Untethered Sky by Fonda Lee

I think that Fonda Lee is truly a master at her craft. The way one can truly tell that someone is actually a good writer isn't their prose, their world-building, their characters. It's their ability to pack a punch in less than 200 pages.
Fonda Lee is most commonly known for her Green Bone Saga trilogy that took the world - bookstagram as well as fantasy readers - by storm. It's a fantastic trilogy but then again, it's a whole three books and sometimes, you just don't have the time for it.
However, Lee's Untethered Sky is a novella, completely separate from her Green Bone Saga, in a world inspired by Ancient Persia/Central Asia. In this world, we have Esther whose family was brutally killed by a Manticore. Manticore's only predator are the Rocks, giant birds that come from Middle Eastern mythology, and there are people that handle them and navigate them towards the Manticore's they are meant to kill.
Being someone who handles a Rock isn't an easy feat though but Esther manages to pull through with it.
I think what's so fantastic is Lee managed to create a whole new world in so little time and frankly, we didn't need it to be longer which is a common criticism novellas have. I thought that it was the perfect length and it was the perfect ending and I can't think of anything else that could have happened.
So yes, contrary to the "should have been longer complaint", I didn't need it to be longer! I do hope that Lee *maybe* writes a separate longer novel in the universe - it's about time we have more Persian/Central Asian inspired stories!
Rating: 5/5 Stars
Love,
Mila