Untethered Sky

Lee, Fonda. Untethered Sky. New York: Tor Publishing Group, 2023.

Want a short but punchy fantasy book with flying mythical creatures?

Inspired by Persian and Arabian folklore, Untethered Sky is an engaging fantasy novella which details the story of a young girl, Ester, whose mother and brother are lost to the brutality of a raging manticore—a deadly creature with the body of a lion and tail of a scorpion. In this world Fonda Lee creates, there is only one natural predator that can rival a manticore: the roc, a giant falcon featured in Persian myth. Ester then resolves herself to a life of hunting and killing manticores by training to become a ruhker, a highly skilled roc trainer in service of the king. 

Told from the first-person perspective of Ester, the story follows her as she slowly develops a trusting relationship with the adolescent roc she is tasked to train named Zahra and shifts from apprentice to a fully-fledged manticore hunter. The trusting—yet deeply tenuous—relationship between Ester and Zahra is the cornerstone and highlight of the novella. Lee plays heavily on this concept of the relationship between humankind and nature through the complex dynamic ruhkers have with their rocs. Ruhkers build an intensely personal attachment with their rocs, while also maintaining the understanding that these are wild creatures who cannot be owned or reciprocate such attachments. 

Untethered Sky is a sharply earnest coming-of-age fantasy story about finding one’s calling, the power of mythical beasts, and how our love for a wild animal cannot restrain them—yet we care for them anyway. It is available as a physical copy through Alamance County Public Libraries and as an audiobook via Hoopla. 

Sara D. is a Library Assistant at Graham Public Library.