The Ascenditure
The Ascenditure
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Klarke Ascher has a singular goal: to become an Ascenditure, a member of the kingdom's elite climbing team who scale the treacherous peaks of Miter's Backbone in search of an elusive medicine to treat the lung sickness that ails the populace. However, in a kingdom governed by centuries of tradition, where women are legally bound to home and hearth, owned by the men they are forced to marry, the Ascenditures have always been male. 

As the strongest climber of her generation, Klarke’s skill and strength are undeniable, and her courage and persistence prompt a civil uprising to which the king is finally forced to concede. Klarke’s fight for justice, however, quickly becomes a struggle for survival as fellow Ascenditures, one by one, are inexplicably murdered. For danger lies not only on the icy peaks of treacherous mountains, where ropes are cut and routes are compromised, but in the very halls of power. 

With the hope of an oppressed generation on her shoulders, Klarke must dig deep within herself to discover the greatest strengths— of muscle and mind— not only to survive but to unravel the sinister conspiracy upon which the foundation of their kingdom rests.

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Book Details

Genre: 

  • Adventure
  • Fantasy
  • Fiction
  • Sports

Age Level: 

  • Mature Young Adult
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The Ascenditure by Robyn Dabney is a story which takes place in Kietsch, the capital of Ectair, in the land of Galvaith.  Ectair is separated by a man-made waste land called Miter’s Waste, from a country to the north called Ainar.  Legends abound about Ainar’s people and their hostility toward Ectair. Ectair society respects nature and the environment, worshipping gods of the sea and mountains, sharing stories of their powers, and retelling tales of their conflicts.

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In The Ascenditure, Klarke Ascher is attempting a feat never accomplished by women in her kingdom before: to become an Ascenditure, a member of the elite climbing group of Ectair. She has been beaten out for the job once before, even though she is clearly the better climber, but was denied the position because she is a female. Females in Ectair are expected to be wives and mothers, married off in arranged marriages starting at the age of seventeen. Klarke is seventeen and she is lucky enough to be lodged in an all woman tenement.

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