I just went to the library and picked up a copy of Fledgling earlier today to start a re-read. Last year I read it with a group of people for the Ramadan Read-a-thon and it was amazing. S.K. Ali made me cry, but I’m willing to weep once more.
I don’t remember every detail of the story, but one small thing did change my tea drawer. Some of the characters drink cinnamon rose tea so of course I bought some to enjoy while finishing the book. Of course I had time to do that because this has 500+ pages. The tea was a delight and I have continued to drink it throughout the year especially in the winter. And while this dystopian wasn’t sweet and calming like the tea, it did feel like a gift. The writing is incredibly well done and the characters burrowed their way into my heart.
Here’s the publisher’s description:
Would you trade love for peace?
Raisa of Upper Earth has only lived a life of privilege and acquiescence. Ever dutiful, she accepts her father’s arrangement of her marriage to Lein, Crown Prince of the corrupt, volatile lands of Lower Earth.
Though Lein is a stranger, Raisa knows the wedding will unite their vastly different worlds in a pact of peace: an infusion of Upper Earth technology will usher in the final age of enlightenment, ending war between humans forever.
Or is justice more urgent?
Newly released from imprisonment, Nada of Lower Earth has found her own calling: disrupting the royal wedding.
Convinced her cousin Lein’s alliance with Upper Earth will launch an invasive, terrifying form of tyranny, Nada sets out undercover to light the spark of revolution.
When Raisa goes missing a week before the wedding, all eyes turn to the rebels, including Nayf, Nada’s twin brother, a fugitive on the run.
In Nayf and Raisa meeting, the long-simmering animosity between their worlds slowly burns away into something unexpected.
But the Crown Prince wants his bride — and future — back. And he will go to the ends of the earths to reclaim them.
The first book came out in 2024 as a hardcover, but now has a paperback version with a slightly different cover image.
Since it’s been more than a year since I read it, I won’t review it here today, but you can learn more about the first book with these two author interviews and a review from Quill & Quire.
If you haven’t been convinced to give it a try yet, stop over at S.K. Ali’s instagram to see her Fledgling aesthetics.
And now for the second installment that I’ve been eagerly awaiting since last March. For readers new to the duology, you are in luck since you won’t a year or two long wait in between like some of us are currently experiencing.
Golden Flight: The Keeper’s Records of Revolution will hit the shelves on September 1, 2026 and I am so excited!
Publisher description:
How difficult is it to crash the party of the decade? Literally crash it?
The Golden Flight happens once every ten years — a gala to honor elites fallen in service of maintaining Upper Earth’s powerful hold on earth’s remaining populace and dwindling resources.
It’s a party where cunning new technology gets unveiled to masked revelers perpetually thirsty for fresh entertainment.
It’s also a party Raisa and Nayf plan to infiltrate to bring down Upper Earth for good.
Even with a known traitor, and a mysterious, ruthless avenger in their midst, pulling off a dangerous mission in enemy territory feels possible with record-keeper Khalda at the helm. To crack into Upper Earth, simply find strategic details hidden in the records.
However, they soon discover the toll of running a crew with competing, secretive goals: the lines between friend and foe begin to blur to violent ends.
But on an oil rig at the edge of the world, the sun rises and shines on a team member no one knows about.
Will she bring the seed of hope or be the source of ultimate chaos?
Just who is she — and why does she know exactly how to end the world?