I really enjoyed this book. It had me gripped from the start and kept me intrigued throughout. Would definitely recommend.

For a first time author I was pleasantly surprised by Ledge. I have followed Stacey McEwan on social media for a long time and to be honest, I didn't expect this book to be that great. However, I will definitely be getting the next book in this series. I loved the characters, story line, and the cliffhanger. Ledge is a great fantasy read and I am expecting the subsequent books to be even better.

Thank you Random House for the arc. Unfortunately I've decided to not to finish the book. I don't DNF books often and I can usually push myself through. It's a shame since I was so excited to read it and had followed the author on Tiktok for a while. Personally I wish this book had gone through some editing, especially with sensitivity readers. The main male character is described as POC but violent and a beast-like and other problematic stereotypes for the queer/non-binary character and I immediately lost interest. I really wanted to support an Australian fantasy author but ultimately I'm a bit disappointed.

Ledge was a very enjoyable read from start to finish.

I found the concept of the ledge set this book apart from other fantasy novels. The life the humans on the ledge live and the season selection they face gave the book a very dystopian fantasy feel to it. However, as the book progresses it does seem to fall into a typical fantasy storyline.

My only complaint about the book would be that the lover interest refers to the main character as ‘girl’ a lot, and that just personally gives me the ick and would prefer he didn’t call her that 😅

3.5 rounded up.
This book is an adult Fantasy romance, with some very unique qualities especially with the setting and the fantasy elements. It follows the perspective of Dawsyn and Ryon. Dawsyn is such a strong character. I cannot believe how determined and strong willed she was especially under some of the circumstances she faced. I know I would have curled up and given up. Also, her dynamic with Ryon was interesting, I liked their development together. Ryon was a little harder to warm up to, but I did end up liking him very much at the end. I think the Glacien’s were riveting, as well as the source of their magic, which was horrifying to learn how it works. The writing for this book was ok, I had a little trouble following the descriptions and the setup of Dawsyn's village and had to reread it a couple times to get it straightened out. I think that this first book is a great start, and I will be continuing on with the series, I can’t wait for more.
Trigger warnings: assault, suicide, blood
I received an advanced ebook, via Netgalley. This review is my own honest opinion.

Loved the opening of this book! The world description and introduction to the main character was well done! About half way through I felt as if the story started to fall apart and I began to lose interest. The love story felt very insta-love and I didn’t connect with Ryon at all. I struggled with their interactions and dialog. The concept was interesting but the overall execution left me wanting. 3 star read for me.

I received an arc of this book from Netgally in exchange for an honest review.

It was okay! To me, I think the most irritating thing (besides the name Dawsyn, oh NO) was how she comes from this freezing, starving hellscape of a village and yet is somehow the most amazing fighter in the history of fighting, can take down trained guards and also has an amazing rack. Let's not forget that amazing rack.

I had to DNF this... (41%) I recognise that I am a mood reader, but I have tried many times over the last few months. I find the author fun and engaging on social media and so I very much wanted to support her and her work.

Unfortunately this book wasn't for me. The world building showed promise, the starkness of the world was well established and the slow reveal of the wider context added depth. The friends to lovers dynamic between Ryon and Dawsyn was clear and the additional layers of prejudice against blended parentage helped flesh out the characters.

Despite all of this in its favour, it just fell flat for me and I didn't feel the connection to the characters or the world. However, your milage may vary. It did feel like a familiar set up to fantast giants like Sarah J Maas, so fans of this might find this fits much better.

The potential for great stories that I sync with better is still with this author, so I still to check out her future works.

First of all, I want to thank you for allowing me to read this book! It took awhile for me to start this book, just due to the holidays and daily life. Once I was able to start it, I had a hard time putting it down.

The Plot: Dawsyn lives in a place called the Ledge - a desolate community high on a mountain. The last living member of her family, she ekes out a living in the harsh landscape and waits for the yearly culling, a time when the local, winged creatures known as Glacians come to steal away several human sacrifices. After being chosen and ripped away from the only life she has ever known, Dawsyn is determined to find a way to survive.

The Review: This new adult fantasy romance started strong. The setting made it a perfect winter fantasy read and I loved that Dawsyn didn't seem to be ~special~ in the way so many heroines in YA/NA are. I was hoping for an Elide-esque character, where Dawsyn would be notable simply because of her intelligence, ferocity, and strength. Unfortunately, I think the beginning of this book was the strongest - as the story continued I became less and less invested in the characters or their goals. By the time I reached the ending, I was reading mostly just to see the book through, rather than because I wanted to see what happened.

I also found the world-building a little confusing - sometimes Dawsyn seemed to know nothing about the outside world, but other times she referenced things that she had never been exposed to before. Early on, she commented that her isolated community had never seen an avalanche and it bothered me that she had a word for an experience no one she had been exposed to had ever had.

This was a really promising debut from Stacey McEwan, but it lost steam as the story unfolded.
All in all, I enjoyed this but didn't love it. Props to McEwan for this debut though - it takes courage to publish a novel and this one had a lot of good things going for it.

** Thanks so much to Stacey McEwan and Angry Robot for this ARC via NetGalley. Ledge is available now! **

I really enjoyed this book, it was a good comfort read with lots of my favourite tropes and a nice ‘the main characters will always be okay’ undercurrent.

The book begins on The Ledge with our main character Dawsyn where the small population of humans are enduring rough conditions, only barely surviving. This is where I thought the story would take place but quickly find that there is more to this world than the ledge.

The species of Glacians which rule this world and take all they need from whomever they need was different and so intriguing and I would have loved more exploration of why they are so much more than any other species. They seemed unreachably strong, intelligent and ruthless but when the uprising happens we see none of this and the battle is quick.

The romance was predictably comfortable, just letting you lean into it and enjoy the ride. The banter between the two and the aggression which Dawsyn expresses to Ryon gave me many a giggle which I really enjoyed.

I look forward to watching the Queens get there’s in book two and hopefully seeing the humans on the ledge released.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read Ledge. Unfortunately the interesting premise fell a little flat for me. The FMC was a bit underwhelming and the MMC back story had a lot of holes. I don’t think the writing in this is for me

This book had me hooked! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5 stars are easily given!

I absolutely loved the intriguing plot that kept me wanting to read on! Both main characters are without a doubt awesome and loved their dynamic so much through the book! I can’t wait for the next one, so so excited for more!!!!!

Add this to your shelf asap, I promise you won’t regret it!

Super unique world! I loved the way McEwan builds it-its all discovery along with the main character. You get a bit of an enemies to lovers vibe that I was digging for sure. There is a cliffhanger, so be prepared for that. If you want a unique fantasy romance that kind of gives you Sarah Maas vibes, check out Ledge!

Interesting and atmospheric story unfortunately felt the character development was lacking a bit and there was a lot of background explanation.

Somewhere between a DNF and “not right now” read after chapter 7. I love this author on TikTok, and I think the writing is excellent if you’re looking for a bleak, gritty sort of dystopian fantasy. I wasn’t quite feeling this world or story, but I can perhaps see myself giving it another try one day.

Wow. The Ledge did not disappoint. It grabs you by the collar from page one and doesn’t let go. Dawyson reminds me of a badass Viking. Ryon gave me some Cassian/Rhysand/Azriel vibes. This book was so colorful and adventure packed. It was everything I needed in a book. I’m just sad that I have to wait until next year for book two.

I didn't really know much about this book going into it beyond the info in the synopsis. I was immediately invested in the Ledge, its history, and the plight of its people. The gritty harshness of it and the effects on the people were fascinating to read. I had so many questions about how they got there and why their lives were so difficult. I was excited to find out. Unfortunately, the answers provided in the rest of the narrative were less than stellar and often nonsensical. For example, it made no sense for the Glacians to keep the humans on the Ledge if the goal was to keep a ready supply of them for harvest. I'm honestly surprised that three generations of humans had survived the conditions, and the population would have likely dwindled to nothing in the near future. Much of the love interests' story didn't really make sense either. He's visited all sorts of different places and made allies all over, but he also claimed that he couldn't get out of the Glacian palace for more than one night at a time. The trip to some of these places took days. Maybe he did some of it before going to the palace, but none of it was really very clear. The characters were largely one-dimensional YA stereotypes despite this not being a YA book. Dawsyn was the headstrong girl who refused to give up and had surprising strength and fighting ability. It made sense for her to be scrappy given her life on the Ledge, but her strength seemed way overblown considering how undernourished she must have been. Ryon was the big, strong, mysterious man who started out as a gruff 'enemy' but came to love the heroine because of her wit and skill. There was quite a bit of obsession with size difference between them in the romance, and the dialogue made me cringe. As for the rest of the writing, it wasn't that great either. The descriptions were often repetitive, and the sentence structure felt dull. I lost count of how many times I read the same description of Ryon's stubble. I get it. The author thinks stubble is hot, but at least use a different word every now and then. The book wasn't without redeeming qualities, though. The beginning was quite good, and some of the world-building and plot elements were fun to read. There was the promise of a good story in here amongst the cringe-worthy romance, plot holes, and uninspired writing. Unfortunately, I won't be continuing the series to see if it gets any better. Therefore, I rate this book 2 out of 5 stars.

Dawsyn is the lone surviving member of her family, using her axe and sheer strength to survive. When she is chosen for sacrifice as well as others, she is thrown into another fight for her life.
This was a 3.5 star read for me. A lot of it has to do with the fact it’s a little lacking in the world building. There isn’t a lot of information such as the hows, whys, or even history of the Glacians. I felt readers were expected to accept things at face value. Also, I would have liked to see more initial character development with Dawsyn in the beginning. I would have liked to see more time in the beginning spent with her day to day survival and maybe filling in more of her family history. This is more a personal preference than anything else.
McEwan’s writing is strong. It’s very wordy in places which does slow down the pacing a bit, but she had a wonderful grasp of imagery and her use of metaphors is really nice. She does a really nice job in the action and even the romance.
Overall, I think this is a pretty solid start for a debut novel and book one of a series. The series has a lot of potential, and if that doesn’t compel you to read on in the series, then the cliffhanger definitely will. Four stars!

I personally didn’t relate to the characters, and the FMC felt really flat for me. There wasn’t any character development and the MMC was just boring. Probably one of the most boring MMC I’ve read yet. The plot was very good though and I personally feel if it was more plot driven it would have had a better rating for me and been a better book overall.