Untethered Sky made me so happy! This is the first book in a long time that I’ve given 5 stars!
Untethered Sky is a story about freedom, belonging, and safety. Ester has wanted to be a ruhker (a caretaker of rocs) ever since her family died in a manticore attack when she was young. The giant rocs are the only predator able to hunt manticores, and it rests on the ruhkers to keep their land safe.
It’s a man-vs-nature book (i.e., the primary antagonist is something in nature rather than other humans), which I found so refreshing after reading many books about humans being hostile toward each other.
This is a shorter book for a fantasy novel (it’s a 4 h read on audio), but the story was sweet and simple and wonderful (and clean). It doesn’t force themes or agendas the way so many books I’ve read recently do. This is my favorite book of 2023 so far!
Sexual content: PG. There are a few mentions of romantic relationships, but you never see anything more than a brief mention of a kiss.
Violence: PG-13. It gets a smidge gory at parts, but it doesn’t glorify it. The manticores are monsters that eat humans, so be forewarned about that.
Language: PG? G? I don’t think there was any swearing
Find it on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60784305-untethered-sky