Publishers Weekly
★ 05/27/2024
Lyons’s addictive and intricately plotted quest story (after The Ruin of Kings) intertwines all the elements of a suspenseful heist—danger, high stakes, clever characters, secrets, and betrayal—in a sprawling fantasy world replete with pompous dragons. Teen Anahrod Amnead, who has the magical ability to control animals, is accused of stealing from a dragon, charged with treason, and sentenced to death. But 15 years later, the arrogant and powerful blue dragon Tiendremos suspects that the humans responsible did not carry through on the execution and demands they locate and return Anahrod to face her punishment. The bounty hunters sent to fetch her betray their assignment by making Anahrod an offer she can’t refuse: they won’t turn her in if she helps them steal the hoard of diamonds belonging to Neveranimas, the queen regent of dragons and Tiendremos’s boss, who stole the jewels from the comatose dragon king, Ivarion. Led by sultry dragon rider Ris, with whom Anahrod soon develops a sweet sapphic romance, the quirky group of adventurers includes knife-wielding warrior woman Claw, sorcerer Naeron, and elder poet Kaibren. Together they race against the clock to find the five swords that form the key to Neveranimas’s vault. If Ivarion wakes up before they succeed, the world as they know it could go up in flames. Fast-paced action, a smart and diverse cast, and fascinating dragon lore sustain this rip-roaring caper. Fantasy fans are sure to be sucked in. (July)
From the Publisher
"Nobody does dragons like Jenn Lyons! All the ingredients here add up to a spectacular and sexy fantasy heist story: sky ships hunting leviathans, revenge plots, secrets, family drama, and an ensemble that sparkles like a hoard full of diamonds."—Freya Marske, international bestselling author of A Marvellous Light
"Jenn Lyons just keeps getting better and better! The Sky on Fire is fantastic!—in multiple senses of that word."—Glen Cook, author of The Black Company
"The Sky on Fire's wily worldbuilding is deeply enjoyable, and its plot races like wildfire atop wit and banter, twists and reverses, and an unflappable delight in the possibilities of fantasy."—Kate Elliott, author of Unconquerable Sun and Servant Mage
"Fans of Dragonriders of Pern, Dragonlance, Naomi Novik’s Temeraire, and D&D will love this dragon-filled fantasy. The love letter you’ve been looking for to all the things you’ve cherished about the fantasy genre."—R.R. Virdi, author of The First Binding
"Charismatic characters, furious battles among dragons, masterful scheming, sexual tension, and crackling dialogue. Strap in for a great ride."—Booklist (starred review)
"This novel grabs a bunch of now-classic fantasy tropes and gives them a good shake.... A soaringly good read."—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Addictive and intricately plotted... [a] rip-roaring caper."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"This is a brilliant novel, vividly characterised, tense, and full of surprises. I adore it on a personal level, admire it from a technical perspective, and I do most sincerely hope that Lyons publishes more in this setting. Recommended."—Locus
Praise for Jenn Lyons:
"It's impossible not to be impressed with the ambition of it all, the sheer, effervescent joy Lyons takes in the scope of her project . . . a larger-than-life adventure story about thieves, wizards, assassins and kings to dwell in for a good long while."—The New York Times on The Ruin of Kings
“Epic fantasy fans looking for a virtually un-put-down-able read should look no further."—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) on The Ruin of Kings
“Rich, cruel, gorgeous, brilliant, enthralling and deeply, deeply satisfying. I loved it.”—Lev Grossman, author of The Magicians, on The Ruin of Kings
“Lyons proves she is worthy of comparison to other masters of epic fantasy.”—Booklist (starred review) on The Name of All Things
Library Journal
05/01/2024
In the cloud cities of Seven Crests, dragons rule; in the Deep, one can only hops to survive what lives there. Anahrod has lived in the Deep for years with her titan drake by her side, when a local warlord's attempt to capture her is foiled only by a small team of plucky rescuers. Anahrod can't return to her solitary life, however; instead, she finds her rescuers have turned to kidnappers, because they know who she really is—Anahrod the Wicked, back from the dead, who they think can help them steal a dragon's hoard. But not only does she not have the knowledge they think, but the hoard they want belongs to the dragon queen who wants Anahrod dead. A long on-ramp to the novel's main action builds the world with Lyon's usual flair for setting details, multiple plot threads, and characters with diverse sexualities. VERDICT Lyons's (The Discord of Gods) latest will add to the dragon frenzy while also appealing to readers who enjoy heist stories and action-packed fantasy. Comparisons to Anne McCaffrey's "Dragonriders of Pern" series are spot on.—Kristi Chadwick
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2024-05-04
A heist threatens to shake an empire in this stand-alone work of epic fantasy.
Seventeen years ago, a gifted dragonrider candidate, Anahrod Amnead, was falsely accused of stealing from a dragon’s hoard. Tossed 50,000 feet to the Deep below, Anahrod managed to survive and carve out a life—only to be kidnapped and convinced to join a plot to actually rob the hoard of that same dragon. Many additional twists, turns, and revelations unfold in this pointed, flaming riposte to the science fantasy series that set the standard for dragonrider novels from the 1980s forward, Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern. (An author’s note acknowledges Lyons’ debt to both McCaffrey and George R. R. Martin.) McCaffrey’s books and the many series they inspired posit an environment in which dragons—despite their vastly superior size, claws and teeth, ability to fly and breathe hazardous substances, and possession of magical or magic-seeming powers—will generally submit to humans’ superior intellectual and mental capabilities as part of a biologically imperative bonding relationship. This book is set in a world where dragons seem to be equally intelligent to and more psychically powerful than humans. They recognize their obvious advantage and don’t submit: They rule over their riders in particular and much of humanity in general. Bonding has some key physical benefits for them but it’s not an imperative; it’s a choice—at least, on the dragons’ part. And the ability to speak to all dragons, which is considered a boon on Pern, is nothing but a profound danger here, because at least one dragon views it as a threat. This novel grabs a bunch of now-classic fantasy tropes and gives them a good shake; meanwhile, the heist story sticks fairly close to its classic tropes—clever ruses, last-minute setbacks, inevitable betrayals, and so on—but injects enjoyable suspense. Finally, there’s a really sweet throuple romance and some lovely familial reconciliation.
A soaringly good read.
