by Matt King
Her smile was immediate when she saw him. She took his hand and then froze when she saw the view over his shoulder. “It’s so beautiful,” she said absently.
“Yeah. It is, isn’t it?”
He led her down the slope of the dunes to the sandy shore, where the water ran over their feet as they sat on the sand and watched in silence as the tide slowly receded.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
It’s strange, sometimes, how books can mirror the real world, even when they’re about super-powered people punching each other in space. I wrote Ascension during a rocky time of my life, and while I never want my personal stories bleeding into my fictional ones, I couldn’t help but notice some parallels between August and me this time around. It wasn’t planned that way, I promise. The sense of loss of self, the sense that you have to go it alone all the time—these are things I was dealing with right along with my main character. For me, righting the ship involved talking to a therapist, and I credit the unendingly patient Crystal for guiding me back to where I needed to be to finish the book. Mental health isn’t something people should ignore because they’re worried about being shamed or thought of differently. It’s as vital to maintain as physical health, and I wish I’d learned this lesson years before. It would’ve saved a lot of heartache.
Keeping the emotion train going, I went through a lot of them while saying goodbye to these characters. August and Bear, especially, were hard to part with. I’ve had them in my head for over a decade now, and it’s supremely weird for them to be absent from my new writing. While there’s a chance their names will be mentioned in future stories, I can tell you with all confidence that their individual stories are done. The next set of books will take place many years after these two, and the new characters will need their own spots in my brain space. I’ll miss August and Bear most, although I hate to say goodbye to all of these people. The good news is that the people taking their place are pretty cool in their own right, so never fear. I’m sure I’ll be saying the same thing about missing them one day.
Finally, I wanted to say thank you from the bottom of my cold, sarcastic heart for reading the Circle War books. It means a lot to me that you spent your hours on something I wasn’t sure would ever be good enough to see the light of day. And though I’m sad the Circle has no more stories to tell, I’m so incredibly excited for you to see what comes next. In a lot of ways, this trilogy set the stage for all of the books I have planned for the future. The first one out of the gate will be Prism, a story about acceptance and belonging, but also about punching people who need punching. I think you’ll like it.
Until then, happy reading. See you soon.
- M
Table of Contents
Contents
Other Books
Copyright
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Garoult
Title
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Author's Note