Untethered Sky Audiobook By Fonda Lee cover art

Untethered Sky

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

Untethered Sky

By: Fonda Lee
Narrated by: Nikki Massoud
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $9.49

Buy for $9.49

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

From World Fantasy Award-winning author Fonda Lee comes an epic fantasy fable about the pursuit of obsession at all costs.

Ester’s family was torn apart when a manticore killed her mother and baby brother, leaving her with nothing but her father’s painful silence and a single overwhelming need to kill the monsters that took her family.

Ester’s path leads her to the king’s Royal Mews, where the giant rocs of legend are flown to hunt manticores by their brave and dedicated ruhkers. Paired with a fledgling roc named Zahra, Ester finds purpose and acclaim by devoting herself to a calling that demands absolute sacrifice and a creature that will never return her love. The terrifying partnership between woman and roc leads Ester not only on the empire’s most dangerous manticore hunt, but on a journey of perseverance and acceptance.

©2023 Fonda Lee (P)2023 Recorded Books Action & Adventure Dragons & Mythical Creatures Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Mythology Royalty
Captivating Story • Interesting Characters • Incredible Worldbuilding • Complete Story Arc • Fresh Writing
Highly rated for:
All stars
Most relevant  
It is an easy read. Great for actual falconers. Or those who appreciate the art/sport.

Great for falconers.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The writer clearly has intimate falconry experience or knowledge and it shows! sure, it's a fantastical read, but the elements and emotions are all there and so true to my falconry experience. loved it!

A must read for falconers or those who wish they were

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
There was potential but ultimately the story lacked much action or excitement. The narrator may have made it lacking by never changing her tone.

Not as exciting as I hoped

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Everything about this book hit the mark for me. Loved the story, the writing style, the characters, the performance, and the world itself. My one criticism is that it wasn't long enough. I ended up listening to it another three times just to sate my fill.

Wonderful Performance, Fantastic Worldbuilding

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Too often novellas feel unfinished, or too short to really engage me, but this story ticked all the boxes a full novel would for me. Interesting characters, interesting world, full story arc, and leaves me wanting more. There’s not much more you can ask for in such an abbreviated format.

The narrator was solid, enjoyable, and most importantly, unobtrusive.

If I had one criticism, it would be that the world building was not as fully fleshed out as I'd prefer, but considering the page count, it was impressive. Hopefully a sequel is on the way and we can see some more of this world.

Kudos to Fonda Lee for showing once again that she is one of the freshest new writers in the genre.

About as Good as a Novella can get

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
What a glorious book that binds the spirit of falconer and bird to heart. While reading, I remembered every detail of my most incredible hunts, kills, losses, and the very essence of living a life on the wing.

I’ll be reading it again and again.

Enchanting!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I picked this up because I enjoy the narrator, and while it wasn’t for me in the same way that a lot of people loved it, I found Jade War trilogy to have some incredible world building and really WANTED to love the characters. This one felt a little similar to me—I found the world really interesting, but didn’t totally connect with the characters as much, however, that might be more because it’s a novella than anything else? Overall, it was enjoyable and left me continuing to be impressed by Fonda Lee’s mind, but still a little wanting. Def worth a few hours listen though!

Interesting novella with great narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This book was enjoyable! The descriptions of action amongst the rocs, manticore, and their prey was fantastic! I found the story quite captivating. I struggled to fully engage with the main character at times, but I really feel that was the fault of a less than stellar audio book narrator. Oof. She read that book as dryly as if she were reading a textbook. For some odd reason, it also bothered me how many times the phrase, “took a crap” appeared in this rather short work. LOL! Speaking of which, that is many people’s main complaint about the book — that it is just far too short. I disagree, though. It was clean, concise, and nonetheless full bodied. There was undeniable character development — better than many longer books I could make. I think it was exactly as long as it needed to be, and I have utmost respect for any author that can get their story told satisfactorily in short order. Very strong. I’d recommend it for sure!

Worth It

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It took a little bit to get into, but in the end, I found myself only wanting more.

Good Novella

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I really enjoyed the journey of this book and how it expanded and grew. the topics of loss and finding life again was amazing. the nature connection and honesty was beautiful also.

a gentle reminder of nature

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews