Inevitable Ascension

From Goodreads:

"The innocent never waver from doing what’s right, even if it means drowning the world in fire.

Violina had been burned and betrayed by mankind ever since she sprang into existence. They named her a heretic and condemned her to a pit to live and die in agony. Though she sat stranded, starved and bloodied, she would not submit. Violina, the girl who had been mocked and hunted for rejecting the warped ideals of artificial authority, would lay down her own law.

Inevitable Ascension — The rapid-fire action/adventure novel packed with a host of twists that will make your mind explode! But not literally, otherwise that would be really gross."


This was a difficult read for me. I really, really wanted to like it, because it was advertised as steampunk, but this is not the steampunk I am used to. Instead, it has a heavily technological, heavily science fiction tone. Coupled with Violina, a sociopathic unsympathetic main character who has no problem killing the people who stand in her way and leaves a high body count in her wake, and I was surprised to make it through at all. There are no lasting consequences for Violina's actions, which led to a disappointingly flat character arc, and Violina's main concern seems to be shaping history rather than making things better for the people around her. On the other hand, just as Sherlock has Watson to humanize him, Violina has Lux to humanize her, a bright character with a great faith in humanity who inexplicably stays by Violina's side. The twisty timeline of the story works out well, though the ending feels very unresolved.

So, the writing was good, the plotting superb, but the setting and the main character made this story a very laborious read for me.

Gentle Reader Alert: There is violence a-plenty in this story, but no swearing and no sex.