Book excerpt: Jessica Khoury brings her masterful world-building and emotional depth to this soaring fantasy series. In a world where everyone is born with wings, stone monsters prowl the skies, hunting those who dare to fly too high. In the Clandoms, every person is born with wings, along with the ability to fly. But there has always been one deadly restriction to this gift -- a rule that must never be broken. Flying in cloudy skies summons gargols, vicious stone monsters that will tear any poor trespassers apart. History doesn't tell where the gargols came from, or why they're so intent on punishing those who soar too high. But now Ellie Meadows thinks she knows why. An aspiring knight turned wanted fugitive, Ellie has seen the truth with her own eyes. The Clandoms' history has been taken from them, along with their ancestral homes. Only one person can return the Clandoms back where they belong. Nox Hatcher is the key to the skies, if only Ellie can get him to believe it.