62 pages 2 hours read

Sabaa Tahir

Heir

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2024

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Part 1Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1: “The Fall”

Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary: “Aiz: Kegar, the Southern Continent”

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of child death, graphic violence, sexual content, and death.

Aiz is a bitter and hardened young woman from a particularly poor area of Kegar—an economically disadvantaged, warlike kingdom on the southern continent. Despite possessing windsmithing magic—which allows her to manipulate the wind—Aiz fails to control her power, leaving her relegated to menial labor as a “Snipe” while her closest friend, Cero, rises to pilot Kegari aircraft, called Sails. Aiz is consumed by anger and a thirst for vengeance against Tiral bet-Hiwa, the highborn fleet commander responsible for the fire that once killed her fellow orphans. Cero warns Aiz that the fleet commander is dangerous, but Aiz dismisses him.

Aiz continues her plan of seducing Tiral to infiltrate his quarters in the Aerie and get him to let down his guard. After they have sex and he falls asleep, she goes to retrieve the knife she’d hidden. On the way, she notices a strange book he keeps with him, which appears to be a book of children’s stories. When she returns and attempts to kill him, he intercepts her attack.