📝 What is The Sky on FIre about?:
Anahrod lives for survival, forging her way through the harsh jungles of the Deep with her titan drake. When an adventuring party rescues her from a warlord, they reveal they need her help to steal from a dragon’s hoard in the sky cities. The hoard belongs to the regent, Neveranimas, who wants Anahrod dead.
📚 Genre: fantasy
🎧 Format: ARC E-Book
💞 Feels: ⭐⭐⭐.75
The Sky on Fire was a great epic fantasy to read in a year where I haven’t read a lot of epic fantasy. I enjoyed finding out about the rules of the world and the political hierarchies. Getting to see Anahrod re-entering a world she escaped, and finding not everything is how she left it or how she’d perceived it in the past.
I enjoyed following Anahrod on her journey of redemption, revenge (or maybe it was more karma) and belonging. This was a cozy read, though the stakes were high and world-ending I still found the adventure fun and light. There were a lot of characters to track, but I wasn’t overwhelmed I just waited for the other shoe to drop so I could find out what everyone was up to while they were off on their own.
A few different worlds are created within this book. The Deep, the Skylands, the dragonrider school and a flying vessel. Anahrod got to experience all of these different surroundings, and it was engaging and understandable why the story and actions were changing locations. The different locations were relevant to the story along with her self-discovery journey. Each character brought out a different side of Anahrod; I really liked how distracted she was by Ris, Sicaryon and Gwydinion after being on her own for so long.
Sicaryon and Ris, were my favorite characters. But probably because they weren’t around as much as I wanted them to be. Like they were each still very much a mystery to me by the end of the book. So I wish more of their backgrounds had been revealed. Ris’ story was definitely revealed more….with allusions of Sicaryon’s background and possible connections he could have during “Part Nine: What Gwydinion Saw.” Was it all a costume that he puts on and takes off, like his disguise when he’s in the Skylands or is his persona in the Deep genuine?
Getting technical
This is my first time reading a book by Jenn Lyons and I really liked her writing style. Methodical way of building the world and revealing characters at a leisurely pace. I couldn’t predict any of the twists or what might happen next. The large cast of characters were so diverse and enjoyable to learn about. They were all individuals, that came in and out of the storyline as needed. At one point, towards the end I started to get anxious about a character making a reappearance. Like actively rooting for them to come back already, and HURRY UP about it.
You’ll like this book, if…
You’ll like this book, if you’re into reluctant female heroes with a mysterious past and a whole crew of characters making up their found family. This book at times gave me Harry Potter and Fourth Wing vibes…mostly because of the brief time the spent in an academic environment. And of course, dragon lore and a heist were the icing on top.
✅ Spinoff novella nomination:
There was an ending, but I could definitely see the story continuing from Gwydinion’s perspective.
What are you reading? Let me know in the comments.
Comments
One response to “ARC Book Review: The Sky on Fire by Jenn Lyons”
[…] The Sky On Fire and The Fiancé Dilemma were supposed to be read in June, but as is becoming a pattern I wasn’t able to keep up with the reading pace. So since these two ARCs weren’t planned to publish until early and late in July respectively, I just moved them onto my July TBR list. The Sky On Fire was my long book of the month, there’s always one. Even though the book was long and full of epic fantasy, I enjoyed reading about the adventure and characters. And a plus for the book is that it was a one off! […]