‘Untethered Sky’ Book Review

I’ve been reading a lot of dense books lately and found Fonda Lee and her series The Green Bone Saga. However, I wanted something light and came across her book ‘Untetherd Sky.’

It is the story about a girl, Ester, whose mother and younger brother gets killed by a man eating manticore, a disgusting beast who eats humans and anything that screams. Moved by this tragedy, Ester believes that God has turned her path to become a Rukher— an elite trainer and hunter who commands an amazing giant bird— a Roc. This companionship creates manticore killers and keeping the kingdom safe from the plague of human eaters.

Ester begins her training by receiving a recent hatchling now named Zhara. Roc’s are dangerous animals that could kill you with no regrets even if you have been a trusted companion for years.

Still knowing this, Ester takes this duty on to use her Roc and seek revenge for her family. Ester takes her relationship seriously with her Roc and starts to become a seasoned hunter with friends by her side. However, there was a bit lacking with character development.

Ester’s character personality is lacking until the end where we see her conviction in killing manticore and her purpose as a Ruhker. It is as if Ester was just narrating the whole process of what she was becoming. If we got more feelings and conviction from her I think the story would have had more conviction.

Darius, the friend and possible love interest, is a Ruhker with his charge Minu. A beautiful Roc that was trained by another, but found a relationship with Darius. His devotion to his Roc is inspiring and he becomes a friend to Ester by helping her with her charge. Darius’ personality shown through a bit brighter than

This is a shorter novel (160 pages), but I felt like the world building could’ve been a bit better. It was very focused on the characters and their motivations and jobs. I may be biased because I am very plot-driven when reading books. I do like character development, but I love plot and world-building more. With how short the novel is though I think it did a good enough job creating a good atmosphere around Ester’s life.

The ending of the novel is somehow poetic. With some foreshadowing in the book, the ending has a cliffhanger to leave you satisfied that our characters we learned to love will be okay!

I really liked this story because as a mom I am on the prowl for clean books and those that will keep my child engaged. This is one that I will give to them. The characters are fun and relatable. There’s action, a little romance, and tension between the animal and prey.

I would say that the target ages would be 8 to 15, but all ages should read. It’s fun, dramatic, and a good quick read with it being a novella at 160 pages.

Enjoy!