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A review by littoral
In Ascension by Martin MacInnes
4.0
I finished IN ASCENSION almost 2 months ago now, but am only getting around to writing a review now - and in some ways, I am glad for the delay, because it is the type of book that has marinated with time and grown to be more interesting the more I think about it.
IN ASCENSION follows Leigh, a marine microbiologist who studies life in the harshest climates under the sea. She boards the Endeavour, a ship on a voyage to explore a hydrothermal vent under the Atlantic Ocean, where the scientific expedition finds an anomaly that takes the rest of the book on a journey from the deepest places on earth to the farthest expanses of our solar system.
IN ASCENSION was initially billed to me as a literary science-fiction book, but I think this description set false expectations for me about world-building that colored my initial experience reading this book. Instead, I would describe it as a literary and metaphorical explanation of what it means to be alive and to be human - which happens to explore these themes at the extremes of our world. That said, there are places where I felt the execution of this really fascinating premise could have been tighter - in particular, the author is fairly heavy-handed with the descriptions of the childhood trauma that defines the relationship between Leigh and her parents. These often slow the pace of the book's narrative and break up otherwise propulsive sections. But even these sections, which sometimes feel like a distraction in the beginning of the book, come together with the plot by the end.
A comparable artistic experience for me was that of watching 2001: A Space Odyssey - if you let the science fiction plot elements guide you along this slow and moving reflection on shared human experience and responsibility, you might find yourself reflecting on its themes days, weeks, and months later. I will look forward to rereading.
IN ASCENSION follows Leigh, a marine microbiologist who studies life in the harshest climates under the sea. She boards the Endeavour, a ship on a voyage to explore a hydrothermal vent under the Atlantic Ocean, where the scientific expedition finds an anomaly that takes the rest of the book on a journey from the deepest places on earth to the farthest expanses of our solar system.
IN ASCENSION was initially billed to me as a literary science-fiction book, but I think this description set false expectations for me about world-building that colored my initial experience reading this book. Instead, I would describe it as a literary and metaphorical explanation of what it means to be alive and to be human - which happens to explore these themes at the extremes of our world. That said, there are places where I felt the execution of this really fascinating premise could have been tighter - in particular, the author is fairly heavy-handed with the descriptions of the childhood trauma that defines the relationship between Leigh and her parents. These often slow the pace of the book's narrative and break up otherwise propulsive sections. But even these sections, which sometimes feel like a distraction in the beginning of the book, come together with the plot by the end.
A comparable artistic experience for me was that of watching 2001: A Space Odyssey - if you let the science fiction plot elements guide you along this slow and moving reflection on shared human experience and responsibility, you might find yourself reflecting on its themes days, weeks, and months later. I will look forward to rereading.