"Beneath the cloud cover, in the perpetual half-darkness cast by the immense sky cities looming overhead, lives a race of people known as Groundlings. They have toiled for centuries to farm, scavenge and create their tributes to the Ascended Ones, a race of winged peoples living in the cities above them, in the belief that when they die the Groundlings too will Ascend to a better life above the clouds. But Ascension is a lie - and that revelation has already sparked a rebellion against the Ascended Ones, and changed the order of things for good." "Now something else is threatening the uneasy truce between the ground and the sky. Not just a rebellion or an act of piracy, but an all-out war against the sky cities. And as Groundlings take to the air in battle against the angel-like Airborn in one corner of the world, in another the sinister threat of disease drives the Airborn down to the ground, begging the Groundling government for sanctuary." "In the middle of it all is Az Gabrielson, the Airborn boy without wings. His family is divided, his brother crippled, his girlfriend missing beneath the clouds, and his whole world is turning to war, destruction and chaos. The turning point may lie in his hands - but will Az choose hope, or chaos?"--BOOK JACKET.