A Review of Fonda Lee’s Untethered Sky (Tordotcom, 2023)
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ljiang28
Written by Stephen Hong Sohn
Edited by Lina Jiang
Fonda Lee’s Untethered Sky (Tordotcom, 2023) was another one of my winter vacation reads. I saw the cover and thought it was probably about dragons. The design suggested high fantasy, and I’ve always been a high fantasy fan, having read things by David Eddings, Terry Goodkin, and Robert Jordan. I was right about the latter (in terms of the genre), but completely wrong about the former. The flying creatures I saw on the cover are actually rocs, which, for the uninitiated, are bird-like creatures commonly found in high fantasy works (a figure you might find in Dungeons and Dragons, for instance).
In any case, let’s let the marketing description give us more direction and context: “Ester’s family was torn apart when a manticore killed her mother and baby brother, leaving her with nothing but her father’s painful silence and a single, overwhelming need to kill the monsters that took her family. Ester’s path leads her to the King’s Royal Mews, where the giant rocs of legend are flown to hunt manticores by their brave and dedicated ruhkers. Paired with a fledgling roc named Zahra, Ester finds purpose and acclaim by devoting herself to a calling that demands absolute sacrifice and a creature that will never return her love. The terrifying partnership between woman and roc leads Ester not only on the empire’s most dangerous manticore hunt, but on a journey of perseverance and acceptance.”
You know, this description really does not reveal too much about the emotional core of the novel, so maybe I shouldn’t spoil that part, but what I absolutely loved about this novel is that it went in a direction that I thought was appropriate yet unsentimental. Lee sets up the monstrous antagonist quite well: the manticore is a villain that readers want to see vanquished. The creature seems to have a voracious appetite and rocs, though not necessarily as fearsome, are one of the few predators that have a chance of killing them. The fictional world also sets up the fact that manticore territory seems to be expanding, so the need for rukhers, the human handlers that are paired with rocs, are increasing. Given the extreme amount of trust required between rukhers and their rocs, the bond that the two beings eventually create is one that truly envelops the rukher, so much so that a rukher that loses their roc (either due to serious injuries in battle or old age) can become depressed or give up the calling entirely. The resolution of this slim little novella—and by the way, another selling point for this work, given that it can easily be read in one sitting—is again perfectly captured and reminds me of why I have always enjoyed Lee’s work. A master at plotting and character development, Lee always finds a way to draw you into whatever unique and dazzling fictional world she’s created. Pick this one up, while you enjoy a cup of hot cocoa, by your fire, or your radiator!
Buy the Book Here
comments
ljiang28
Written by Stephen Hong Sohn
Edited by Lina Jiang
Fonda Lee’s Untethered Sky (Tordotcom, 2023) was another one of my winter vacation reads. I saw the cover and thought it was probably about dragons. The design suggested high fantasy, and I’ve always been a high fantasy fan, having read things by David Eddings, Terry Goodkin, and Robert Jordan. I was right about the latter (in terms of the genre), but completely wrong about the former. The flying creatures I saw on the cover are actually rocs, which, for the uninitiated, are bird-like creatures commonly found in high fantasy works (a figure you might find in Dungeons and Dragons, for instance).
In any case, let’s let the marketing description give us more direction and context: “Ester’s family was torn apart when a manticore killed her mother and baby brother, leaving her with nothing but her father’s painful silence and a single, overwhelming need to kill the monsters that took her family. Ester’s path leads her to the King’s Royal Mews, where the giant rocs of legend are flown to hunt manticores by their brave and dedicated ruhkers. Paired with a fledgling roc named Zahra, Ester finds purpose and acclaim by devoting herself to a calling that demands absolute sacrifice and a creature that will never return her love. The terrifying partnership between woman and roc leads Ester not only on the empire’s most dangerous manticore hunt, but on a journey of perseverance and acceptance.”
You know, this description really does not reveal too much about the emotional core of the novel, so maybe I shouldn’t spoil that part, but what I absolutely loved about this novel is that it went in a direction that I thought was appropriate yet unsentimental. Lee sets up the monstrous antagonist quite well: the manticore is a villain that readers want to see vanquished. The creature seems to have a voracious appetite and rocs, though not necessarily as fearsome, are one of the few predators that have a chance of killing them. The fictional world also sets up the fact that manticore territory seems to be expanding, so the need for rukhers, the human handlers that are paired with rocs, are increasing. Given the extreme amount of trust required between rukhers and their rocs, the bond that the two beings eventually create is one that truly envelops the rukher, so much so that a rukher that loses their roc (either due to serious injuries in battle or old age) can become depressed or give up the calling entirely. The resolution of this slim little novella—and by the way, another selling point for this work, given that it can easily be read in one sitting—is again perfectly captured and reminds me of why I have always enjoyed Lee’s work. A master at plotting and character development, Lee always finds a way to draw you into whatever unique and dazzling fictional world she’s created. Pick this one up, while you enjoy a cup of hot cocoa, by your fire, or your radiator!
Buy the Book Here
comments
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