Untethered Sky

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Fonda Lee: Untethered Sky (2023, Doherty Associates, LLC, Tom)

English language

Published Dec. 21, 2023 by Doherty Associates, LLC, Tom.

ISBN:
978-1-250-84246-6
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4 stars (11 reviews)

2 editions

A fascinaing story where humans use huge rocs to hunt even more deadly manticores.

4 stars

A fascinating story set in a world where huge rocs, bigger than humans, fly and hunt terrifying prey: manticores that prey on humans. Human have made a dangerous pact with the rocs, and now hunt the manticores together.

The story focuses on Ester, a ruhker (roc partner) who at the beginning of the story is paired with a fledgling roc named Zahra. After winning Zahra's trust, and not getting eaten in the process, they train together to hunt smaller prey before they are considered ready, with the help of senior ruhkers, to take on the manticores.

The heart of the story is Ester's relationship with Zahra: for while Ester adores Zahra and trusts her, Zahra may not reciprocate, for she was bought in from the wild and could leave (or kill) Ester at any time. Ester's training and relationship with Zahra are about the only thing keeping them together as …

Review of 'Untethered Sky' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

3,5 stars.

The author manages the story very well aware of the limits she has. She knows where she has to focus: what to tell and what not to tell. It was an enjoyable read, but for me too short to have a good grasp on the world. The characterization was done very well instead I got affectionated to Ester pretty quickly. It also has a little of a bittersweet end.

Untethered Sky

4 stars

This was a fun novella. It's an "animal companion" story of sorts, where it focuses largely on Ester's relationship with her new roc Zahra. It's about dealing with grief, unrequited love and obsession with animals, and the awkwardness of what it means to "train" and "keep" a giant murderbird who could fly away at any time with your heart (metaphorically or literally).

There was just enough world-building and a hint of politics to keep me intrigued about the rest of the world, and the ending quite neatly brought a number of different story threads together to a satisfying finish.

I also enjoyed this conversation between Fonda Lee and Alex Harrow, including a bunch of details about this novella: www.tor.com/2023/04/27/author-interviews-conversation-with-fonda-lee-and-alix-e-harrow/

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