon. We’re led to believe he is this big, bad guy who’s hunting Anahrod down to force her to marry him and he’s not that at all!? He was actually the only likable character and apparently had some romantic history with Anahrod. How was I able to figure that out? Connecting random dots in my head and again…speculation. If Anahrod spent all these time thinking he was so bad, why was she so quick to also trust him in their heist? Was I missing something? Yes! All of background information. The author chose to create a polyamorus situation with Anahrod, Ris, and Sicaryon and it was again odd because to put it short, there was no development.

Overall takes:
My main take is that I didn’t like Anahrod and that’s a good part of why I didn’t enjoy the story. She was inconsistent and not well-developed. Again, it was a missed opportunity to not include a glossary or explanation of the world, creatures, magic, etc. After I finished this, I looked up reviews and did feel validated seeing other reviewers saying the same as me and one of the words used to describe this was that the story “lacked depth” and that’s so accurate. Not a book I would recommend in its current state.

The Sky on Fire by Jen Lyons is a fast paced heist story featuring a fun cast of characters. The chapters were all very short which helped keep the pace moving.

I really liked our main character Anahrod, she felt very real to me and I was very invested in learning about her past. The planning and execution of the heist was well done, nothing ever felt too convenient, there were plenty of times where plans fell through and we got to see the group brainstorming together on next steps. I especially like that we got to see everyone play a part in how the story played out, none of the side characters felt redundant.

The magic and the dragons were awesome and I’m left feeling like we’ve only just scratched the surface, there is definitely potential if Jenn Lyons ever decides to tell more stories in this setting.

Overall this book was fantastic and I could see myself rereading it in the future!

⭐️ 3.85
🌶 0.5

Guard your hoards, dragons! Anahrod the Evil is coming for you 😈

After being falsely accused by the Dragon Regent of breaking and entering into her hoard vault, Anahrod the dragonrider cadet is sentenced to death. Only, she miraculously survives her execution and goes into hiding using a new identity in the Deep - the sea level jungles that no Skylander has been known to survive.

Seventeen years later, her survival is discovered and both Skylanders, Deep dwellers and dragons are after Anahrod. She is offered a place in a secret rebel group in exchange for her participation in a deadly heist - stealing from the very same vault she was accused of robbing as a teenager.

This epic tale is packed full of detailed worldbuilding and dragon lore, which is slowly introduced and built upon over time so as not to overwhelm the reader. The queer-normative culture, BIPOC Skylander society and disability representation throughout was flawless.

I especially loved the garden rings concept (using specially-coded flowers for feminine and leaves for masculine), which allowed Skylander adults to openly indicate their gender identity and sexuality, as well as any sexual preferences/kinks they felt comfortable sharing. For example, a transgender woman could wear a floral ring to indicate her gender was 'late-blooming', which is such a poetic way of expressing her identity and chosen pronouns. No LGBTQIA+ character was ever mislabelled, not even by their enemies.

Another aspect I loved were the interactions between the dysfunctional found family members. The witty banter, sarcastic humour, sibling-like squabbles and flirting were all very fun and heart-warming. While there wasn’t any open door spice, the tension and connection between the developing throuple were great.

Of course, the dragons were intimidating, especially when one would go rampant (enter into a beserker-like, murderous rage that would ultimately get them killed by other dragons). The mystery of the frequency of rampancy was an intriguing sub-plot. For me, the depiction of dragons being not only superior in class and status, but also often as abusers of their dragonriders was a refreshing take on a classic trope.

One element I did find a little disappointing was the author's seeming hesitation to write certain action sequences. There were several occasions where the plot seemed to set up a battle or other intense action scene, only for the author to literally write it off as uneventful, without providing details and move on.

Overall, I had a lot of fun reading this story. While the twists in the plot weren't particularly surprising, they were still well-delivered by the author. Ultimately, I recommend it, but I'm not likely to re-read it (unless the epilogue leads to another book - IYKYK).

2,5 stars

The Sky on Fire has all the elements that I would normally like in a book. (Ruling) Dragons, various cultures, queer normative, witty mc, a group of misfits. Yet I struggled immensely with this book.

We meet Anahrod as various parties try to capture her in the jungle of the Deep. Why? Well who knows because it takes until the mid of the book to actually get to the point. I don't mind a slow build but the first half felt very aimless. From running in the jungle, to being captured, going on an air ship but apparently being afraid of heights, being captures but then a heist. Yeay. It felt inconsistent. I wasn't quite sure what kind of book I was reading until we hit the mid-way point. I didn't quite enjoy the ride.

It has an interesting world building with dragons who rule the world (except a few places here and there). Dragon riders are the main contact point with humans. But the actual ruling and council aren't overly clear. We don't get to see any of that. And I heavily wondered what Peralon's position in the world was.

I really wanted to like some of these characters but I sometimes struggled to make a connections. For the most part I liked Anahrod but sometimes something random would happen with her or that she would do that would pull me out of her character. She didn't always feel very consistent. There were random scenes of her searching out her father but then it wasn't mentioned again and it felt unresolved. Some other characters were one dimensional. Like Claw or the one that ended up dying (that seemed to be his only purpose).

As for the romance, as mentioned this world is queer-normative. They have garden rings which shows your profession and your sexuality and if you are seeking. Trans characters are considered late bloomers. Anahrod gets into a polyarmorous relationship with Ris and Sicaryon which is fine. Her relationship with Sicaryon had already started before this book and it was clear they had built a physical and emotional connection. With Ris however, it was instalust and it does not move away from that at all.

Adding on to that the spice level was inconsistent. There was a faded away threesome for instance. But later on in the book there is a scene where there is this weird explicite dirty talking happening between Anahrod and Ris. It was very explicite and not in all int he same line as the other sexual content we saw before in the book. Even worse, it felt completely out of place. They are literally heading off to rescue her brother. Like priorities maybe?

I really, really wanted to like this book for what it promised but in the end there was just too many inconsistencies for me to really end up enjoying it. Which is a shame because I do think that Jenn Lyons writing is good.

Dragon overlords, a heist plot, and a lovely group of misfits? The perfect mixture. The prologue had me hooked, and I found myself going on an incredibly pleasant journey--a fast paced plot, some kinkiness (we love to see it), and a really well-rounded diverse cast.

I AM BEGGING PUBLISHERS AND AUTHORS TO PUT OUT MORE FANTASY NOVELS FEATURING BADASS WOMEN AND DRAGONS. IT IS ALL I WANT.


anyways, I obviously thought this was incredible. Was really impressed with Jenn Lyons’ previous series and this is off to a promising start.

This one is a must read for all readers after a standalone adult high fantasy with "talking" dragons. This is in no way a fantasy romance before anyone else thinks its another Fourth Wing type story.
Jenn Lyon has managed to craft a fully fleshed world with fleshed out characters, epic battles and simple but effective plotline in under 500 pages. I loved every moment. In the same slightly humorous and quirky tone as Chorus of Dragons, this is a story with a heist on a tyrannical dragon's hoard. Dragons are the dominant egotistic species and are only bound to humans in order to starve off madness that takes them over their long lives. Jenn Lyons has again managed to craft a queer-norm world full of diverse characters. We have a hodgepodge group, anti-hero's, snappy dragons, dragon riders, lost families and shock betrayals.
this is one of those books i wished was longer!
Thanks so much to @netgalley and TorBooks for a eARC.

The Sky on Fire is a fast-paced dragon fantasy with a twist. The relationship between dragons and human dragon riders is not equal, dragons are essentially the masters and use their riders as a way to conduct their magic through in order to keep themselves from going rampant.
If you are looking for a fast-paced standalone, this is a fun book to pick up.
Pros
-The dragon and Dragon rider relationship was very interesting and I enjoyed that it was deeply explored.
-There was never a dull moment! It was incredibly entertaining, which definitely helped me keep reading when I didn’t know what was going on.
-I really enjoyed the relationships within the plot. I was unsure at the beginning because I thought it was a little insta-lusty, but I ended up really liking where it went.
-Anahrod has to deal with her complicated feelings towards her family and navigate new & past relationships with those around her, familial, platonic, & romantic. It added to the character development.
-The way that their society views gender, sexuality, and how they use rings to signify these things was also super interesting! I would have loved even more info on that.
Cons
-I felt like I was always missing something. One of my notes at 53% was “I feel like I’m just now learning info I should already know and still expected to know things that haven’t been explained.” Once I accepted that I was just going to be kinda confused, my enjoyment definitely increased.
-The characters didn’t feel very fleshed out. Besides Anahrod, Gwydinion, Sicaryon & Ris, the other characters had very little personality aside from their one defining characteristic.
-The story starts off with a bang and is flying from the beginning, but I was constantly thinking “wtf is going on” for the first 20% of the book. And then the ending was also confusing but for different reasons. Instead of feeling like I was missing something, the explanation of the magic was going way over my head. It felt like when my roommate tried to explain her organic chemistry homework to me. My brain could not compute.

Overall this was a really fun world with an attention-grabbing plot. I had a good time and would recommend to those who don’t mind being a little confused in exchange for a compelling plot.

Stars: 3.5/5

The Sky on Fire by Jenn Lyon starts strong with the epilogue hooking you in to an execution under unusual circumstances, as well as a dragons wrath and determination to find a human who has betrayed her. Neveranimus will destroy everything in the Crystalspire if Anahrod is not returned to her.

Anahrod has found a way to survive in the Deep which is full of predators, death, amazing creatures. That is until she is near kidnapped and her animal companion is injured. She finds herself helping a group of people through the Deep.

This little rag tag team of found family was the best. The banter brought by Claw and her relationship with Kaibren was really heart warming. I loved the way they all had saved each other and stuck together.

There were a lot of surprises I didn’t see coming and I really enjoyed the relationship between dragon and rider and the political fights between them.

This has a little bit of a romance subplot and a tiny bit of implied spice - more of a wake up in the morning and some kissing during the book. It didn’t take away from the main part of the story but added to it. It features a unique relationship and was interesting to see the dynamic change through the course of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

I had such high hopes for this. Dragons, a heist and a band of misfits? Sign me up! However it fell a little short for me. I really enjoyed the premise and the set up of the story, but I felt like it never quite followed through. I think the pacing was off and nothing was ever fully allowed to play out and develop. Because of this I felt I couldn't connect with the characters & therefore didn't care what came of them. I felt there was no chemistry between the love interests and I outright did not like Ris.

I feel like this would have benefited from being a duology so we could have focused on the character development and the dynamic between the characters. I do feel it a had a great baseline story and plot, however it just needed expanding and furthering developing.

This book gave me quite a ride! I absolutely loved that the dragon/rider aspect was discussed so much in the story. It allowed me to really feel the strength and need for the connection and explained WHY going rampart happens. What can I say other than I truly loved it?

Oh, and the reconnecting with the MC (I’ve tried to write her name and autocorrect sucks) and her mother at the end HAD ME SOBBING.