Ascension

by Kara Dalkey

Overview

"Dalkey's intriguing marine world brims with descriptions of Atlantis and mermyd life"—first in a captivating young adult series of ritual and romance (Publishers Weekly).  
 
Sixteen-year-old mermyd Nia has one wish: to gain glory for the noble Bluefin Clan by becoming an Avatar, one who rules Atlantis through a telepathic connection with an ancient alien race. But first she must be chosen as a candidate by her clan, and then pass the Trials. Nia is sure she can outswim and outwit anyone else in her family, which is why she is shocked when her bumbling cousin is chosen instead.
 
At least her crush Cephan is competing in the Trials. Of the lowly Stingray clan, he toils in the Lower Depths of Atlantis and gives Nia a glimpse of her undersea city that changes everything she thought she knew. Secrets and lies are submerged in the heart of Atlantis, and the upcoming Trials will put Nia's loyalty to her clan to the test, and bring her world crashing down around her . . .
 
"An exotic undersea world is given vivid life . . . A detailed and refreshingly original submerged society, continually revealing deeper layers and hidden crannies that hint at a rich and complex history . . . The exhilarating twists and turns carry readers gasping into a stunning cliffhanger that will leave them clamoring for the next installment." —Kirkus Reviews

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781504089159
Publisher:	Open Road Media Teen & Tween
Publication date:	11/21/2023
Series:	The Water Series , #1
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	186
File size:	3 MB
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Kara Dalkey is an American author of young adult fiction and historical fantasy. Much of her work is set in the Heian period of Japanese history. Dalkey's works include the Water trilogy, The Sword of Sagamore, Steel Rose, and Little Sister, and works in which she collaborated with other writers. Her novel, The Nightingale, was featured in Terri Windling's Fairy Tale series, and she has written short stories for both the Liavek and the Buffy the Vampire Slayer anthologies. Dalkey is a graduate of the Fashion Institute of Design and Marketing in Los Angeles. When she is not writing, she is an avid musician.
The Sword of Sagamore, Steel Rose, and Little Sister, and works in which she collaborated with other writers. Her novel, The Nightingale, was featured in Terri Windling’s Fairy Tale series, and she has written short stories for both the Liavek and the Buffy the Vampire Slayer anthologies. Dalkey is a graduate of the Fashion Institute of Design and Marketing in Los Angeles. When she is not writing, she is an avid musician.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter One

“Nia! Watch out!”

But Niniane of the Bluefin Clan, known as Nia to all, arrowed her body, easily swimming through the narrow space between the marble columns of the building beside her. She emerged on the other side without even a scratch. “Watch out for what?” she asked with a wide-eyed, innocent grin as she swam back to her friend Callimar's side.

Callimar narrowed her golden eyes behind a fringe of deep-green hair. “Watch out that you don't show off so much that you become an annoyance to your friends.” She gave Nia a playful slap with her tail.

“Was I showing off?” Nia asked, although she knew very well that she was. “I thought I was practicing. Training. For the Trials.” Nia did a back somersault, the fins along the backs of her arms and legs guiding her smoothly through the water. Her long, silvery hair flowed in an elegant arc behind her. She took pride in the strength and grace of her body and knew that if she were chosen for the Ascension, her physical abilities would be part of the reason.

The City of Atlantis seemed to sparkle more than ever this day. The high-towered palaces of the noble clans, carved from coral stone, marble, and malachite, some faced with shimmering mother-of-pearl, glimmered all around them. The blue-green bioluminescent light from the enormous globe lamps that hung over the city seemed to glow brighter. The lamps provided the primary light to this dim world in the depths of the sea. To the mermyds, sunlight was a thing mentioned only in fairy tales and history books.

Nia wondered whether the sea siphons and filtration tunnels were working harder than usual today -- the water seemed sofresh and bubbly and full of energy-giving oxygen. Or perhaps she was merely giddy, knowing she was the perfect age at the perfect time in the perfect place. She was sixteen, a prime age for a new Avatar. The Low and High Councils that together ruled Atlantis were made up of ten Avatars, chosen from the mermyd population, and ten Farworlder kings. Each mermyd Avatar would join with a Farworlder to form a pair, since the powerful Farworlder kings could express their thoughts only through a special connection with a mermyd Avatar. And now one of the ten Avatars and his Farworlder king had just reached the age for retirement, meaning that a new Avatar would be chosen for the Low Council, along with a new Farworlder king for the High Council. Nia had every reason to believe that she could be the one participating in the upcoming Ascension -- being joined with a Farworlder king and taking her place among the ten Avatars of the Low Council. She had all the important qualifications, and everyone in her family -- probably everyone in her entire clan -- knew how much she dreamed of taking on the responsibility. From the day she could speak, she'd begged her grandfather, an Avatar himself, to tell her stories of his experiences. The idea of finally being able to learn the deepest secrets known only to Farworlders and their Avatars held infinite appeal to Nia.

“Not to burst your bubble,” Callimar said, interrupting Nia's thoughts, “but the last I recall hearing of them, the Trials did not involve threading yourself through obstacles like sea spider cord through a fish bone needle. Or doing gymnastics.”

“How do you know?” Nia asked, doing a forward somersault this time, keeping her legs straight and perfectly together. “Maybe they'll change things this time.”

“And maybe fish will grow legs like you have,” said Callimar. Some mermyds had fishlike fins for their lower bodies and some had two legs like Nia's, and either sort could be born into a mermyd family. Only the Farworlders knew why. “Really, Nia, I think you should have been born into the Dolphin Clan, not the Bluefins.”

Callimar was one of the few mermyds Nia knew who were so sensitive about birthclan. Callimar was of the Sunfish Clan, a noble family whose members often held important positions in Atlantean government. Nia's clan, the Bluefin, was not quite so illustrious, but Nia was proud of her family nonetheless. “Callimar, you're beginning to sound like my mother.”

“I'm beginning to age, just watching you,” Callimar countered. “But I suppose you have all that nervous energy to use up.”

“Nervous? Me? I don't think so!” Nia replied. “I'm perfectly calm.”

Callimar laughed. “You don't fool me,” she teased. “The water is several degrees warmer near you, and this time it's not because you're thinking of a certain Stingray.”

Nia blushed but turned her face away to hide it. She did not want to be tricked into talking about Cephan right now. “You're just jealous,” Nia argued, “that you aren't being considered to represent your clan in the Trials.”

Each clan would choose a member to compete for the role of Avatar, and from what Nia could guess, she would be the obvious choice for the Bluefins.

“Me? Hah! I would have been terrified to be chosen,” Callimar said. She paused, frowning. “No, actually I would have been terrified of winning the Trials and becoming an Avatar,” she added, tossing her head slightly. “To undergo the ritual of the Naming and be nearly poisoned to death? To share my deepest thoughts all the rest of my days with a creature that looks like a big squid and thinks like . . . I don't know what? That's enough to scare any sane mermyd. I'm glad it looks like my brother will be the one competing for the Sunfish Clan, not me.”

“Now you're the one being silly,” Nia said. “Nearly every Avatar-to-be has survived the Naming. And the sharing of minds with such peaceful and wise creatures as the Farworlders is supposed to be incredible.” It certainly seemed to Nia that it would be incredible -- beyond incredible, in fact...

Water #1: Ascension. Copyright © by Kara Dalkey. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

Editorial Reviews

An exotic undersea world is given vivid life in this engaging inception to a projected fantasy trilogy. Nia, a mermyd of the aristocratic Bluefin clan, has dreamed for all her 15 years of becoming an Avatar, helping to ensure the prosperity of Atlantis through a magical bond with the prescient Farworlders, the squid-like creatures who created her people. But when the clans choose their candidates to compete for the upcoming Ascension, the Bluefins inexplicably reject Nia in favor of her nondescript cousin Garun. To further strain her loyalties, the lower-caste Stingrays have selected Cephan, her secret beloved, as their representative. Nia's hurt and betrayal are exacerbated when she discovers that Atlantis's idyllic facade conceals official deceit and dark secrets, most shockingly that the greatest danger to her home may well come from Nia herself. Both familiar and intriguingly alien, Nia is a delightful concoction of adolescent contradictions: supremely self-confident in her talents, yet touchingly insecure in her budding romance; exasperated by her elders and their traditional ways, yet shattered by her disillusionment with the mermyd leadership. Dalkey (Genpei, 2000, etc.) creates a detailed and refreshingly original submerged society, continually revealing deeper layers and hidden crannies that hint at a rich and complex history. Unfortunately, her world-building too often resorts to massive information dumps and chunks of expositionary dialogue that stop the story flat. Once things get going, though, the exhilarating twists and turns carry readers gasping into a stunning cliffhanger that will leave them clamoring for the next installment. (Fiction. 11+)

Kirkus Reviews