For such a small book, this covers a pretty long period of time, taking us all the way through until Ester is an adult and full ruhker, when she and all the other ruhkers are involved in a nationwide effort to kill as many manticores as possible.

Fonda Lee weaves an enchanted world of giant majestic birds, those who would bond with them, and the terrifying monsters they must pursue. In this beautifully spun tale, a woman driven by loss and the pursuit of justice will be tested by the limits of her endurance, and how much she is willing to sacrifice."—P. Djèlí Clark ester. i love how well ester's grief and internal struggles were written. her obsession was written perfectly, and when zahra left ester, tears were shed 😭 ester's story shows the importance about learning to accept the things you cannot change and finding the strength to move forward. my heart aches for her <33 Thank you Tor Publishing Group and Netgalley for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review. Arnan’s voice didn’t seem to be receding at all even though I was walking away as fast as I could. Finally, his screams cut out, presumably because he’d run inside to complain about me, and I closed my eyes at the bliss. The bees droned again. The birds chirped once more. Ruhkers must be endlessly patient, determined, and stoic. They can’t express frustration, anger, or pain around their charges. During his apprenticeship, one of the other young ruhkers, Darius, had his arm broken by a roc while he was tethering it. He passed the leash to his other hand, tied it one-handed, and finished his chores cleaning the mews, sweeping with his right arm while his left hung dangling. All the while he never made a sound. After Darius’s arm healed, Babak gave him the next roc to train.

My mother grabbed me by the arm with a shriek. “Holy fires, it’ll think you’re a little monkey and carry you right off!” When I was thirteen years old, I learned that when disaster arrives, it does so without omen or portent. The truly terrible moments strike us the way a roc strikes its prey— without warning, out of the clear blue sky.”

as long as your heart beats, you’ll be a ruhker. i know this as much as god knows every creature, because i once thought there was no reason for me to be alive, no logic to survival, no meaning to be found past endurance of loss, yet there was. ” Her newest book is a very, very different story, not only in format— Untethered Sky, which hit shelves on April 18, is a novella—but in setting. Where the Green Bone Saga had room to stretch, Untethered Sky is tightly bound to its narrator, Ester, and her relationship with the roc she trains. If you like reading about falconry, and animal training hunting scenes, this book will be a treat for you because that is basically what this is about. Me, I was bored and bored. Ester is a fascinating character working through her own past traumas, most notably the brutal killing of her mother and brother by one of the mighty manticores. She set her on her own path, not only to seek her own personal vengeance against the manticore who killed her family (or, at least, a proxy for that manticore), but also seeking her independence and place in the world. Ester has a complex relationship with her father permeated by sexism, mourning, and prejudice and Ester ultimately seeks respect and identity in her new role as the rukher.

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Middle-eastern based fantasy world (Persian mostly I think, with -polis named city) with extreme power falconry: big rocs are trained to hunt big animals particularly vicious human eating manticores by dedicated trainers. And this is about our fmc (I think she is female, she is so bland I hardly remember and I only read it last night) training her roc, them hunting and more stuff having to do with rocs and our trainer and her roc. The End. If you like extremely tense political maneuvering and intrigue, you will love Jade City. Fonda Lee is the new Mario Puzo; Jade City has officially dethroned The Godfather."—Sarah Gailey I absolutely loved Untethered Sky. Despite going in with high expectations from having read some of Fonda Lee’s previous work, I was still blown away; I was so engrossed that I read it in a single sitting. And with its shorter length, that’s a perfectly reasonable way to consume this story.

zahra was not yet in my life, but she would be. she answered the question in my soul and made me worthwhile. and you were not yet in my life either, but then you came into it. you’re part of the answer and even without your roc, you’re worth more to me than you could ever know. ” Therefore, when Ester's last sentence states, "Where, come spring, there would be new monsters to tame"... it was a depressing reminder of the futilities we go through as humans to feel safe in a monster-tamed world, when the reality is that monsters can't never be tamed. The x-factor in books for me tipping them over from just good to freaking amazing seems to be a combination of pacing and momentum. This story had the perfect balance of both, leaving me reeling at the end of the book in the best way possible. I haven’t finished Green Bone yet, but if this novella and the wild popularity of that series are any indication, I’m in for quite the ride. When you love a person, you are expected to give them their freedom, but when you love a monster, you keep it caged.

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Sometimes I read a book that feels just so tailored to my personal interests and strange niches that I cannot believe it exists, but this is one of them. I was so hesitant going into this book, so much so that I put it off for months - my friends who have read it haven't really sung its praises, and I didn't love Lee's last novella as much as I was hoping to have - but all my worries were completely unfounded. Growing up, if you asked me what my dream job would be if I didn't have to worry about money, I would've told you I wanted to be a falcon trainer. Why? I honestly could never really explain it, but reading this book made me feel like Fonda Lee put into words how I've always felt about birds of prey - it so accurately captures the emotions of awe, respect, and fear for these magnificent creatures, and because of that, this book felt so special to me.

The dark days acclimate the roc to the ruhker’s voice and presence. In the long period of sensory deprivation, the fledging starts to forget her old life, to feel that perhaps she has always been in this dark room, that the voice of her trainer is the only constant, the only thing there is, the only thing there ever will be. The book also gives manticores their due as well. For all propaganda claiming they’re devil-spawn, we get the idea beneath it all they’re also just animals. While chillingly intelligent, they still often behave like terrifying wild animals rather than some far-flung fantasy creature, which is impressive when you consider that they have the face of an ape, a leonine body encased in quills, and a scorpion-like tail. Special thanks to my Patrons on Patreon for giving me extra support towards my passion for reading and reviewing! A fully grown female roc stands a head taller than most men. Fully spread, her wings reach as wide as three people lined up fingertip to fingertip with arms outstretched. Rocs aren’t the impossible size that storytellers and artists would have you believe, but nevertheless Zahra loomed over me. She made the falcon I’d flown as a girl seem like a toy. I do wish we spent a little more time focused on the relationship between Ester and her roc as I feel that would have allowed me to get more emotionally invested in their storyline than I did, but I still liked Ester as a character throughout the entire novella.beautifully immersive writing and natural worldbuilding - fonda lee proved she's just as good at writing traditional adventure fantasy as she is at gritty urban fantasy.