I love novellas, but I’m so often left feeling like I wanted more from the story and characters that I usually just end up wishing it was a full book. In Untethered Sky, however, it actually felt like a story that fit the shorter format perfectly, and I left feeling entirely fulfilled for once!

The only works I’ve read by Fonda Lee so far has been her Greenbone Saga, and it utterly blew me away. I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect from such a different setting, as Untethered Sky has much more of an epic fantasy setting, with mythological creatures and people who hunt and train them. I just knew I was expecting a lot, and somehow Fonda fully delivered.

I was moved by Ester and her story, even though Ester was not one for people. It really came through in her narration, and through Fonda’s writing, that Ester really cares for only two things, her roc and killing manticores. She just didn’t have much in the way of social skills, which carries through in how the reader seems to think about her and interact with her, as it takes us longer to feel a connection because she seems to purposely put us at a distance. While this can sometimes be detrimental, it actually worked in Ester’s favor her, and made her seem much more real and developed to me. This is just extremely important too, as we only have 160 pages to spend with Ester, and it can be hard to fully develop a character and still have the character change as they move through the story.

This novella tackles a lot, as we examine the reasons why Ester hunts manticores, why the empire even needs these hunters, and how these rocs are trained and how much it is against their nature to remain with humans. There’s so much at play here, from societal perception of ruhkers and rocs to more personal relationship between Ester and her fellow ruhkers, and we even get to see what happens when things go wrong, and how close the bond between a roc and ruhker really is, despite the danger the ruhker is under from their roc at every moment. I think this final thing probably came across the strongest, Ester’s narration constantly makes it clear how easily Zahra could kill her, and how despite that, Ester is fascinated, obsessed, and in love with Zahra anyway. I’ve read many stories with mythological creatures, many of which serve as side-kicks or pets, but this is the first that seemed to dive so deeply into this relationship specifically, and what it truly means to be connected to such a powerful beast. It’s honestly impressive, looking back, just how much Fonda was able to explore in so few pages.

Overall, I think this is probably one of the strongest novellas I’ve ever read, and has only solidified Fonda’s skill in my mind. I can’t wait to see what everyone else thinks of it, now that it’s officially released!