Anahrod has been in Exile for 17 years. Now in her 30s, she has lived in the jungle while people have assumedNarrated by Lauren Fortgang
Genre: fantasy
Anahrod has been in Exile for 17 years. Now in her 30s, she has lived in the jungle while people have assumed she's dead, and her name is equated with the darkest kind of treachery. But, it's kidnap Anahrod season, and a Dragonrider and random band of people have snagged her as a part of an elaborate heist plan... to raid the dragon lair Anahrod was originally put to death for allegedly robbing 17 years ago.
The Sky on Fire is a standalone fantasy novel with a strong sapphic romantic arc, but the romance isn’t the central plot-driver. The central plot revolves around planning the heist, and the central conflict revolves around the dragon’s protecting their hoard and controlling their riders. Dragons require riders only to maintain their own sanity, their minds balance on the razor thin line between control and the unhinged plunge into uncontrolled rampage and destruction. Nothing is worse than a rampaging dragon who has lost their mind.
For a standalone novel, The Sky on Fire has expansive worldbuilding. Jenn Lyons is a seasoned writer, and she gives us the right amount of detailing for daily life and the backdrop of this world dominated by dragons. She weaves more modern components, such a rings to signify gender and sexual preferences, into a classic-feeling fantasy with mountain and cloud dwellers.
The audiobook is narrated by Lauren Fortgang, and I found the audio to be an engaging way to read The Sky on Fire, immersing myself in the world.
Thank you to Tor and MacMillan audio for an eARC and ALC for review. The Sky on Fire is out 7/9/24! ...more
Set in contemporary Kolkata, bridging two worlds. Full of dragon lore of course. With references to Smaug and Anne McCaffrey, also Nagas of South AsiaSet in contemporary Kolkata, bridging two worlds. Full of dragon lore of course. With references to Smaug and Anne McCaffrey, also Nagas of South Asia and influences from Chinese dragon culture, too. Discussions of religion, identity, race, and gender, of memory and forgetting and vanishing. Utterly gorgeous.
Genre: speculative fiction Calcutta, present day
Ru, a young boy living in Calcutta, knows his family is different. They use a Christian last name, but don’t practice Christianity, and Ru’s classmates tease him for his racial differences. His parents are oddly elusive over telling him their origins. “You wouldn’t believe it if we told you,” they always say. Any time Ru starts to remember, he must drink the Tea of Forgetfulness. The family keeps to their own small community, Ru feeling slightly unmoored, until he meets Alice, daughter of the owners of the Chinese restaurant. Their friendship gives Ru hope and meaning as he grapples with his identity as more than just an outsider.
The Last Dragoners of Bowbazar is haunting and gorgeous. The lyrical prose fits Ru’s life of swirling memories and broken identity. The novella borrows from dragon lore of South and East Asia, as well as classics of SFF dragon subgenres like Tolkien and McCaffrey. Ru tells himself that dragons aren’t real as he’s imagining Smaug, but the real dragons truly are entirely different. The beauty of the book is unwinding Ru’s identity, discovering the real dragon lore, and basking in pensive prose.
There is a possibility that this was the Meggiest book of 2023, which is fitting because I read it on December 30. It has all of the elements I love in a speculative fiction novella - questions of identity, religious themes (in this case a rejection of the religions of man and an embrace of the religions of the dragons), deep friendship, gender identity, and abiding love in many forms. It’s short, at under 120 pages, and comes with equal measures of challenge and comfort. ...more
3.5 stars. The first book and obviously setting up for more. This one is dragon adjacent, with Emilia Drakon , dragonrider, separated from her dragons3.5 stars. The first book and obviously setting up for more. This one is dragon adjacent, with Emilia Drakon , dragonrider, separated from her dragons for the whole book. But there are truly lots of lesbian pirates to make up for the lack of dragons. Some decent steam, ...more
Took a little while for this pacing to work for me, but ultimate really enjoyed a satisfying ending. Seeing dragons acting out a Victorian Society wasTook a little while for this pacing to work for me, but ultimate really enjoyed a satisfying ending. Seeing dragons acting out a Victorian Society was intriguing, and I liked a lot of the choices the author made for what to adapt. This isn't a "light and fun" book, buy a family feud of legal drama over inheritance and marriage, told in a Victorian Lit style.
Tooth and Claw starts with the premise of a society of dragons, evolved to roughly mimic the Victorian era. It’s interesting, though, that the plot of the novel is not a fantasy plot at all: it’s a character driven story of inheritance, intrigue, and gossip, like a Victorian novel (note: not like a historical romance novel set in the Victorian era). I admired the restraint to refrain from making this a book about magic, and instead incorporating magical components as a part of the societal rules.
The dragon-mapping onto society is a fun exercise in worldbuilding. I’m not one to visually imagine what I read, but I did in fact try to picture 20 foot female dragons wearing Victorian bonnets and ballgowns. If I could draw, I certainly would have made an attempt at it. The visual details are generally reserved for the dragons themselves, with their vivid colors and immense size - male dragons may be 50 feet! The ability to fly is a matter of status. Out of respect for their religion, dragons refrain from flying on Firstday. Some dragons may never fly, while others use it to flaunt prowess, and servants’ wings are clipped to keep them in check. They live in elaborate caves (I thought of them as large estates scaled to fit enormous dragons), but with hotels and grand ballrooms. And trains!
Most interesting is Walton’s choice for female dragons to visibly change colors when aroused, with her scales turning pink when a male gets too close. It’s a visual mark of the shame Victorian society places on a woman, even when she is not at fault for the action, and a reminder of the balance of power in the dragon society as well as our own.
On the one hand, we have a character, Selendra, who is embarrassed that she’s so easily blushed when approached by a male she hates. She’s the typical middle-society girl who wants to play by all the rules because she believes that’s how she’ll land her husband. On the other side, we have another dragon, Sebeth, who had already fallen from grace and society and chosen to make the best of her life as a pink dragon living with a lover and working as a clerk. Sebeth’s shame is visible to anyone who sees her, especially to those who know she is unmarried, and it's a constant worry to her because she is happy with the life she’s built for herself.
There’s a lot of nuance in Tooth and Claw that I’m slowly unpacking still, but from a worldbuilding perspective, the dragon-onto-society map was an intriguing read. ...more
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