Untethered Sky by Fonda Lee

Publisher – Tordotcom

Published – Out Now

Price – £18.99 hardback £9.99 Kindle ebook

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.

Novellas occasionally get the criticism that people wish a story was longer. I never quite feel this provided if the story is well told. The novella is very much about focus, and you can frame a story around a single scene, a few days or many years and still show us the kind of world we tend to see in multi-volume epics. In Fonda Lee’s excellent Untethered Sky we have a new take on an old legend and a fascinating look at our main character’s life and world which has turned into one of those books I’m always thinking about long after I’ve read it making it a fascinating read highlighting what a novella is capable of.

Ester has one aim in her young life. To become a Rukher – the people who look after, train and hunt with the Giant Rocs of the King. These immense birds are as well as a fascinating example of power able to kill the many monsters that live around the kingdom in particular the violent and destructive Manticores that terrorise and kill people with malice. Ester gets to train the fledgling Zahra and now their career begins from their first hunt, meeting their colleagues and navigating the politics of the palace to the battle Ester seeks the most revenge – to meet the manticore she has sworn to kill.

My first reaction on reading this was that was cool and I’m so glad someone has told a story about Rocs again. When I was a child Rocs would always appear in any book based around ancient legends and they seem to had vanished by the 90s this pleased me. But every day since I’ve found myself coming back to thinking on how this book tells three fascinating stories within a novella – we have Ester and Zhara’s relationship and bonding, the world of the Rukhers within the palace and then around this wider Kingdom it all takes place in from royal intrigue to external wars. Lee seamlessly makes us move from one to the other and we are exploring how all three change within around 150 pages. Watching how each change and influences the other make this skilled fantasy storytelling.

At the heart is Ester our narrator. We first meet her watching Zhara hatch in the dark room to cement the bond between Roc and Rukher. Lee makes you feel the tension, the wonder and the joy this situation experiences and we watch the two become one unit. It’s a really important opening scene as it both helps us understand the Rocs’ size and strength; the key bond these two share and Ester’s dedication/obsession to her bird. Then we move swiftly back a few years to find out why Ester is so motivated. Ewe experience a Manticore attack on her family from her perspective as a young teenager. It vivid, horrific and terrifying - the manticore is a smart and cruel creature that likes to play – think how we see raptor dinosaurs. They become a foe that even a mention of one nearby increases the tension. This plotline has the stakes that will run throughout the story.

Then Lee makes us watch Ester and Zhara grow in the Royal Mews. We witness the first hunt and learn even more of Roc’s powers. We find Rukher life is quite strange. They are all people mildly obsessed with their birds but act as a unit to hunt and protect the Kingdom. Ester though arrives at a time where Manticore attacks around mean people see increasing value and prestige in Rukher and we watch a little like how fighter pilots in war got more acclaim as the team get more wealth and support. One subtle plotline is how the mews and the Royal family they serve work together and there is a subtle exploration of powerplays, propaganda and military decisions all going on around Ester. The two storylines subtly intersecting and influencing each other. As the years pass power dynamics change within the group and the wider world and that dictates where the Rukhers do next. Ester’s narration is great at hinting at these things and even foreshadowing events but never feels like excessive infodumping. This is lovely storytelling to relax into and enjoy the ride

This leads to the third strand what is Ester’s future. She has a determination to kill Manticores but is that it. We meet two other Rukhers. There is Darius the Rukher’s Rukher - perhaps obsessed more than anyone into the life of their Roc but shows a bond with ester over how Zhara is growing fast. Nasmin however is more sociable and enjoys the prestige of showing off her Roc and skills to the wider population. These two friends are choices for ester as to where she goes and as we enter in the final act the big question of what Ester is going to do next. Is choosing to live sometimes more important than your vocation? We learn to love and worry about all three in this story – will their ambitions be their downfall? There are no firm answers but just hints as to what will happen next and I really appreciate that Lee allows the reader to make their own mind up.

Untethered Sky is beautiful subtle storytelling that makes both a legend and a unique world come to life before our eyes. It offers emotional scenes, the wonder that a fantasy world should provide and moment s of adventure and peril. The way it tells this in novella form is something I keep finding myself coming back to and visiting this world again after I’ve closed the final page - always a sign of a great read. I very strongly recommend this!