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steveatwaywords's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Let's start with the main criticisms about this book: it moves slowly and it has very little of what is popularly demanded these days: page-turning action. I, too, wondered for a time where MacInnes was going with In Ascension, but I reminded myself about that old concept of the author-reader contract: I as a reader promise to give the book my fair attention and the author in return promises to make it worth my while. I'm glad I stayed.
I will not reveal the big moments here--this is all spoiler-free, I think--but they come in small doses right along the way. Perhaps to the surprise of all those DNFers (the ones who Did Not Finish), just about everything in the books early and middle chapters becomes vitally woven by its ending, and that's quite a range of detail.
MacInnes' first-person narrative of a young, ambitious, but emotionally distraught female microbiologist Leigh digs fairly deeply into her family relationships, her collegial relationships, and how her competencies themselves may mask other issues. Her initial project work on a deep sea anomaly equally lays fundamental groundwork not just in biology, but in her particular framing of the importance of that science. Like the best hard-science fiction novels, MacInnes does not get squeamish over detailing thicker principles of molecular engineering nor later of space travel. Better than many such novels, though, we find that this orientation is actively working to develop the strengths and psychological stress marks on our narrator Leigh. More, as we will discover, it is these moments--a photograph of a childhood sister-love, a phone call of passive-aggressive blame, a regret over a loss, a wounded nostalgia over idealism--that become almost essential to a larger question completely.
And what is In Ascension about? Crafted in our own environmental politics advanced to a point of crisis, one may expect the title to be spiritual in nature. I will only say, though, that it has far more than a single meaning. With the wonder and reverence of an Arthur C. Clarke novel, and a willingness to allow the uncertainties of science lead us to deeper questions, <i>In Ascension</i> will leave readers both fulfilled and bewildered. It teases old SF tropes without lazily fulfilling them; and it offers instead a completion of Leigh's personal and scientific journal which is uniquely and wholly satisfying.
Yes, it's a big book, and readers who seek a page-turner need not stop here. If instead, however, you miss the novel that isn't afraid to find that the most particular details--right down to the molecule--are themselves momentous, settle in.
I will not reveal the big moments here--this is all spoiler-free, I think--but they come in small doses right along the way. Perhaps to the surprise of all those DNFers (the ones who Did Not Finish), just about everything in the books early and middle chapters becomes vitally woven by its ending, and that's quite a range of detail.
MacInnes' first-person narrative of a young, ambitious, but emotionally distraught female microbiologist Leigh digs fairly deeply into her family relationships, her collegial relationships, and how her competencies themselves may mask other issues. Her initial project work on a deep sea anomaly equally lays fundamental groundwork not just in biology, but in her particular framing of the importance of that science. Like the best hard-science fiction novels, MacInnes does not get squeamish over detailing thicker principles of molecular engineering nor later of space travel. Better than many such novels, though, we find that this orientation is actively working to develop the strengths and psychological stress marks on our narrator Leigh. More, as we will discover, it is these moments--a photograph of a childhood sister-love, a phone call of passive-aggressive blame, a regret over a loss, a wounded nostalgia over idealism--that become almost essential to a larger question completely.
And what is In Ascension about? Crafted in our own environmental politics advanced to a point of crisis, one may expect the title to be spiritual in nature. I will only say, though, that it has far more than a single meaning. With the wonder and reverence of an Arthur C. Clarke novel, and a willingness to allow the uncertainties of science lead us to deeper questions, <i>In Ascension</i> will leave readers both fulfilled and bewildered. It teases old SF tropes without lazily fulfilling them; and it offers instead a completion of Leigh's personal and scientific journal which is uniquely and wholly satisfying.
Yes, it's a big book, and readers who seek a page-turner need not stop here. If instead, however, you miss the novel that isn't afraid to find that the most particular details--right down to the molecule--are themselves momentous, settle in.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent and Suicide
Minor: Emotional abuse
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