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Ascendant #1-3
The Ascendant Trilogy
The Ascendant Trilogy ebundle collects all three books in K Arsenault Rivera's epic fantasy--The Tiger's Daughter, The Phoenix Empress, and The Warrior Moon…At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
1361 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 25, 2020
115 people are currently reading
256 people want to read
About the author
K. Arsenault Rivera
19 books454 followersPuerto Rico born and New York raised, K is a lifelong fan of all things nerdy. She drew on her love of tabletop gaming for her debut novel, THE TIGER'S DAUGHTER. An out and proud queer, she lives in Brooklyn with her partner.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
February 26, 2021
Every word of this is so - It's an unbelievable fantasy epic, but it's also the best romance I've ever read.
September 7, 2020
Just beautiful
First I have to say... this was just OUTSTANDING!! Though it seems very long winded at times,( which I normally cannot stand! ) those lengthy versus just seemed vital to the story.. the battle scenes... people... THE BATTLE SCENES! It felt like I witnessed their anger, fear, pain, triumph, lose, heartbreak! As if I were right there with them.
That is how deeply this trilogy had engulfed me! It isn't all gloom and doom, bloody guts and glory either... there's snarky humor as well!! Next up.
The love story, ( undoubtedly one of my favorites, especially since it is F/F!) deep, tear jerking, F the world because we are each others world kinda beautiful. The supporting characters very well deserve their own series in my opinion! By far this is the longest review I've ever left, and it is well deserved!!
First I have to say... this was just OUTSTANDING!! Though it seems very long winded at times,( which I normally cannot stand! ) those lengthy versus just seemed vital to the story.. the battle scenes... people... THE BATTLE SCENES! It felt like I witnessed their anger, fear, pain, triumph, lose, heartbreak! As if I were right there with them.
That is how deeply this trilogy had engulfed me! It isn't all gloom and doom, bloody guts and glory either... there's snarky humor as well!! Next up.
The love story, ( undoubtedly one of my favorites, especially since it is F/F!) deep, tear jerking, F the world because we are each others world kinda beautiful. The supporting characters very well deserve their own series in my opinion! By far this is the longest review I've ever left, and it is well deserved!!
January 15, 2021
**An epic fantasy trilogy in the finest sense, with swordfights and battles and demons, centered around a queer love story because hey we need those, representation matters**
The author of this trilogy, a queer Latina-American, said that she was simply trying to write the kind of story she would have wanted to read as a child. While it's not perfect, the first book is probably the best (as is often true with an author for whom world-building is as big of a strength as it is for Rivera), this is a solid 1500 pages of exactly that--a huge, massive fantasy world, with geography and mythology and culture, while also exploring themes of gender and sexuality and bigotry and acceptance. Also lots of swordfighting
I don't know how much I can explain without spoiling it. The premise of the trilogy, what's actually happening, can be explained simply, but it's not actually revealed until halfway through the second book. The real enjoyment of this novel is the setting, East-Asian-inspired fantasy with the two main characters the future Empress of a massive empire, the other the daughter of the chief of the band of horse-riding nomads
What else to say?
The series does not shy away from giving its main characters deep flaws. The reader will be annoyed with basically every character at least once, some of them many times--but not in a way that feels unrealistic. These characters feel like real people, and though they frustrated me at times, I loved them and wished for the best.
The prose is clean, surprisingly so for this kind of first novel, and the author clearly delights in particular at finding fun ways to show how badass her characters are ('Don’t duel anyone,' Shefali tells her. 'Hardly a duel if they don’t even finish the draw,' Shizuka says" / "The first thing any duelist must learn is the length of their sword. The Daybreak Blade is two shaku long. Anything within that radius lives only because she allows it to.")
As before, I'm very likely to give longer series high ratings, even if none of the books within it might deserve it on their own. But this trilogy is, at its core, pure escapism, and it does it well. I got to explore a world that swept from the rocky ocean shores to the boundless steppes, got to meet Empresses and Barbarian Queens and Gods, got to enjoy acceptance (not without opposition) of sexuality and hang out with a lot of badass female characters, got to battle against demons for three books. I enjoyed that, five stars
"Burqila would’ve put a bowl of stew in Sakura’s lap, and Otgar would’ve signed that she should eat. You need to eat something hearty to get the salt back into you when you cry—that is Qorin thinking. There is not enough stew in the world to fix this problem."
"Never have I read a story where the hero had to marshal her own troops. Never have I read a story where the hero, flanked on either side by her brother and sister-in-law, must tell an old farmer that the army has more need of his son than he does. But that is the story I am telling you."
"'They say that the Phoenix will return to Hokkaro when our need is greatest.'
Something like a smile tugs at the corner of [the Phoenix]’s lips . . . 'How romantic,' she says.
'I’m glad you think so,' says Kenshiro. He winks. 'I was the one who started the rumor.'"
The author of this trilogy, a queer Latina-American, said that she was simply trying to write the kind of story she would have wanted to read as a child. While it's not perfect, the first book is probably the best (as is often true with an author for whom world-building is as big of a strength as it is for Rivera), this is a solid 1500 pages of exactly that--a huge, massive fantasy world, with geography and mythology and culture, while also exploring themes of gender and sexuality and bigotry and acceptance. Also lots of swordfighting
I don't know how much I can explain without spoiling it. The premise of the trilogy, what's actually happening, can be explained simply, but it's not actually revealed until halfway through the second book. The real enjoyment of this novel is the setting, East-Asian-inspired fantasy with the two main characters the future Empress of a massive empire, the other the daughter of the chief of the band of horse-riding nomads
What else to say?
The series does not shy away from giving its main characters deep flaws. The reader will be annoyed with basically every character at least once, some of them many times--but not in a way that feels unrealistic. These characters feel like real people, and though they frustrated me at times, I loved them and wished for the best.
The prose is clean, surprisingly so for this kind of first novel, and the author clearly delights in particular at finding fun ways to show how badass her characters are ('Don’t duel anyone,' Shefali tells her. 'Hardly a duel if they don’t even finish the draw,' Shizuka says" / "The first thing any duelist must learn is the length of their sword. The Daybreak Blade is two shaku long. Anything within that radius lives only because she allows it to.")
As before, I'm very likely to give longer series high ratings, even if none of the books within it might deserve it on their own. But this trilogy is, at its core, pure escapism, and it does it well. I got to explore a world that swept from the rocky ocean shores to the boundless steppes, got to meet Empresses and Barbarian Queens and Gods, got to enjoy acceptance (not without opposition) of sexuality and hang out with a lot of badass female characters, got to battle against demons for three books. I enjoyed that, five stars
"Burqila would’ve put a bowl of stew in Sakura’s lap, and Otgar would’ve signed that she should eat. You need to eat something hearty to get the salt back into you when you cry—that is Qorin thinking. There is not enough stew in the world to fix this problem."
"Never have I read a story where the hero had to marshal her own troops. Never have I read a story where the hero, flanked on either side by her brother and sister-in-law, must tell an old farmer that the army has more need of his son than he does. But that is the story I am telling you."
"'They say that the Phoenix will return to Hokkaro when our need is greatest.'
Something like a smile tugs at the corner of [the Phoenix]’s lips . . . 'How romantic,' she says.
'I’m glad you think so,' says Kenshiro. He winks. 'I was the one who started the rumor.'"
April 5, 2021
When our lips met, the stars grew jealous of us.
Just finished! Wonderful reading.
The author created an incredible world: believable, coherent, colorful, magical.
It's an epic fantasy, but it's also a love story, filled with demons, gods, and big armies.
The author excels at vividly describing this colorful, magical, mythical, and beautiful world and characters. The love story comes out beautifully, the author uses the whole world, nature, and mythical aspects to make the love story about much more than just two characters.
For some parts, I felt a bit bored, there is no big mystery or thrilling plot, and I had to force myself to keep reading. But in the end, I think it really paid off.
It is a song, but it is one that lurks beneath the surface of things, hiding in the bray of horses and the creak of bows, the whisper of leather and felt, the rasp of thirsty blades calling out for blood.
did-not-finish
August 13, 2023I felt like this book had a lot of promise, but I had issues getting into it due to the writing style. There's a lot of info to take in, and I am not a fan of "You turned and walked away. Your mother watched."
Since this book contains all three parts of the trilogy, it sounds bad saying I stopped at 4%, but that's 50+ pages it had to woo me, and it failed. There was a lot of info-dumping about the regions the two girls inhabited, as well as only a minimal hint of this world's magic. Maybe it's just a slow build, but I am not feeling like trudging through 1300+ more pages to get to a resolution.
DNFed at 4%.
Since this book contains all three parts of the trilogy, it sounds bad saying I stopped at 4%, but that's 50+ pages it had to woo me, and it failed. There was a lot of info-dumping about the regions the two girls inhabited, as well as only a minimal hint of this world's magic. Maybe it's just a slow build, but I am not feeling like trudging through 1300+ more pages to get to a resolution.
DNFed at 4%.
November 21, 2020
What a wild ride!
There is so much I loved about this trilogy! The world building!! The storytelling and different perspectives were fabulously handled, I thought, and it certainly helped build and guide the story in a fresh way. I dont think I will ever emotionally recover from this story, but I think it's something that will stay with me for a long time. Highly recommend!
There is so much I loved about this trilogy! The world building!! The storytelling and different perspectives were fabulously handled, I thought, and it certainly helped build and guide the story in a fresh way. I dont think I will ever emotionally recover from this story, but I think it's something that will stay with me for a long time. Highly recommend!
January 17, 2023
The first book is like poetry to read. Utterly beautiful in every way - an easy 5 star for the first book.
Unfortunately, the magic was lost for me midway through the second book, but I persevered. The third book had more interesting and exciting moments, only to fall flat.
I feel harsh for saying this, but at times it felt a chore to read, and at times boring with not much going on and nothing gripping to keep you wanting to stay up late and squeeze in one more chapter.
In short - the first book is a treasure to me, but the other two somewhere along the way unfortunately lost me.
Unfortunately, the magic was lost for me midway through the second book, but I persevered. The third book had more interesting and exciting moments, only to fall flat.
I feel harsh for saying this, but at times it felt a chore to read, and at times boring with not much going on and nothing gripping to keep you wanting to stay up late and squeeze in one more chapter.
In short - the first book is a treasure to me, but the other two somewhere along the way unfortunately lost me.
Read
June 13, 2022I am just not a fan of the writing. There's a lot of telling and exposition and none of it interests me.
to-read-mine-ebook
November 8, 2021Oct. 2021
I'm not in the mood to read this...
I'm not in the mood to read this...
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews