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Those are some of the titles by which our heroine goes by.
But let's be real, Dirk Ava is just like the rest of us. She is trying to find her way in the world and all the while overthrow an evil dictator along the way.
I am so excited to share some fun facts about my main protagonists with you, and I cannot wait to hear your thoughts when the book is officially in your hands.
Ok, ok so this is not an official rendition of Dirk Ava, but I think it nicely captures her spirit as the story progresses. And yes, her eyes are purple, a rarer but not unnatural coloring for one of both Iridan and Hasbish descent.
Lets Set Some Expectation for Ascendant Ascendant has multiple point-of-view characters (POV), but in comparison to other sprawling epics with hundreds of characters (cough,**Malazan**cough) I am proud a tight narrative is told here with as few characters as necessary. One of the goals for the series, The Saga of Valor, is to take my sweet time adding interesting characters, and slowly building their depth as the stories progress. This story was never meant to have flat characters that fill one dimensional roles {**James Bond** cough, cough) but to allow the characters time to matriculate, and blossom over the totality of the series. For example, in Ascendant, our protagonist goes through some truly horrifying things in her journey to overcome the Lord Prime, and it leaves her scarred. Much of this trauma will never be resolved in this book but that is intentional. What she goes through cannot be overcome in a matter of months and for some this level of harm may never heal. This story very much sets up the journey Dirk Ava will have to undergo and it is one I am determined to give the time it deserves. She will grow, age, and maybe even begin a family before she is ready to fully face the darkness done to her. That will take time, but it will reveal her humanity in a way that will truly bring her to life. One where you, the reader, will feel as if you have known this character as dear friend rather than a character in a book. So, Dirk Ava. . . Ok, her family name is Dirk and Ava is her given name. You see in the city-state of Hasbal the family name comes first and a proper one is monosyllabic at that. Dirk Ava is a girl on the cusp of womanhood who has been more or less racialized by her father in the doctrines of the freedom fighting Shields of Valor. Because of this Ava dreams of little more than joining the Shields and one day overthrowing the Lord Prime. Fun Facts About Ava:
Ava’s least favorite dish is fermented shark though she partakes in it (usually at the mid-year festivals) in order to enjoy the accompanying glass of vodka.
Ava often dreams of one day riding the giant the butterflies and seeing where they might take her.
Ava is highly competent in Kiatsu a martial art form originally developed around fists and knives in its earliest conception but has been more recently tweaked to fit those who carry bayonets. Ava was taught by both her father and his best friend Jung Krebs.
Like most girls her age, Ava knows the types of boys she is attracted to and is in fact wildly smitten with one ---though she believes it to be love. This makes the matching ceremony at the tea houses ever more frightening to her. When a teenager reaches marriageable age the tea master (a branch of the Lord Primes Trusted) decides whom the young men and women of the city are to marry. This is just one of the cruelties Ava would like to one day see dismantled.
Ava survived the Killing, a re-occurring solar event that lays waste to the world, while in her mother's womb. This was quite the shock as even a few seconds of exposure has been known to make a mother miscarry. Her survival and healthy birth led to naming her Ava, meaning "life." NEXT TIME. . . . We will take a sneak peak at Nakiaa, the other continent where the story takes place
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