Title: The Sky on Fire
Author: Jenn Lyons
Publication Date: July 9, 2024 by Tor Books
Genres: Fantasy
Protagonist Gender: Female
The incomparable Jenn Lyons has done it again, only this time it's with a standalone fantasy, so if you've been reluctant to immerse yourself in the gloriously bewildering saga that is A Chorus of Dragons, The Sky on Fire is your chance to see what you've been missing.
The cover blurb will tell you this is a story about a rescue from a warlord and a heist from a dragon, but don't let that deceive you - nothing about this is that simple. It's also a story about regrets, resentment, and revenge, with personal motives driving the narrative. Nobody is all good or all bad, it's just that their objectives are sometimes violently at odds with one another - so much so that even villains can end up becoming heroes.
The world-building here is simple but nicely detailed and well thought-out. Below, we have the jungles of the Deep, humid lands where air, foliage, and danger all lie thick and heavy. Above hang the cloud cities, home to the ruling classes, merchants, nobility, and dragons. So many dragons! This isn't just a book with dragons, it's very much a book about dragons - their history, their mythology, and their overbearing presence in the lives of tiny humans. While we don't get too deeply into human politics, we do explore a lot of dragon politics, which makes sense because everything in this world is subservient to their whims.
Very much like A Chorus of Dragons, The Sky on Fire is wonderful in its casual, no-big-deal, assumed diversity in gender, sexuality, and relationships. Characters wear garden rings and social that communicate their identity, preferences, and personality, and I loved the way it's done as much as I loved the language around it: a ring to denote "male, both by birth and inclination"; another to show "a committed, monogamous relationship"; and yet another to communicate a preference for "both feminine and masculine partners." Anahrod, our protagonist and POV, is a bisexual woman who begins exploring a polyamorous triad, and all people can say about it is that it's about time they admit their feelings for one another. There are also some casual kink references sprinkled throughout that, again, aren't a big deal for the characters, but refreshing to see as a reader.
If I were to have one complaint about the book it would be that it flounders for direction in the middle, with the pacing suffering as goals, alliances, and agendas are established. However, at this point, I know Lyons never does anything accidentally, never just fills pages for the sake of exposition, so I trusted that it would all come together and that we'd see how and why it all fits together - and we do. Along those lines, there were some questions I had early on about aspects of the story that seemed too simple, too convenient, but they're all satisfyingly explained by the end as well.
The Sky on Fire doesn't feel as grand or as poetic as A Chorus of Dragons, but that may actually play in its favor for new readers. It's a narrative style that fits the urgency of the tale, and had I not read anything else by Lyons, I'd never notice anything missing.
Rating: ♀ ♀ ♀ ♀
My sincere thanks to the publisher for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Comments
Post a Comment