Jenn Lyons’s The Sky on Fire Is Breezy High-Fantasy with Bite
The Sky on Fire is a beach read in high fantasy skin. Think Elin Hilderbrand meets Anne McCaffrey (sort of). Efficient descriptors, breakneck pacing, ruthless banter, sprawling action, and dragons grace the pages of Jenn Lyons’ latest, amounting to an accessible standalone epic adventure with more than enough “yes, and” to satiate both dragon fanatics and frothing, smut-hungry romance lovers. Sweetening the experience further are its brisk pace, eclectic characters, and an intricate world that feels almost as meticulously constructed as locales you see in multi-book epics.
The novel’s premise is hardly a tough sell. Lyons centers her story around would-be dragonrider Anahrod Amnead, whom the Dragon Queen Neveranimas attempted to kill after discovering the young girl’s gift for animal speak. A former sky-dweller, Anahrod is forced out of her element and into a lawless jungle fraught with rock wyrms, dragon-adjacent titan drakes, and mysterious locals. Thankfully, she quickly gets cuddly with the powerful Scarsea tribe and its king, Sicaryon. When we meet her, though, she has just fled the Scarsea and finds herself swept up in a plot to rob Neveranimas. Fourth Wing-ers and Dragonriders of Pern fans will devour this one-off not just for its lore, wit, and bawdiness, but also for the innate brilliance of its fantasy heist plot.
Heist structures lend themselves especially well to standalone fantasy. Like the act of robbing a dragon vault, a story that’s about breaking into one requires focus, discipline, and cards kept close to the vest. Ever the craftsperson, Lyons accepts this challenge with aplomb while simultaneously making a well-rounded, big-hearted case for family, love, and staying true to oneself.
Lyons wisely avoids coasting on the book’s irresistible hook, instead staying aware of its appeal and determining exactly when to deliver what readers want, what they don’t even know they want, and what they won’t see coming. The heist itself is thrilling, but more effective—and satisfying—than Anahrod and co. pulling a fast one on a teleporting dragon is the build-up. By the time our heroes are ready to do their thievin’, we’re under no illusions about who each participant is and what they’re gaining from such a risky mission.
More than the dragons, world, or heist itself, though, the characters Lyons concocts single-handedly elevate The Sky on Fire from a passable one-off to a rollicking high fantasy with the chops to distinguish itself in a heavily saturated space. Supporting characters such as Sicaryon, dragonrider Ris, and the dragon Peralon reflect what I can only assume is the author’s ability to come to positive conclusions about people in just about any circumstance. Lyons uses gossip and misinformation to paint Sicaryon as a bloodthirsty, possessive ruler, but when we meet the guy, we see immediately how false those rumors are. Ris, presented to us as a duplicitous dragonrider/sorceress who seems allergic to giving straight answers, proves equally as caring and twice as lost as Sicaryon. And Peralon? Well, he gets more depth and dimension than most of the human cast, and the book benefits enormously from his prominence.
Any writer who has ever begun to attempt high fantasy will wax poetic about how tall an order it is to build a believable, lived-in world. A reasonable extrapolation, then, would contend that constructing such a fantasy from scratch—without the promise or support of sequels and supplemental material—is twice as daunting. The “be able to defend every word” guidance we all got while writing essays in school amends itself slightly in this case, becoming, “be able to defend every moment.” Thankfully, Lyons does just that. At any given time, she’s juggling at least a dozen elements that must coalesce into something complete and satisfying for readers to buy what she’s selling. She certainly accomplishes this, but The Sky on Fire is so intoxicating, so adept at being what it is, that boiling down its quality to its masterful pacing and plotting is reductive. Lyons’ sassy, self-aware prose begets a looseness, a bounciness that renders her text accessible and keeps things moving even when nothing seems to be happening. Lyons is having fun with this one, and none of her rampant dragons, shocking betrayals, or fatal miscalculations robs the adventure of its innate playfulness.
As sophisticated as the rest of Lyons’ prose is, though, it doesn’t quite offset the clumsiness of its romance. The flirting—especially between Anahrod, heartthrob Sicaryon, and the dragonrider Ris—carries the cadence of a teen trunk romance; ending each of their interactions with lusty sentiments is more than a little repetitive, which wouldn’t be an issue if it enriched their dynamic.
But that’s a minor gripe in a sea of good. The Sky on Fire reinforces Lyons as one of the best genre writers out there, and nothing about her latest efforts suggests she’ll slow down or slip up anytime soon.
The Sky on Fire is available now wherever books are sold.
Hayden Mears is an autistic writer who enjoys fitness boxing, moviegoing, and writing bios in the third person.