Above the Black

Marc J. Gregson had first envisioned the "floating island" setting of Sky's End in 2015, though the story and characters were never thought out at the time.^[1] Gregson partially took inspiration of himself for the main protagonist Conrad after receiving his fifth rejection from a literary agent regarding previous attempts to publish earlier books, in which he "sat down and started writing a character who was frustrated and would never give up."^[2] Gregson says he took inspiration from the Hunger Games series, Red Rising, and Attack on Titan for his novel.^[3]

Gregson claims to have drawn inspiration from Count of Monte Cristo and Treasure Island for the revenge and adventure aspects of the plot in Among Serpents.^[4]

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The novel takes place on Holmstead, among the Skylands, a civilization of floating islands all governed by meritocracy, situated above a limitless surface of toxic black clouds that dissolves anything touching it. Society is divided into the highs, middles, and lows, with highs being the wealthiest and lows being the opposite. The islands are often attacked by gorgantauns, steel-scaled serpents that threaten human survival.

The story follows 16-year-old Conrad, a former high who has been exiled to the lows alongside his sick mother, Elise, after his Uncle, Ulrich, murdered his father, seizing the title of archduke and kidnapping his younger sister, Ella. Conrad seeks to rescue Ella and kill Ulrich for revenge. When Conrad leaves, a gorgantaun attacks Holmstead, killing Elise in the chaos. During the attack, Conrad is saved from falling off the island by an unknown figure. Conrad discovers his mother's body and confronts Ulrich, who forces him to make a deal: if Conrad joins the Selection of the Twelve Trades, then his uncle will return Ella. On the selection, he is rigged to be a hunter.

Crew members include Pound (Conrad's childhood enemy), Roderick (an engineer), Keeton (a strategist), Sebastian (a manipulative figure), Eldon (a navigator), Bryce (the one who saved him on Holmstead), and Samantha (who was bought into the trade). Conrad also meets Koko, the head of the hunter trade, who convinces him to make allies during the competition in order to rise to captain status. To determine what positions the trainees serve on the Gladian, small duels are held. Pound sabotages Conrad by injuring him before the duels to allow him to be captain. During one of Pound's missions, many crew members are killed, leading the crew to mutiny against him. Sebastian is voted as the new captain and begins to abuse his power. During a gorgantaun encounter, Sebastian is devoured. After killing the monster, Conrad is voted as the new captain.

Under Conrad's lead, the Gladian crew obtains the lead in the gauntlet while Conrad grows closer with his group. The gauntlet is temporarily halted, as spies are rumored to have infiltrated the Order. Conrad discovers Bryce to be one of them, but she escapes. Conrad's team wins the gauntlet and is requested to meet the king, who is revealed to be Ulrich. Sebastian is also shown to have survived and has grown a hatred for Conrad. Conrad is ordered by Ulrich to interview a captured Bryce, who exposes Admiral Goerner, the Head of Order, to be another spy from the Below, a civilization hidden underneath the black clouds that had a war with the Skylands centuries ago, with the latter erasing the former from history, resulting in the Skylands’ lack of knowledge about them. Goerner kidnaps Bryce and Conrad before the Gladian crew saves them. A violent battle ensues between the Skylands' and the Below’s skyships. During the battle, Goerner unleashes the mile-long gigataun, a larger counterpart of the gorgantaun, which devastates Ulrich’s army and brings down the island of Ironside, the capital of the Skylands.

After the Below retreat, Conrad reconciles with Bryce and relocates the remaining survivors. Ulrich appoints him as prince and gives up Ella's location. The Gladian retrieves Ella soon after and recruits her and a turncoat Bryce into the team. Conrad is offered by Ulrich to lead a larger ship, but he declines, choosing to stay with his friends. The Gladian crew prepares as the Skylands officially declare war against the Below.

Three months after the Battle of Ironside, Conrad is struggling to make his younger sister Ella feel comfortable on the Gladian skyship after discovering her location. Ella injures veteran crew member Declan over assumptions that he is a spy for the Below, a civilization underneath an endless sea of toxic black clouds that started an ancient war with the Skylands. Soon, the Gladian is attacked by a torton, a large flying turtle that can breathe fire and camouflage itself. Three other ships are destroyed along with their crews. Conrad's uncle Ulrich and also king of the Skylands has his army collect the damaged Gladian and bring it to Venator, the home of the hunter trade, with the head of hunter, Koko, planning to restrict Conrad from participating in further expeditions, though Conrad is able to convince her otherwise. On Venator, Conrad is ambushed by Lantian assassins from the Below, though he is rescued by Bryce, a Lantian crew member on the Gladian who betrayed her people for the Skylands' cause.

The rest of the crew, including Pound, Ella, Roderick, Keeton, Arika, and Declan reunite with Bryce and Conrad, soon discovering that Venator is overrun with Lantian spies who all planned to kidnap Conrad. Venator is then attacked by hords of gorgantauns that draw the crew in the open, allowing a treasonous Declan to expose their location before he is killed by Conrad. Lantians seize the Gladian, capture and torture Conrad and his crew, and departs for former Admiral Goerner. Hours pass until Ella escapes and frees the rest of the crew, who take back control of the Gladian and barely escape Goerner's fleet and a pack of gorgantauns. Ulrich remotely reveals to Conrad that the Skylanders have won the battle on Venator.

Bryce reveals to Conrad that Lantians, including herself, are commonly honored with biomechanical symbions that are surgically inserted into their necks; they allow Lantians to sense whenever a creature or another Lantian is near, which is how the Lantians knew Bryce, and therefore Conrad, were on Venator. They also allow the Lantians to share memories with those they physically interact with. Conrad shares this revelation with Ulrich and helps Bryce remove her symbion to avoid being tracked further. Ulrich once again collects the Gladian and brings it to Holmstead, Conrad's home island. Ulrich attempts to blackmail Conrad into leading the Order army and resigning from the Gladian crew, but Conrad proves himself by striking Ulrich in an unofficial duel. Conrad and Bryce start a romantic relationship, much to the displeasure of Ulrich and Ella.

After receiving intel that Holmstead is the next target for the Lantians, Ulrich prepares his army. During the battle, Goerner releases the gigataun, a mile-long gorgantaun, which easily destroys Ulrich's army and drops Holmstead into the black clouds. Pound resigns from the Gladian after the battle in search for family members that may have survived. Ulrich sends the Gladian on a mission; to retrieve an ancient weapon that is said to be capable of killing the gigataun. Ulrich also assigns two new members to the Gladian: Yesenia and Otto, with explorers Tara, Kirsi, and Magellan leading the expedition. The airships travel to Sky's Edge, a large wall of violent storm clouds that are not poisonous. Afrer encountering an octolon, a biomechanical flying octopus that destroys a few of Conrad's ships, the crew breaches the other side. They discover stowaways Ella and Sebastian, a manipulative former Gladian member, and lock the latter below decks.

Sebastian warns Conrad of a Lantian spy on board, but Conrad does not believe him. Upon arriving at Celentus, the island housing the key to the weapon, many are immediately killed by mashtauns, steel-plated gorillas, including Kirsi. They retrieve the key and escape Celentus. Ulrich informs Conrad that the gigataun is planning to attack the island of Dandun. As the Gladian heads to Perditio, where the weapon is located, the crew is ambushed by Lantians, who located them through the Lantian spy Sebastian mentioned earlier. Conrad allows himself to be captured for Bryce and Ella's escape with the Collapser. Conrad is taken to Goerner and a turncoat Sebastian on a conquered Perditio, with the former sharing an experience with Conrad using his symbion, revealing that Conrad and Ella are both part Lantian. A month later, Pound and his family attack Perditio, forcing the Lantians to flee and for Conrad to escape. Conrad reunites with the rest of his crew, except for Roderick, who was kidnapped and taken to the Below. The Gladian and the Atwood armada fly back through Sky's Edge and to Dandun, once again encountering the gigataun. Using the Collapser, the gigataun is killed and Goerner is apprehended by Ulrich.

Two months later, upon discovering Conrad and Ella's Lantian heritage, Ulrich disowns them. During a meeting with all the masters of trade, Ulrich kills them all, including Koko, and replaces them with his own loyal followers. Ulrich takes the Collapser and publicly announces to the Skylands that he will use the weapon on the Below, despite them having lost the war, and that Conrad will lead an expedition underneath the clouds to kill the remaining Lantian survivors. Enraged, Conrad plots on how to kill Ulrich before his mission.