Struggled to finish this one. Perhaps the author was trying too hard. It just felt forced and unrealistic to me (and yes, I realise I'm saying that about a Fantasy novel!) Characterisation was simple, the plot a series of events where X led to Y which led to Z. When I can feel / sense the joins, I realise that it is not a great read. Even the 'twists' were not really surprising. Disappointing.

I ended up DNFing this book because the plot kept switching around too much and the cast of characters kept changing and there wasn’t enough time to connect with any of them or anything that was going on for me personally :(

I really wanted to love this book, and while I did enjoy it, I did find it a bit of a struggle to keep up with the plot. It is high fantasy and I found it confusing at times.

Thankyou to Netgalley for this proof copy! I really enjoyed The Sky on Fire, such a fun read with heists and dragons galore! Definitely reading more from the author.

I found this novel to be promising but unusually executed. It starts with a fast-paced adventure, where the reader is thrown in the middle of the action without much introduction. This was slightly confusing but enjoyable, as the characters and world-building were fascinating. The world is complete with complex history, myths, and stories. There are also unique creatures and an interesting take on a divided society.

The problem is the pacing is all over the place in this novel. The initial plot is suddenly abandoned. We then have a slower storyline introducing the reader to politics and expanding on world-building, just to be abruptly abandoned again in favour of the heist plot and then the dragon rider academy plot. The shifts in pacing and storyline were too sudden and confusing, making the book seem almost like a collection of discarded stories woven together without an overarching storyline. Some characters disappear from the pages, reappearing somewhere towards the story’s end.

Also, I’ve seen this book described as romantasy, which is confusing, as there is very little romance within.

To sum up, I loved the world-building, but the pace and storyline were too chaotic for me.

I tried to get into this but unfortunately had to soft DNF it. I got half way through but wad quite confused for a lot of it unfortunately.

I did enjoyed this book but I felt the pacing was off and also I struggled to connect to the characters as much as I had hoped.

I probably will read the second book as hopefully it will improve on the first.

This book is 3,5✨ for me. I feel like it had some really good, as well as bad sides.

Overall, the story was interesting and I've loved the world. I think the thing that kept me from getting immersed in the story was the pacing and a feeling of not being fully connected to the characters.

That being said, I'm intrigued to see where the story goes, so I'll maybe reach for the second installment in this series. However, for me it's a book I've been reading and not a world I've been transported to, you know? The fact I was reading was always apparent to me, and I prefer sinking smoothly into the story. It felt a bit like a fever dream to be honest, and I feel like the bones of the book were really strong, but I'd personally vibe more with a bit different execution.

Thank you to the Publisher and Netgalley for giving me access to the e arc.

I couldn’t get into this, but I really really tried. I wanted to love this book but unfortunately it was a dnf for me.

This was a really enjoyable book with the best kind of features - dragons! Overall whilst I really did enjoy the journey, I was missing a little added extra which would keep me focussed! That’s certainly not to say I didn’t enjoy it though, because I did!

I did enjoy this although it took me alot longer to get through than I was expecting.

I love the fact it is a stand alone fantasy as they are few and far between but I did have some issues with this book. The pacing was off for one. I found the start really hard to get into and it seemed to drag on quite abit. I was expecting an action packed heist and I feel like it took so long to actually get to itnand once we were there it all felt a little rushed. I also would of liked abit more from the Dragons. I loved that they aren't portrayed like pets as is in alot of dragon books but I would of liked more info on the actual dragon lore.

Having said all this once I hit the half way mark and all the characters had been introduced the story did take off and ended up being really enjoyable.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I found the start of the book slightly hard going but once the narrative was in full flow and all the characters were established, I was able to settle in and enjoy the ride. I think I would have appreciated a bit more time with the dragons or expansion of the dragon lore, but the story kept me engaged throughout, though I did also feel that there was a bit of an info-dump at the end with the dragonstone revelations. I'd be interested to read more from Lyons, perhaps a series where she has more time to develop characters and world-build.

This was OK though for me added nothing to the slew of dragon related books out there.

I found character development to be a bit thin though I did enjoy the world.

Wouldn't put me off trying more of Jenn Lyon's books but this one was a bit of a slog.

If you're looking for a standalone fantasy that feels like an adventure, where you're dropped straight into the action and it doesn't stop until the end then this could work for you.

Unfortunately, the tone wasn't what I wanted. I wanted it to feel more intense and I kept wishing for slower moments where we could see the relationships develop between the characters. I could see an attempt at building a found family but it felt like telling instead of showing. Two of the side characters I kept getting mixed up because they lacked depth.

The world was fascinating and I would read other books set within this world if the author decides to write them.

There were some interesting ideas and I appreciated how it explored the relationship between the dominant dragons and their human subjects. This also has lots of LGBTQ+ rep, including a poly relationship. Although I wouldn't recommend this if you're specifically looking for romance to be the main focus within the story.

Let's just begin by saying I love how queer-normative this book was. Jenn Lyons put together a clever way to include queer norms. It felt right.

More on the book :
If I loved the first chapters, I found myself quite disappointed with the story until the heist is back in the spotlight. I had some trouble about the main character being strongly attracted to another character without knowing her. It felt a bit exagerated, and even if I liked their relationship once the story picks up and they have had the opportunity to know each other better. I think Anarod's attraction was "exagerated", it did felt forced.

The heist by itslef was nice, not ground breaking, but as always nothing goes as planned ;)

The dragons though... I LOVED THEM. They had this mystical energy about them, and let's not pretend, they were pricks. I loved that. They weren't nice or wise, they wanted power, and they can get mad, litteraly.
They felt like a real menace, one that humans can't subdue.

It was a really nice read, and I admit I would have loved a sequel !

I had such a great time with this book! We have dragons (my favourite) our main character in hiding as she's supposed to be dead, and a magical heist. It's an extremely fun read in a fantasy setting with a diverse cast of characters.

The plot was very fast paced and constantly moving, which I loved. Though it did slow down in the second half. Some of the romantic aspects felt a little off, but that could be due to my personal preferences when reading romance, and the rest of the story was JUST brilliant.

I really enjoyed this story and would recommend it for anyone who likes stories with dragons, because they're just as snarky as Tairn or Smaug, but as lovable as Toothless.

Have you ever wanted to read a fantasy book about dragon riders where the dragons are absolute assholes? Then you should read The Sky on Fire by Jenn Lyons. At a glance this has:

- adult high fantasy
- DnD inspired
- cast of characters
- queer representation
- dragons & dragonriders
- a heist

This was quite the fun adventure-type story and it follows a ragtag group of people trying to steal from a dragon hoard. The cast of characters worked really well, I loved the banter between them and the romance was very believable and quite sexy!

The Sky on Fire read almost definitely like a DnD campaign or at least some sort of TTRPG setting. I found the worldbuilding to be very imaginative and rich. We had a world where dragons are the superior species to humans and are almost lording over humanity which, honestly, makes way more sense than humans keeping gigantic dragons as pets. While they are usually regaled to being animal companions, the dragons in this book definitely had agency and their own motives.

Overall, The Sky on Fire was a fast-paced, action-packed adventure that I recommend to fans of Nicholas Eames' Kings of the Wyld.

The Sky On Fire was written with such intrigue, such incredible world building and such action packed scenes that I couldn’t help but be obsessed with this read. Lyons’ writing style is so incredible, and the ability to create a huge array of interesting and fully fleshed characters allowed me to immerse myself into the story completely.

If you love books about dragons, epic heists, action packed adventures and the slow unravelling of worldly secrets, read this book! It won’t disappoint you, I’m sure.

And, after making an effort to finish this book, it's a dnf at 80%
<spoiler>The book started okay the world sounded interesting, specially the deep.
Loved the world, loved the characters we meet.
Then we go up the mountains and come to the dragon spires and the story comes to a standstill for ways too long. Nothing really happens, everybody is frantic and everybody has secrets from the others.
Then we get a sex scene, the heist and then we get some another sex scene that is so out of context and so not embedded with the characters it just threw me out completely.
It seems to me that the cast of the heist crew is too big to properly manage, as are the the confusing sex interests on the page as there is no chemistry I could make out between most of them, and then, at 80 per cent I have the two females all of a sudden slobbering over each other in a manner that makes me feel I'm reading erotica but no longer a fantasy romance.
Poor little brother, poor Sicaryion, wish you had a better fate.
This review refers to the eARC I received from the publisher via netgalley. It can be that the second part of the book has become better in the published edition, or not.</spoiler>

Incredible masterpiece, absolutely perfect! This book sent Jenn Lyons directly into my auto-buy authors list!