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Petra, daughter of Pete, has spent her entire life in the safety of the Mountain Realm she calls home. Raised in the warm darkness of her father’s homefire den, her eyes have never seen the light of day. Petra has never known her mother; still, she is happy with her role and eager to begin an apprenticeship as a leather worker in the coming season. But something is not right in the Realm; food is becoming scarce, education is failing, and the ancient religion that has held her society together for hundreds of years is nearly forgotten. When a mysterious old woman approaches Petra and offers her the chance to save her community, Petra sets off into the brightness of the outside world, unsure of what or who she will discover.
After a grueling journey, Petra finds herself at an All-Peoples camp, where people of all backgrounds come together to learn about each other’s cultures. Among the scaly, furry, gilled, and fish-tailed campers, Petra stands out as the only Mountain-dweller — or Rocky — in attendance, though there is another who attracts plenty of attention, too. Gabriel, with his enormous, feathered wings and flight suit that hides the true colour of his skin has more secrets than Petra could have ever imagined — secrets that will change her life forever.
Praise for Rocky Rulers
Every so often, a young adult fantasy comes along that dares to strip away the glitter of romance and the easy predictability of love triangles, and instead wrestles with timeless, unsettling questions. Rocky Rulers is such a book. It doesn’t woo the reader with fluttering hearts—it seizes them with moral dilemmas, sharp-edged choices, and the gray murk between good and evil
The pacing is tight, the world-building both lush and bleak, and the characters well-developed and endearing . But it’s the themes that linger: prejudice, mercy, and the complexity of “human” nature. In a YA landscape often dominated by romance-driven plots, Rocky Rulers dares to ask its readers to wrestle with deeper truths.
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