The Sky on Fire by Jenn Lyons is a fast-paced, action-fuelled, standalone heist novel full of dragons, a prism of diverse characters, and a cantankerous found family and is now a major contender for my favourite book of the year.

We follow Anahrod who is carving out a life for herself in the Deep (the jungles that coat this world at sea level) far away from the dragon-run sky cities clinging to the mountaintops. When an unlikely adventuring party scoops her up and takes her back to the sky city she was born in, not only is Anahrod faced with the horrific rumours that have run rampant since her (literal) fall from grace seventeen years ago, but this misfit crew also want her to help them rob Neveranimas: the dragon regent that ordered her thrown off the city for the same crime all those years ago.

This book is overflowing with lush, effortless world-building and some of my favourite practical elements include:

• The folk of the humid, sunny Deep wear very little clothing and copious amounts of thick paint to protect their skin from the sun. 
• The sky cities are built around networks of underground tunnels for humans to hide inside when dragons fall prey to magical corruption and lose control of themselves. 
• Humans wear rings that identify their sexualities, romantic preferences, and gender identities, as well as their jobs and skills. Different flowers and plants inscribed on these rings mean different things and they play a key role in the romantic subplot of this book. 

Without a doubt, the backbone of this story is the characters. Every character is ready with a witty retort at any given moment, and each brings a nuanced perspective to their overly ambitious and arguably insane plan to rob the most powerful dragon in the kingdom. Our three romantic interests are equally as flawed and feisty as each other and know exactly what they want and aren’t afraid to ask for it. As a result, there is no awkward dance around the beginnings of this polyamorous relationship. Not to say there aren’t hiccups along the way, however, as all three of them are full of secrets they aren’t quite ready to reveal. Within a matter of pages, you’ll find yourself falling for every character in Anahrod’s little gang and within a few more, you’ll quickly learn that you can’t trust any of them as far as you can throw them.

The chaotic heist antics are everything you could expect with intricately detailed plans going decidedly pear-shaped, unexpected enemies (and allies) popping up when you least expect them, and hugely intelligent death traps waiting around every corner. The magic system that props up this world plays a big part in this. With dragons hoarding magical knowledge and eliminating those that might threaten their reign, humans with certain powers hide themselves away to avoid being strong-armed into being dragon riders.

The concept of dragon riding in this story is an unusual one where humans are there purely for the purpose of stopping dragons from turning rampant: losing control of themselves and killing anyone in sight. Much to the disdain of the dragons, it’s the puny humans that can stall the amount of corruption that casting spells creates and so they take dragon riders and use them as magical anti-psychotics. 

The only fault I could find with this story is that one of the dragon riders has a name with an unfortunate fantasy spelling which phonetically reads as a very much not-fantasy name in a Scouse accent. A difficult thing to unhear but a very small irritation in the scheme of things.

Overall, this is a fantastic standalone fantasy book and perfect for fans of stories like The Hobbit or Six of Crows, but who want a more adult story with an irreverent contemporary voice.

The Sky on Fire is due for release on 11th July! You can pre-order your copy HERE