Heir to the Sky

Finished April 3
Heir to the Sky by Amanda Sun

This teen novel is about a world divided. Kali is the daughter of the Monarch of Ashra and the Floating Lands, a world that was raised into the sky by the Phoenix hundreds of years earlier when the earth was overrun with monsters. Kali has been raised in a world of peace, but she has long had curiosity about the earth below, a green forest she can only see from afar. Kali's best friend Elisha is a girl from the village on Ashra, called Ulan. The annual ceremony celebrating the rending of their floating lands from the world below is at hand, and this year they will also be announcing Kali's engagement to Jonash, the son of the ruler of the biggest floating continent, Burumu. Kali has no feelings for him, but she knows her duty and has acquiesced.
Later Kali, looking through books in the library, overhears a conversation that has raised concerns for her, particularly the talk of a rebellion in some of the kingdom. She wants to tell her father, but he is busy with other matters. In the evening following the ceremony Jonash joins Kali and Elisha as the go to the outlands of Ashra. But there everything goes horribly wrong and Kali falls off the edge of her kingdom to the earth far below. She survives the fall thanks to her own wits and the help of a human below. She is surprised to learn that there are people on the earth, but pleased.
There are many monsters on the earth, and survival is not easy, and Kali appreciates the assistance of the monster hunters she has met there, particularly Griffin.
Kali takes her leadership role seriously, and she wants to return home to warn her father of what she heard, and asks for help to go to the mountains, hoping that she can signal to someone in the lands above and return there. As she and Griffin work towards this goal they encounter many dangers and unexpected assistance as well.