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Magica Riot is the piece of magical girl fiction I've always wanted as a trans girl. It is exceptionally well paced, sweeping its protagonist and readers of their feet as early as its first chapter. This book hits you with a steady beat of well characterized and endearing characters pouring their heart into the imaginative world they fight to protect and their music about being openly queer.  All while hiding the good they do from the world. (The audiobook goes the extra mile in really elevating of lot of the dialog, making personalities of some characters not only unmissable, but unforgettable.)

A heartfelt attention is given to the lengths the members of Magica Riot are willing to show up for their community and each other. Be it addressing love interests in the past or newly forming, or accommodations made to support a delicate family in each other,  you're in for an incredibly well balanced act that pulls out all the stops.

Not to mention that this story might just have the single sweetest scene to get me to buy into a romance that I've ever read.

This was really... nice. I think I've learned that I am open to some flavors of experience  I never thought I would be if I am enjoying the banter, feel safe, and can back out at any time.

Thank you for this. I wasn't expecting to connect with this story as intimately as I did. I found myself torn between agonizing over being committing to being the Doctor and settling for being the Guide even if I knew that would be lying to myself. This game has plucked at some of the darkest and most isolating thoughts I've struggled to get anyone else to understand.

Seeing the most frustrated aspects of myself so clearly outlined, I stopped to make peace with the idea that I'd probably never be satisfied in some ways, only to give in and receive a happy ending anyways. I came way feeling like I'm precisely where I need to be, and that there is a life ahead of me where I can truly be alive and happy going all the way as a transfemme.

Words are kinda failing me now, but I have come away from Ascension at peace in the face of things I've long fought to just put into words. And I just don't think I'm likely to have found validation so specific and personal anywhere else. I can't thank you enough for this experience.