Welcome to our read along of Ledge by @stacebookspace! We are pumped to be reading this enemies-to-lovers high fantasy with you all! Catch up with us and share your thoughts and reactions on the section in the comments.

🪓 Beware of spoilers down below if you haven’t read the section! You have been warned…🪓

!! MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD !!

The story begins with our heroine, Dawsyn Sabar, who sees stark white, winged creatures dropping supplies. These are the Glacians: horrible monsters who keep the people trapped on the cold and icy Ledge for a reason unknown to them. Dawsyn springs into action: she rushes into the fray and claws for some supplies but unfortunately, she comes away with little.

No matter though: the little she did gain ensures survival for another night. Dawsyn returns to her cabin and forgoes sleep to create a table for her neighbour, Hector. In the morning, she’s caught in a blizzard and seeks shelter at Hector’s cabin… and in his arms.

They discuss Selection, which is when the Glacian’s pluck people from the Ledge. Worried for the fate of his mother as well as himself, Hector is comforted by Dawsyn, who in turn thinks of her own family.

We learn Dawsyn’s history. She reflects on the day her father fell into the Chasm that keeps the people trapped on the Ledge, leaving behind her grandmother and pregnant mother Briar behind. Briar gives birth to another little girl, Maya, and thus the den of girls is born from necessity. The den is whittled down to three members once Dawsyn’s grandmother dies of a cough. Then, at one fateful Selection, Dawsyn’s sister Maya is taken by the Glacian’s to her doom. Wracked with grief, Briar tells Dawsyn to survive before willingly falling into the Chasm. Dawsyn is the only surviving member of her family left.

As Selection draws closer, Dawsyn contemplates her loneliness. She’s attacked by a man from the Ledge and knocks him out. Wondering if she should be merciful, Dawsyn ultimately decides to dispose of his body by rolling him into the Chasm.

On the day of Selection, six Glacian’s descend on the Ledge, plucking six people in turn. Dawsyn is picked and injured by the talons of the Glacian holding her. She and the other five unlucky picks are taken to Glacia, where they are stripped of their things by previous survivors of the Selection and kept secluded in the dark for days, prisoners of an unknown fate. They care for each other the best they can; unfortunately, two of them end up succumbing to their wounds and dying.

Finally, the prisoners are released by two of the winged creatures. One of them is white, his hair ashen and his skin pale like the rest Dawsyn has seen. The other? Dark haired, dark skinned. His wings are dark, too. Dawsyn comes to understand that his name is Ryon, and he is half-Glacian. When he catches her staring, he bares his teeth at her, and the prisoners are led before the King of the Glacian’s.

The King is gilded and beastly, the biggest Glacian Dawsyn has ever seen. He parades the humans in front of his court like prized cattle but allows them to eat their first meal in days. Dawsyn notices a group of surviving humans from the Ledge. They sit soullessly in front of their plates of food, not eating, not doing anything. Dawsyn fears she will become like them.

Once the meal is finished, the humans are presented before the King. He gives them a choice: eternal life, or to run down the mountain that Glacia is set upon, a hostile and snowy environment in which they will be hunted by Glacian’s and face certain death. To gain eternal life, they must give up their ‘Iskra’ in a glistening pool, something which Dawsyn has never heard of but inherently recognises.

Dawsyn watches as her fellow prisoners are forced into the pool. When they emerge, they are shells of who they once were, as lifeless as the other survivors. They are mocked and lauded as immortal unless otherwise harmed by the Glacian’s.

When her time comes, Dawsyn makes the choice to flee down the mountain rather than lose herself to the pool. The King is shocked, if not intrigued. When asked who is willing to hunt her, several of the Glacians, including the mysterious half Glacian Ryon, intend to hunt her…

Whew! What an action packed start to the story! What do you think of Dawsyn so far? Why do you think the Glacian’s keep the humans on the Ledge? Why do you think Ryon wants to hunt Dawsyn like the other Glacians? Comment down your thoughts below to be in within the chance of winning an arc of Chasm, the sequel to Ledge!