Not the Dragon of Your Dreams: The Sky on Fire, by Jenn Lyons

The Sky on Fire by Jenn Lyons
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I usually have an uneasy relationship with fat fantasy books that could double as bricks, as in, I actively avoid them for the most part. (Sorry, I don't think I could lift one of Brandon Sanderson's concrete blocks off the ground, much less read it.) But occasionally the concept of a book catches my eye and I have to check it out. That happened with this book, and I'm glad I cranked up my weightlifting and took a chance on it.

First and foremost, if you're into dragons, this is the book for you. They are most definitely not the benevolent mind-linked children of Pern that most of us grew up with; they're telepathic all right, but they're some of the nastiest non-human characters you'll ever meet. In this world, dragons are regarded as (and nearly are) gods, albeit gods with one huge flaw; in their overuse of magic, they have a tendency to go berserk--here called "going rampant"--and need humans to keep them relatively sane. This does not engender a, shall we say, warm and fuzzy feeling between the two species. Specifically, the dragons consider themselves superior to the pesky humans, and resent the necessity of pairing with a rider. Humans are for the most part confined to settlements on seven mountain peaks, called the Seven Crests. Every year children from the Seven Crests with potential for bonding with a dragon are forced to come to the dragon city, Yagra'hai, where they are trained and tested--and in the case of our protagonist Anahrod Amnead, thrown over the side of a floating skyboat when she refuses bonding with the dragon queen of Yagra'hai, Neveranimas.

Anahrod has a powerful psychic talent with animals, and manages to use a flock of "blood crows" to cushion her fall (although she breaks nearly every bone in her body). She ends up living in the Deep, the jungle below Yagra'hai and the Seven Crests, and makes a life for herself far far away from dragons. But seventeen years later, both humans and dragons are hunting for Anahrod Amnead--humans because they have heard rumors that Anahrod stole something from Neveranimas' hoard (although she really didn't); and dragons because Anahrod's magical talent might interfere with Neveranimas' tyranny. There is a revolution brewing, and both sides think Anahrod might be the key to overthrowing the dragon queen.

Once I started this book, the worldbuilding sucked me right in, followed by the characters. This book is told from Anahrod's POV for the most part, thus avoiding another trope of fat fantasy bricks I dislike--a cast of thousands and a chapter seemingly from every one of them. We follow our core group of characters, Anahrod among them, on a quest to steal an artefact from Neveranimas' hoard (for real this time) which turns out to be a dragon "memory stone" that Neveranimas has been using to deliberately make dragons go rampant and consolidate her power. There's a lot more to it, of course, including a key draconic character from a hundred years ago, the former ruler of Yagra'hai, Ivarion, who went rampant and has been sleeping on an island in the middle of a lava lake ever since. The climax involves Anahod flying the dragon of her lover, Ris, to the Cauldron where Ivarion sleeps and attempting to awaken him--and awaken him to sanity, reversing his rampancy, so he can reveal what Neveranimas has done.

(One interesting thing about the author's worldbuilding is that her dragons have the typical four legs and two wings--but other creatures of this world, including the fifty-foot titan drake that Anahrod is bonded to in the opening chapters, are also six-legged. It's a seemingly small detail that definitely increased my appreciation for the story.)

This book is not all heists and dragon fire--there is also a bit of philosophical discussion about the stories both dragons and humans tell themselves, stories about gods that are revealed to have never really existed. At the end, Anahrod and her two partners Ris and Sicaryon (polyamory is an accepted thing in this world as well, apparently) set out to break down the centures of draconic rule over humans, and create a society where the latter is viewed as equal to the former. This leads to another welcome feature of this book, a storyline that is wrapped up in one volume--although the story could continue if the author wished it, perhaps with the next generation.

In any event, I'm glad I gave my arms a workout and read this book. If you like dragons, I think you'll appreciate it as well.

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