Ascendancy

Emily Hamilton's Ascendancy is the start of an epic, riveting queer cyberpunk trilogy following a butch anarchist pilot and a sword-wielding femme on opposing sides of a war whose blazing forbidden romance may unite humanity - or strike its killing blow . . . Per sapentiam et vigilam, vitam aeternam. Through wisdom and vigilance, eternal life. A thousand years after the collapse of Earth and its colonies, the inhabitants of Jupiter's moons are alone in the universe. Neev, a young Apprentice pilot, has lived her whole life under the all-seeing gaze of the Council of Ascendants. Rescued from orphanhood by a militant resistant group, Ida has been raised to defy the Ascendancy's authoritarian control. When a chance encounter sparks a blazing mutual attraction, Neev begins to question everything, while Ida's faith wavers for the first time in her life. But their romance has a time limit. Once Ida's undercover assignment is accomplished, she disappears, leaving Neev confused and heartbroken. A decade later, and the resistance is preparing a final strike to end the Ascendancy forever. But when Ida's last mission goes terribly wrong, she is forced to flee - and into the arms of a crew of anarchists and its handsome Apprentice-turned-rebel-pilot whose smile still sets her soul aflame. Their love reignited, yet their ideologies still violently at odds, Neev and Ida must decide what they are willing to sacrifice for each other. And as lies are revealed, tyrannies fall, and war becomes an inevitability, their love may not be enough to stop them from ending up on opposite sides of the battlefield.