<p><b>Waking up as one&#8217;s video game avatar is no walk in the park&#8212;in fact, it&#8217;s a harrowing tower climb&#8212;in this witty isekai for fans of geeky, badass women.</b></p><p> When Aesca Lampi wakes up in the form of her character from <i>Eldest Fantasy Wars Online</i>, she&#8217;s annoyed by the historical inaccuracies. (Video-game-style scrolls? Really?) That is, until a building collapses on top of her, revealing she&#8217;s on a fantastical island centered around the impossibly tall, glowing Tower of Aetherius&#160;.&#160;.&#160;. with an array of dangerous creatures&#8212;including jaguar hybrids, velociraptors, and giant, flesh-eating lizards&#8212;in the way. (Oh, joy.)</p><p> OK, so she&#8217;s dead. Now what? In order to become a true Aetherian, Aesca is challenged by the god Aetherius himself to make her way through all one hundred levels of the tower and free the world from the tyranny of Oizys, Goddess of Misery. Aesca&#8217;s mission seems relatively simple: solve the puzzles, forge alliances, regenerate when killed, move on. But soon she&#8217;s involving herself in elf&#8211;human border negotiations and running from black vipers.</p><p> As the climb gets ever more harrowing and a host of deities begins to interfere, Aesca will need all her strength, cleverness, and wit&#8212;plus her trusty dragon-cat, Arkaziel&#8212;to ascend the levels and fight Oizys before it&#8217;s too late. And she doesn&#8217;t even have a help menu to assist her&#160;.&#160;.&#160;.</p><p></p>