Eagles and Swans
Centuries ago, the God of the Sky gave Astra the gift of flight. Today, almost every young Astran learns how to fly—soaring free upon rowboats, gliders, chairs, and even umbrellas. But beneath this veneer of liberty is a bloodstained theocratic regime, one that enforces its god-given laws by meting out death.
No one has been more wronged by the nation than Ruthenia. Forced onto the streets by her parents' execution, she spent four years fighting for her life before becoming inventor Titanio Calied's ward and protégé.
Now that a goddess awakening in the sea is wreaking havoc on Astra, the kings are trapped in indecision by their own holy doctrine. In the rising storm, Ruthenia finds herself caught up in secrets, plots, and an errant romance that take her from the gutters of the New Town to the towers of Helika Palace—exploits which may soon decide Astra's fate…
Eagles and Swans is a story about classism, celebrity, diplomacy and dissent. About making fools of kings, acquiescing with one's ignorance about everything ever, and taking a hopeless situation and carving out new hope with one's own hands.