The Fledging of Az Gabrielson (The Clouded World) [Hardcover]

Jay Amory (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2006 | Series: The Clouded World (Book 1)

Az Gabrielson is one of the Airborn, a people who, with a stretch and a beat of their eight-foot wings, travel effortlessly around and between their cities, perched high above the clouds amidst a life of ease and airy beauty. Az, however, has no wings, making him a pained and isolated oddity in his glorious world of freedom and flight. Then one day he is selected for a job below the clouds. The system of massive automated elevators, which send up everything the Airborn need to survive, are breaking down—and threatening to take the Airborn society with them. Someone must travel to the Ground to find out what has happened, and Az, with his wingless similarity to the prehistoric Groundlings, seems perfect for the task of hunting for answers beneath the clouds. But in the vast shadows of the cities on the Ground, Az finds more questions than answers when he discovers that the Groundlings worship a dim notion of the Airborn and aspire to be like them. Filling the elevators with tributes to their winged deities, the Groundlings are beginning to think that their way of life is part of a very unnatural order of things. Az also meets a girl named Cassie Grubdollar, who's definitely no angel!

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 6 Up—Generations ago, sky-cities were constructed above the cloud cover and those who reside there have adapted to the point where they are born with wings. Sixteen-year-old Az Gabrielson, however, was born without them. The people of the sky-cities rely on supplies arriving in elevators from below to sustain them. Mysteriously, the elevators begin to arrive empty and the people begin to starve, so Az is sent down to figure out what is going on. His lack of wings gives him the perfect disguise. He discovers that the Earth is still populated by "Groundlings" who tithe to the elevators with the expectation that when they die, they will be reborn with wings in the sky-cities and live a better life. The conflict on the Ground is rife with parallels to current events. Amory has created a cast of characters both likable and despicable. The Groundlings come complete with their own dialect, which feels natural after a page or two. While it begins with a more traditional science-fiction feel, once Az arrives on the Ground, the story develops into a steampunk odyssey. Plenty of chases and explosions make for an action-filled read, and the brevity of the chapters makes the book approachable for reluctant readers. Give this novel to fans of Philip Reeve's "Hungry City Chronicles" and Kenneth Oppel's Airborn (2004, both HarperCollins) and its sequels. This looks to be the beginning of a series to watch.—Kristin Anderson, Columbus Metropolitan Library System, OH
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Review

"Amory peppers the ground with an absolutely wonderful cast of characters. All great stuff . . . Amory is a writer with an innate social conscience and a voice that calls to readers of all ages. I look forward to seeing how the story develops in the next volume."  —SF Revu

"Amory's short brisk chapters with succinct headings keep the plot revelations coming and the pages turning. And particularly successful are the vivid scenes where Cassie's family scour the predator-ridden landscape in the 'murk comber' for items that fell from the sky cities . . . an entertaining read, and though part of a trilogy stands on its own."  —Starburst

"Action packed [with] appealing and quirky characters."  —VOYA

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Gollancz; First Edition edition (August 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0575078782
• ISBN-13: 978-0575078789
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,886,033 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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