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Spire Laws 1 - Ground State: A Progression LitRPG
Cass Beck spent six years proving that certain quantities hold no matter how you turn the universe — symmetry and conservation, the most beautiful thing she knew. A funding committee ended her career in four sentences. And in the space of a single wish, to be erased and rebuilt as someone the world had a use for, Cass and nine thousand strangers are taken.
They wake at the foot of the Spire.
The tower rises floor by floor, and every floor is a law of physics turned gravity that pulls the wrong way, a warm shelf that quietly draws off the will to stand, a plane that presses the living flat. Cass can read them. The elegant, unfundable science that failed her in one world is the only thing keeping her alive in this one — she Parses each floor for the rule beneath it, and the cost of reading it wrong.
But the deadliest structures in the Spire aren't made of stone. They're the orders people build on the way the strongman who folds protection into debt, the city that trades every choice for a generation of peace. Cass reads those too — down to the single load-bearing premise each one rests on.
Climb high enough, and something notices. Something that has been waiting at the top since before the Spire had a bottom.
Ground State is a novel about what is conserved and what cannot be lent, power and its accountants, and what one person owes the strangers climbing beside her.
Book One of Cass Beck's ascent.
They wake at the foot of the Spire.
The tower rises floor by floor, and every floor is a law of physics turned gravity that pulls the wrong way, a warm shelf that quietly draws off the will to stand, a plane that presses the living flat. Cass can read them. The elegant, unfundable science that failed her in one world is the only thing keeping her alive in this one — she Parses each floor for the rule beneath it, and the cost of reading it wrong.
But the deadliest structures in the Spire aren't made of stone. They're the orders people build on the way the strongman who folds protection into debt, the city that trades every choice for a generation of peace. Cass reads those too — down to the single load-bearing premise each one rests on.
Climb high enough, and something notices. Something that has been waiting at the top since before the Spire had a bottom.
Ground State is a novel about what is conserved and what cannot be lent, power and its accountants, and what one person owes the strangers climbing beside her.
Book One of Cass Beck's ascent.
264 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 4, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 31, 2026
Great Sci-Fi Read!
Ground State by Orin Keel is a great start to what could be an amazing series! This book is action packed filled with science, strategy and survival. Could you survive the Spire? This is probably my favorite aspect, as each floor they climb becomes more and more dangerous.. knowledge and making smart choices is how to survive. 5 stars to Orin Keel for this awesome read and I can’t wait to see how he continues the story!
Ground State by Orin Keel is a great start to what could be an amazing series! This book is action packed filled with science, strategy and survival. Could you survive the Spire? This is probably my favorite aspect, as each floor they climb becomes more and more dangerous.. knowledge and making smart choices is how to survive. 5 stars to Orin Keel for this awesome read and I can’t wait to see how he continues the story!
August 17, 2026
climbing the spire
I liked the premise of the story, also intuitively knowing what they had to do but not knowing why. The tower is a much more formidable enemy than Faulk and his pack. I enjoyed Cass’s development and how everyone’s strength was also their weakness.
I liked the premise of the story, also intuitively knowing what they had to do but not knowing why. The tower is a much more formidable enemy than Faulk and his pack. I enjoyed Cass’s development and how everyone’s strength was also their weakness.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews