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In Ascension
Leigh grew up in Rotterdam, drawn to the waterfront as an escape from her unhappy home life and volatile father. Enchanted by the undersea world of her childhood, she excels in marine biology, travelling the globe to study ancient organisms. When a trench is discovered in the Atlantic ocean, Leigh joins the exploration team, hoping to find evidence of the earth's first life forms - what she instead finds calls into question everything we know about our own beginnings.
Her discovery leads Leigh to the Mojave desert and an ambitious new space agency. Drawn deeper into the agency's work, she learns that the Atlantic trench is only one of several related phenomena from across the world, each piece linking up to suggest a pattern beyond human understanding. Leigh knows that to continue working with the agency will mean leaving behind her declining mother and her younger sister, and faces an impossible choice: to remain with her family, or to embark on a journey across the breadth of the cosmos.
Exploring the natural world with the wonder and reverence we usually reserve for the stars, In Ascension is a compassionate, deeply inquisitive epic that reaches outward to confront the greatest questions of existence, looks inward to illuminate the smallest details of the human heart, and shows how - no matter how far away we might be and how much we have lost hope - we will always attempt to return to the people and places we call home.
Her discovery leads Leigh to the Mojave desert and an ambitious new space agency. Drawn deeper into the agency's work, she learns that the Atlantic trench is only one of several related phenomena from across the world, each piece linking up to suggest a pattern beyond human understanding. Leigh knows that to continue working with the agency will mean leaving behind her declining mother and her younger sister, and faces an impossible choice: to remain with her family, or to embark on a journey across the breadth of the cosmos.
Exploring the natural world with the wonder and reverence we usually reserve for the stars, In Ascension is a compassionate, deeply inquisitive epic that reaches outward to confront the greatest questions of existence, looks inward to illuminate the smallest details of the human heart, and shows how - no matter how far away we might be and how much we have lost hope - we will always attempt to return to the people and places we call home.
512 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 3, 2023
About the author
Martin MacInnes
8 books365 followersMartin MacInnes has been published in 13 languages and is the winner of a Manchester Fiction Prize, a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award and a Somerset Maugham Award. His third novel, In Ascension (2023), was longlisted for the Booker Prize, shortlisted for the Kitschies award, and won the Arthur C. Clarke award, Blackwell's Book of the Year, and the Saltire Prize for Fiction. In Ascension is a Times bestseller and has been optioned for film.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,676 reviews
Shelved as 'abandoned'
August 25, 2023Longlisted for Booker Prize 2023
Book 4/13
Well, I could not get into this literary SF. I tried the audio version and I could not follow the (boring to me) plot. And it barely touched the science when I gave up. The writing did not grab me either. There are many friends here on GR who loved this novel, admired the structure and the writing so I am sure there is something in it and I somehow missed it. I do not have the patience to lose time with books that do not speak to me so onwards.
Book 4/13
Well, I could not get into this literary SF. I tried the audio version and I could not follow the (boring to me) plot. And it barely touched the science when I gave up. The writing did not grab me either. There are many friends here on GR who loved this novel, admired the structure and the writing so I am sure there is something in it and I somehow missed it. I do not have the patience to lose time with books that do not speak to me so onwards.
August 17, 2023
Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2023
Okay, so let's celebrate our tolerance for ambiguity: This ambitious sci-fi story is a possible Booker winner, it's very well crafted - and I didn't enjoy it one bit. I applaud MacInnes for writing an eco novel that shows how human beings are part of a larger, mysterious, and beautiful natural system, it's one of the few Booker entries that at least somehow relate to current political issues. In the world depicted, climate change has accelerated. Enter our protagonist, marine biologist Leigh: Growing up in Rotterdam with a violent father who despaired over his job keeping the rising tides at bay, adult Leigh first joins a mission that researches a vent apparently three times deeper than the Mariana Trench - Leigh specializes in the research of unicellar algae, one of the oldest sources of life. Then, Leigh is recruited to join a secret space mission that aims to find out about mysterious irregularities - the algae are supposed to provide food and be part of the intended research.
So yes, you need to have a propensity for slow-moving, description-heavy, 500 page tomes that dive into the intricacies of marine biology and space travel and extrapolate the status quo to possible future developments in these fields. I really tried, but the fact that I didn't care about any of the characters (especially the space crew hardly gets any proper character development) made it even harder to plough through page after page of elegiac evocations of scenes and atmosphere. It's not that it's badly done, in fact MacInnes achieves exactly what he aims to do, it's just that this kind of writing does nothing for me: Endless mundane occurrences on ships and in space, intricate, lengthy scene-setting, conversations about the how's and why's of detailed scientific endeavors... that's a no from me.
We have recurring motifs like immersion, distance, and connection, we have light and darkness, the unreliable human apparatus for perception and understanding, it's very well thought out. I also liked the constant idea that in nature, time exists horizontally, so the beginning of life is still happening in various senses. The title of the novel alone underlines the author's cleverness: Leigh ascends from diving, she ascends to the sky, there's an idea of religious/spiritual wonder, and the spacecraft is supposed to come down on Ascension Island. In the final part, we hear the perspective of Leigh's sister Helena (IMHO, the most interesting character, so needless to say she hardly features) who questions natural scientist Leigh on many levels.
But I was bored out of my mind: The broad descriptions and the slow pacing, the even temperament of the whole text just drove me nuts. So all in all, I'm not surprised (and not even mad) if this wins the Booker, but I can't get behind this novel, purely for reasons of subjective taste.
Okay, so let's celebrate our tolerance for ambiguity: This ambitious sci-fi story is a possible Booker winner, it's very well crafted - and I didn't enjoy it one bit. I applaud MacInnes for writing an eco novel that shows how human beings are part of a larger, mysterious, and beautiful natural system, it's one of the few Booker entries that at least somehow relate to current political issues. In the world depicted, climate change has accelerated. Enter our protagonist, marine biologist Leigh: Growing up in Rotterdam with a violent father who despaired over his job keeping the rising tides at bay, adult Leigh first joins a mission that researches a vent apparently three times deeper than the Mariana Trench - Leigh specializes in the research of unicellar algae, one of the oldest sources of life. Then, Leigh is recruited to join a secret space mission that aims to find out about mysterious irregularities - the algae are supposed to provide food and be part of the intended research.
So yes, you need to have a propensity for slow-moving, description-heavy, 500 page tomes that dive into the intricacies of marine biology and space travel and extrapolate the status quo to possible future developments in these fields. I really tried, but the fact that I didn't care about any of the characters (especially the space crew hardly gets any proper character development) made it even harder to plough through page after page of elegiac evocations of scenes and atmosphere. It's not that it's badly done, in fact MacInnes achieves exactly what he aims to do, it's just that this kind of writing does nothing for me: Endless mundane occurrences on ships and in space, intricate, lengthy scene-setting, conversations about the how's and why's of detailed scientific endeavors... that's a no from me.
We have recurring motifs like immersion, distance, and connection, we have light and darkness, the unreliable human apparatus for perception and understanding, it's very well thought out. I also liked the constant idea that in nature, time exists horizontally, so the beginning of life is still happening in various senses. The title of the novel alone underlines the author's cleverness: Leigh ascends from diving, she ascends to the sky, there's an idea of religious/spiritual wonder, and the spacecraft is supposed to come down on Ascension Island. In the final part, we hear the perspective of Leigh's sister Helena (IMHO, the most interesting character, so needless to say she hardly features) who questions natural scientist Leigh on many levels.
But I was bored out of my mind: The broad descriptions and the slow pacing, the even temperament of the whole text just drove me nuts. So all in all, I'm not surprised (and not even mad) if this wins the Booker, but I can't get behind this novel, purely for reasons of subjective taste.
January 22, 2024
At 35, I was supposed to start having seizures. Thanks to a mutated gene, my body does not process the amino acid commonly found in meat.
However, long before the geneticists got their hands on me, I knew I didn’t feel good eating meat and became a pescatarian (a person who eats fish and is a vegetarian).
So, trust me—I believe in the power of greens. Research indicates that looking at green for as little as 2 seconds can boost creativity.
Nominated for a Booker Prize in 2023, In Ascension checks a lot of the right boxes. Strong female characters. Less than ideal childhood. Familial dysfunction. Environmental issues. Mysterious elements.
At the same time, the magic in this book is buried under a mountain of boredom because In Ascension needs sharper storytelling. When the reader starts to nod off, MacInnes should cut those bits. In particular, 90 out of the last 100 pages should have been cut; the reader doesn’t need a 100-page epilogue.
The book is so slow that I dreaded each time I picked this up. It felt like a watered-down version of Project Hail Mary.
This is an important work with meaningful elements but proceed with an abundance of patience.
*Thanks, Edelweiss, for a free copy of this book in exchange for my fair and unbiased opinion.
How much I spent:
Electronic text – Free/Nada/Zilch through Edelweiss provided by publisher
Audiobook - Free through Libby
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However, long before the geneticists got their hands on me, I knew I didn’t feel good eating meat and became a pescatarian (a person who eats fish and is a vegetarian).
So, trust me—I believe in the power of greens. Research indicates that looking at green for as little as 2 seconds can boost creativity.
Nominated for a Booker Prize in 2023, In Ascension checks a lot of the right boxes. Strong female characters. Less than ideal childhood. Familial dysfunction. Environmental issues. Mysterious elements.
At the same time, the magic in this book is buried under a mountain of boredom because In Ascension needs sharper storytelling. When the reader starts to nod off, MacInnes should cut those bits. In particular, 90 out of the last 100 pages should have been cut; the reader doesn’t need a 100-page epilogue.
The book is so slow that I dreaded each time I picked this up. It felt like a watered-down version of Project Hail Mary.
This is an important work with meaningful elements but proceed with an abundance of patience.
*Thanks, Edelweiss, for a free copy of this book in exchange for my fair and unbiased opinion.
How much I spent:
Electronic text – Free/Nada/Zilch through Edelweiss provided by publisher
Audiobook - Free through Libby
Connect With Me!
Blog Twitter BookTube Facebook Insta
July 17, 2023
89th book of 2023.
4.5. A stunning novel: epic in scope and almost cinematic in execution. Anyone who likes Interstellar will like this. What begins as a slow and dreamy account the narrator's (Leigh) upbringing in Rotterdam with her abusive father becomes a thrilling and daring work of soft-science-fiction (i.e. it feels mostly grounded in reality, though set in the 2030s and with advanced technology), through the stars and beyond our cosmos. Leigh is a microbiologist and the first part of the book has her on a ship investigating an unusual trench. She specialises in algae. All this leads to to Leigh's involvement in the space program and the ascension to the stars. I read two or three hundred pages of this book in about 24 hours. Some other reviewers, I see, call it overlong, boring, too much science, etc., but I love physics and astronomy, so there were no complaints here. The ending fascinated me, terrified me, blew me away. It all leads to that final charged moment. Leigh's narration is also fascinating in itself: MacInnes somehow writes her as being incredibly detached but also philosophical. Near the beginning of the book there is a moment where she is floating in the sea above the trench and has the sensation that the stars above her are the same distance as the bottom of the sea. This image sums up the novel for me. It is the micro, the algae, and the entire cosmos. It is one woman, one family, and yet the whole planet. I had to return it to the library as it has a reservation on it but honestly, I could have started it again. I want to read those early scenes again, see how MacInnes sets it all up, links it all together. A joy to read. I put it down on my lunchbreak and then walked through the gardens that span off the side of the cathedral. I had that sort of luminosity one feels after finishing a powerful book, sort of floating in its wake and reverie. There is something so compelling, human, scary and awe-inspiring about the book, and yet it reads with such ease. I'll be reading it again.
4.5. A stunning novel: epic in scope and almost cinematic in execution. Anyone who likes Interstellar will like this. What begins as a slow and dreamy account the narrator's (Leigh) upbringing in Rotterdam with her abusive father becomes a thrilling and daring work of soft-science-fiction (i.e. it feels mostly grounded in reality, though set in the 2030s and with advanced technology), through the stars and beyond our cosmos. Leigh is a microbiologist and the first part of the book has her on a ship investigating an unusual trench. She specialises in algae. All this leads to to Leigh's involvement in the space program and the ascension to the stars. I read two or three hundred pages of this book in about 24 hours. Some other reviewers, I see, call it overlong, boring, too much science, etc., but I love physics and astronomy, so there were no complaints here. The ending fascinated me, terrified me, blew me away. It all leads to that final charged moment. Leigh's narration is also fascinating in itself: MacInnes somehow writes her as being incredibly detached but also philosophical. Near the beginning of the book there is a moment where she is floating in the sea above the trench and has the sensation that the stars above her are the same distance as the bottom of the sea. This image sums up the novel for me. It is the micro, the algae, and the entire cosmos. It is one woman, one family, and yet the whole planet. I had to return it to the library as it has a reservation on it but honestly, I could have started it again. I want to read those early scenes again, see how MacInnes sets it all up, links it all together. A joy to read. I put it down on my lunchbreak and then walked through the gardens that span off the side of the cathedral. I had that sort of luminosity one feels after finishing a powerful book, sort of floating in its wake and reverie. There is something so compelling, human, scary and awe-inspiring about the book, and yet it reads with such ease. I'll be reading it again.
June 16, 2023
I'm fairly certain I'm not the right reader for this novel. In Ascension is getting a lot of love from readers here, and that is a good thing. The book is finding its people, and that's sooooo important. I'm not one of them, though I'm truly open to hearing from those who had a different reading experience.
The first two thirds of this novel are very heavy on scientific detailing, exposition, and techno-babble. So much, so very, very much. I found it tedious and difficult to stay engaged. (See what I mean about not being the right reader? Perhaps SF devotees feel completely opposite, perhaps they think the detailing is key and they wouldn't have it any other way.) That's not to say I thought the scientific stuff was badly written; on the contrary, I think MacInnes' science-ing is believable and convincing and I was entirely willing to go along with it -- but not at the expense of character and story.
The tone of the book is pretty flat, for the most part, same with the characterizations. I never felt I knew Leigh, the protagonist. I followed her around a laboratory a lot, though.
There's some attempt to give backstory into Leigh's childhood and family dynamics. This was a welcome reprieve for me, because I'm always so interested in people. But sadly these parts weren't terribly illuminating.
At the final third, the plot accelerates and the book becomes much more interesting. When it's good, it soars. It's profound and beautiful in those moments. In those moments, you realize that it's about so much more than the minutia of the research that is painstakingly communicated in the previous several hundred pages. It's about LIFE in a huge, mysterious, big-picture, zoomed out sense. That is something I admired, though it didn't redeem the book for me.
The first two thirds of this novel are very heavy on scientific detailing, exposition, and techno-babble. So much, so very, very much. I found it tedious and difficult to stay engaged. (See what I mean about not being the right reader? Perhaps SF devotees feel completely opposite, perhaps they think the detailing is key and they wouldn't have it any other way.) That's not to say I thought the scientific stuff was badly written; on the contrary, I think MacInnes' science-ing is believable and convincing and I was entirely willing to go along with it -- but not at the expense of character and story.
The tone of the book is pretty flat, for the most part, same with the characterizations. I never felt I knew Leigh, the protagonist. I followed her around a laboratory a lot, though.
There's some attempt to give backstory into Leigh's childhood and family dynamics. This was a welcome reprieve for me, because I'm always so interested in people. But sadly these parts weren't terribly illuminating.
At the final third, the plot accelerates and the book becomes much more interesting. When it's good, it soars. It's profound and beautiful in those moments. In those moments, you realize that it's about so much more than the minutia of the research that is painstakingly communicated in the previous several hundred pages. It's about LIFE in a huge, mysterious, big-picture, zoomed out sense. That is something I admired, though it didn't redeem the book for me.
March 1, 2024
Like Arrival or Interstellar, but more slow and with more daddy issues
You could only see, essentially, the world as you know it
We follow Leigh, apparently from Rotterdam but measuring her life in feet and Fahrenheit. She is a marine biologist who has the luck of not one but two incredible experiences. The didactic elements of In Ascension start about the history of Rotterdam, the VOC and the waterschappen (a.k.a. Regional Waterboards), which was super mundane to me as a Dutchman, and the childhood trauma is a bit tiresome as a basis for a (fictional) interior life of Leigh. She has an abusive father (I could carry my father because I was more like him than I realised) and a mother who is struggling with dementia, exacerbated by a sister who is a lawyer in Jakarta and has some trauma's of her own.
My blurb might sound harsh and what I write above is not too enthusiastic, but the book is definitely well written and ambitious, if somewhat plodding, with characters all quite similar in voice. Sometimes I also had a feeling that Martin MacInnes was searching for what the book was supposed to be, with malaria reintroduced in the Netherlands due to inundation, but never any other substantial impact of climate change (or being in the near future in general) at all. In general there is a lot of tell, I would like more scenes to describe the family dynamics instead of these sections of the narrator thinking to herself.
Deep sea mining and exponential advancement in technology (not ChatGPT but rocket propulsion) make an interesting mashup, with the oceans of Europa being a prime target for exploration.
There is a mysterious 12km deep vent appearing in the Atlantic Ocean, giving me low key Annihilation meets Our Wives Under the Sea vibes.
However, as Leigh thinks to herself, the story is resistant to easy explanations or resolutions: I resisted being so easily explained
The crushing on Stephan, the head of the expedition, is a bit insta-love like, and the general resolution of the Atlantic Ocean part left me a bit underwhelmed, also because we don't see any profound changes to Leigh due to the events.
She just goes to find mysterious funding in California to get algae growing in space missions.
We have a kumbaya collaboration between California, Moscow and Beijing on a propulsion project, well that feels very unlikely based on the arms race we see now on Generative AI like technologies.
Sometimes our main character is called out a bit: I assume you were getting to a point at the end. Girl you are so right, who goes on a cell development seminar when a government agency is tampering with your life.
We have some musings on the Great filter theory, which are done much better in sci-fi like The Dark Forest.
Leigh focusses on her work (I used work to avoid other responsibilities), making her even more obscure to us as a reader over her relentless training during 26 months.
Sometimes, on a good day, she could belief she was making progress. Those days were rare.
I know I sound rather critical, but there are glimmers of brilliance and interesting ideas that are reminiscent to How High We Go in the Dark, like human labor being cheaper than automation of asteroid mining, interestingly mirroring deep sea mining in the earlier chapters.
She never loved something so much as the moment it was gone and Leigh insisted on letting her childhood define her are just sentences that make me feel very distant from Leigh and the book in general. I for instance get very little feeling how Leigh and her sister Helena are different in character. The ending which is like a vague yet immense version of Interstellar, also left me underwhelmed.
A lot of potential and interesting ideas, but I ended up far from convinced, despite my love for science fiction and speculative fiction.
You could only see, essentially, the world as you know it
We follow Leigh, apparently from Rotterdam but measuring her life in feet and Fahrenheit. She is a marine biologist who has the luck of not one but two incredible experiences. The didactic elements of In Ascension start about the history of Rotterdam, the VOC and the waterschappen (a.k.a. Regional Waterboards), which was super mundane to me as a Dutchman, and the childhood trauma is a bit tiresome as a basis for a (fictional) interior life of Leigh. She has an abusive father (I could carry my father because I was more like him than I realised) and a mother who is struggling with dementia, exacerbated by a sister who is a lawyer in Jakarta and has some trauma's of her own.
My blurb might sound harsh and what I write above is not too enthusiastic, but the book is definitely well written and ambitious, if somewhat plodding, with characters all quite similar in voice. Sometimes I also had a feeling that Martin MacInnes was searching for what the book was supposed to be, with malaria reintroduced in the Netherlands due to inundation, but never any other substantial impact of climate change (or being in the near future in general) at all. In general there is a lot of tell, I would like more scenes to describe the family dynamics instead of these sections of the narrator thinking to herself.
Deep sea mining and exponential advancement in technology (not ChatGPT but rocket propulsion) make an interesting mashup, with the oceans of Europa being a prime target for exploration.
There is a mysterious 12km deep vent appearing in the Atlantic Ocean, giving me low key Annihilation meets Our Wives Under the Sea vibes.
However, as Leigh thinks to herself, the story is resistant to easy explanations or resolutions: I resisted being so easily explained
The crushing on Stephan, the head of the expedition, is a bit insta-love like, and the general resolution of the Atlantic Ocean part left me a bit underwhelmed, also because we don't see any profound changes to Leigh due to the events.
She just goes to find mysterious funding in California to get algae growing in space missions.
We have a kumbaya collaboration between California, Moscow and Beijing on a propulsion project, well that feels very unlikely based on the arms race we see now on Generative AI like technologies.
Sometimes our main character is called out a bit: I assume you were getting to a point at the end. Girl you are so right, who goes on a cell development seminar when a government agency is tampering with your life.
We have some musings on the Great filter theory, which are done much better in sci-fi like The Dark Forest.
Leigh focusses on her work (I used work to avoid other responsibilities), making her even more obscure to us as a reader over her relentless training during 26 months.
Sometimes, on a good day, she could belief she was making progress. Those days were rare.
I know I sound rather critical, but there are glimmers of brilliance and interesting ideas that are reminiscent to How High We Go in the Dark, like human labor being cheaper than automation of asteroid mining, interestingly mirroring deep sea mining in the earlier chapters.
She never loved something so much as the moment it was gone and Leigh insisted on letting her childhood define her are just sentences that make me feel very distant from Leigh and the book in general. I for instance get very little feeling how Leigh and her sister Helena are different in character. The ending which is like a vague yet immense version of Interstellar, also left me underwhelmed.
A lot of potential and interesting ideas, but I ended up far from convinced, despite my love for science fiction and speculative fiction.
January 9, 2023
4.5
I don't know what I've just read, and I don't have nearly enough answers, but I really did love it...
Exactly my kind of SF - it's like Interstellar meets Arrival, meets Jeff VanderMeer. If you like any of those I can't see how you wouldn't love it.
I've read Martin before with Infinite Ground, which I have to say sticks in my mind as one of the most infuriating books I have ever read... but In Ascension is far more readable, and much more accessible. It's still slightly infuriatingly ambiguous, and at the moment I'm torn between feeling like I could interpret it many different ways, or I'm not quite clever enough to truly get it... I might update this review once I've spoken to other readers 😄
But make no mistake, it's utterly compelling and truly engrossing. If you like books with big ideas then you have to give this a go.
I don't know what I've just read, and I don't have nearly enough answers, but I really did love it...
Exactly my kind of SF - it's like Interstellar meets Arrival, meets Jeff VanderMeer. If you like any of those I can't see how you wouldn't love it.
I've read Martin before with Infinite Ground, which I have to say sticks in my mind as one of the most infuriating books I have ever read... but In Ascension is far more readable, and much more accessible. It's still slightly infuriatingly ambiguous, and at the moment I'm torn between feeling like I could interpret it many different ways, or I'm not quite clever enough to truly get it... I might update this review once I've spoken to other readers 😄
But make no mistake, it's utterly compelling and truly engrossing. If you like books with big ideas then you have to give this a go.
August 23, 2023
An intriguing start; the way the author writes science fiction about the present and the past, how it seeks out mysteries in the depths of the ocean rather than in the sky. Unfortunately, I don't think it lived up to its promises. I lost interest very quickly. Perhaps certain events didn't leave the expected impression on me? Or maybe I'm just surprised that the hype didn't materialize. It quickly became one of those novels that tries to be serious and profound but fails by being so ordinary. However, I am aware that this checks many Booker boxes and it seems that many people enjoyed the 'profound' '2001: A Space Odyssey,' 'Contact,' 'Interstellar,' 'Ad Astra,' and 'Arrival' type of ending. How profound can a book be that ultimately repeats that kind of bigger-than-life mystery? I also want literary science fiction, but I can't pretend that this story is better than it is just because it has a different kind of writing.
February 17, 2023
I read a newspaper review prior to picking this up that described this as a book about boredom and waiting, and that “MacInnes does lassitude and boredom very well”. The reviewer meant that as a compliment, if you can believe that. Oh boy, should I have headed that warning.
In Ascension follows a Dutch marine biologist, Leigh, who first comes into contact with a mysterious ocean anomaly as a student and then later works as a contractor for a shadowy international space agency developing an algae protein source for long range space travel. She then gets picked as an astronaut, sent out to investigate an equally mysterious space anomaly. Leigh had a traumatic childhood due to her violent father and has a very dysfunctional relationship with her mother and sister, which gets brought up over and over.
This book reminded me so much of The Mountain in the Sea, the main difference being that I was too bored by In Ascension to be enraged by it. Let me tell you, zero jokes are to be had here. It always baffles me that in these books about first contact and the like, nobody ever says “well shit” or “that was weird huh” after seeing something, well, weird. Nah. We’re very very serious here. Laughing is for children. The self importance is mind numbing.
Added to the self importance is the fact that main character Leigh is a contender for most boring protagonist of the year. Her only distinguishable trait seems to be that she had a traumatic childhood. Note to authors: if that’s the only notable thing about your character, that’s a bad sign. It should be just one part of her history and personality, not her ENTIRE history and personality.
The biggest laugh I had during this dull read was when Leigh mentioned “her friends”. This person does not have friends. We never see any and everything we know about her makes it clear that she’s incapable of interacting socially. Now, that would be an interesting aspect to her personality you’d think, right? Worthy of introspection? You think wrong. The author would like to assure you that she indeed has friends and lovers, they just go to another school and you’ve never met them.
As far as the narrative around first contact/ possible aliens etc goes, we get no answers and nothing really made sense. And when it comes to dealing with Leigh’s horrible childhood, we never make any progress from the first chapter to the last in how she deals with it. The fact alone that she never has a reckoning with her terrible mother, who gives zero fucks about the abuse her daughter suffers and still ignores it long after her husband has died, was a massive wasted opportunity.
In conclusion: if you’re interested in the sci-fi aspect, pick something else; if you’re interested in the childhood PTSD storyline, also pick something else.
In Ascension follows a Dutch marine biologist, Leigh, who first comes into contact with a mysterious ocean anomaly as a student and then later works as a contractor for a shadowy international space agency developing an algae protein source for long range space travel. She then gets picked as an astronaut, sent out to investigate an equally mysterious space anomaly. Leigh had a traumatic childhood due to her violent father and has a very dysfunctional relationship with her mother and sister, which gets brought up over and over.
This book reminded me so much of The Mountain in the Sea, the main difference being that I was too bored by In Ascension to be enraged by it. Let me tell you, zero jokes are to be had here. It always baffles me that in these books about first contact and the like, nobody ever says “well shit” or “that was weird huh” after seeing something, well, weird. Nah. We’re very very serious here. Laughing is for children. The self importance is mind numbing.
Added to the self importance is the fact that main character Leigh is a contender for most boring protagonist of the year. Her only distinguishable trait seems to be that she had a traumatic childhood. Note to authors: if that’s the only notable thing about your character, that’s a bad sign. It should be just one part of her history and personality, not her ENTIRE history and personality.
The biggest laugh I had during this dull read was when Leigh mentioned “her friends”. This person does not have friends. We never see any and everything we know about her makes it clear that she’s incapable of interacting socially. Now, that would be an interesting aspect to her personality you’d think, right? Worthy of introspection? You think wrong. The author would like to assure you that she indeed has friends and lovers, they just go to another school and you’ve never met them.
As far as the narrative around first contact/ possible aliens etc goes, we get no answers and nothing really made sense. And when it comes to dealing with Leigh’s horrible childhood, we never make any progress from the first chapter to the last in how she deals with it. The fact alone that she never has a reckoning with her terrible mother, who gives zero fucks about the abuse her daughter suffers and still ignores it long after her husband has died, was a massive wasted opportunity.
In conclusion: if you’re interested in the sci-fi aspect, pick something else; if you’re interested in the childhood PTSD storyline, also pick something else.
September 12, 2023
#12 of the 2023 Booker longlist for me to read - and now ranked ... #1 :-O!!!
Color me as surprised as anyone - even though I'd read and enjoyed Macinnes' first novel, Infinite Ground, sci-fi is SOOOO not my genre, that I wasn't expecting to like this quite as much as I did. I know this has been probably one of the more polarizing of the Booker nominees, with many complaining that it is slow and boring - but I devoured the 496 pages in two days, which, even given my reading prowess, is extremely fast for me, indicating just how rivetted I was.
Some have also complained that the rest of the book doesn't fulfill the promises of the first oceanic exploration section - but I thought each chapter actually built on what had come before, became more and more exciting/enticing as it went along, and the circular return to the ocean in the final coda was just exquisitely right. There were also grumblings about protagonist Leigh being rather flat, subsidiary characters being less than three -dimensional, and a prose style that is just perfunctory - and I'll concede there is some merit to those - but it really didn't deter me from enjoying the ride immensely.
I won't get into parsing the dynamics of the plot or themes - there's plenty of that already around for those interested. Whether this will prevail for the Booker win, or even make the shortlist, I wouldn't give favorable odds for either - it lacks both a distinctive prose style or much of a 'hook' (other than that it addresses climate change and the fragility of all life on this planet), that would make it a strong contender. But given my fondness for this, I intend to reread Macinnes' first book and dive into the second - just as soon as I finish Booker #13!
A terrific interview with the author by Eric Karl: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrODP...
Color me as surprised as anyone - even though I'd read and enjoyed Macinnes' first novel, Infinite Ground, sci-fi is SOOOO not my genre, that I wasn't expecting to like this quite as much as I did. I know this has been probably one of the more polarizing of the Booker nominees, with many complaining that it is slow and boring - but I devoured the 496 pages in two days, which, even given my reading prowess, is extremely fast for me, indicating just how rivetted I was.
Some have also complained that the rest of the book doesn't fulfill the promises of the first oceanic exploration section - but I thought each chapter actually built on what had come before, became more and more exciting/enticing as it went along, and the circular return to the ocean in the final coda was just exquisitely right. There were also grumblings about protagonist Leigh being rather flat, subsidiary characters being less than three -dimensional, and a prose style that is just perfunctory - and I'll concede there is some merit to those - but it really didn't deter me from enjoying the ride immensely.
I won't get into parsing the dynamics of the plot or themes - there's plenty of that already around for those interested. Whether this will prevail for the Booker win, or even make the shortlist, I wouldn't give favorable odds for either - it lacks both a distinctive prose style or much of a 'hook' (other than that it addresses climate change and the fragility of all life on this planet), that would make it a strong contender. But given my fondness for this, I intend to reread Macinnes' first book and dive into the second - just as soon as I finish Booker #13!
A terrific interview with the author by Eric Karl: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrODP...
September 20, 2024
My God, this was magnificent. A hard SF novel – think ‘Bewilderment’ by Richard Powers, but written by Kim Stanley Robinson – that is not afraid to go for good old-fashioned sense of wonder. The ending: numinous, ambiguous, terrifying, jaw-dropping. A difficult read, likely even to alienate SF fans too much in their comfort zone, ultimately revelatory and exculpatory. A golden thread of utopianism, grassroots decoloniality, and individual nihilism that truly ascends.
September 8, 2023
Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2023
I was not really aware of MacInnes before the Booker longlist was announced, but I found this one rather impressive. I am not a great reader of sci-fi, but this one mixes genre and literary tropes to produce a compulsive story set in the near future, which poses fundamental questions about the nature of life and humanity. It is hard to say more without spoilers, so I won't say more about the plot.
I was not really aware of MacInnes before the Booker longlist was announced, but I found this one rather impressive. I am not a great reader of sci-fi, but this one mixes genre and literary tropes to produce a compulsive story set in the near future, which poses fundamental questions about the nature of life and humanity. It is hard to say more without spoilers, so I won't say more about the plot.
June 3, 2023
Unpopular opinion time. I really wanted to love this, but I was often bored. As much as I appreciated the writing (lucid, precise), basically the entirety of Leigh’s story – more than 80% of the book – feels like exposition. We are close to her, yet she is still a blank slate. I think In Ascension would appeal to anyone who loved The Moonday Letters, and vice versa, as I came to the same conclusion about both: each book is impressive in its worldbuilding and vision as a work of speculative fiction, but frustratingly sterile and lacking in anything recognisable as real emotion.
September 5, 2023
I didn't hate this book, but I think its moments of brilliance were far outweighed by its flaws. For me, the brilliance mostly lay in the crafting of individual sentences and moments of vivid description, especially as relating to nature, the environment, and I thought the final final chapter was beautifully rendered. I can see why this book was nominated for a literary prize. It's not like the author can't write. But reading his work felt like playing a slot machine. You pull and pull and pull, hoping to hear that happy sound of the jackpot. And there's just enough "winning" to keep you going . . .but barely. In the end, I didn't feel like I walked away with enough payoff to justify the time spent.
It was so uneven, often boring. The characters weren't fully realized because if they were, I would have cared about them when they were in danger, and I never did. So much straight up narration. The book is divided into five parts, and it's a miracle anyone makes it through the second part which is mostly set up for what's to come. It did wonders for my insomnia though.
It was so uneven, often boring. The characters weren't fully realized because if they were, I would have cared about them when they were in danger, and I never did. So much straight up narration. The book is divided into five parts, and it's a miracle anyone makes it through the second part which is mostly set up for what's to come. It did wonders for my insomnia though.
August 16, 2023
This book forced me to focus on one book at a time. What power.
Some things went over my head, and sometimes I was in over my head, but overall, this was a fascinating piece of science fiction (a genre I don’t read all that often). The best sections were the ones where Leigh was on part of a voyage (sea and space): “Endeavour” and “Neurus.”
For now, 5 stars, could be 4 or 4.5. Will reflect.
Some things went over my head, and sometimes I was in over my head, but overall, this was a fascinating piece of science fiction (a genre I don’t read all that often). The best sections were the ones where Leigh was on part of a voyage (sea and space): “Endeavour” and “Neurus.”
For now, 5 stars, could be 4 or 4.5. Will reflect.
May 3, 2023
I have never spent so much time actively ANGRY at a fictional novel.
If you had a rough childhood or a bad relationship with your parents, I would NOT recommend this book. (I wouldn’t recommend it at all, honestly.)
I cannot figure out if the author really holds these toxic beliefs about childhood trauma or if he just wanted characters who did – and you can’t tell because no characters in the book provide any healthy counterpoint, reflection, or guidance to the narrator’s warped internal dialog.
I found myself both viscerally and intellectually hating Leigh’s whole family.
If anger and disgust were the emotions the author was intending to evoke then I suppose he did a great job, but that was pretty much all I felt about this book.
The dad, the mom, the sister… they are all horrible humans. Neglectful, selfish, narcissistic, abusive, manipulative, unsympathetic … gross. You could argue it’s ‘realistic’ but what was the point of telling a fictional story of abused children if you aren’t going to make a point about it?
And most infuriating of all – the book constantly make excuses and justifications for these people. Especially the parents – the “I should have been more grateful” or “they are doing it for me” attitudes towards abusive and neglectful parents is disgusting and toxic.
There are essentially two stories being told in this book, one of childhood trauma, and one of space exploration, and neither of them have any resolution – they offer nothing – no insight, no growth, no healing, no revelations. Not even a satisfying fictional account of what first contact might be like.
As someone who is an aerospace engineer and actually worked at JPL for several years – I did not find the technical content of this book confusing – I did however find it boring.
The text is bloated, it tries to wax poetic about everything, which ultimately leaves the actual interesting moments with little to no impact. This book could easily have been 1/3 the length.
I love sci-fi and while I’m willing to suspend my disbelief for a lot of things, the author tried way too hard to make this realistic and in the process made it horribly NOT realistic.
The dialog is stilted and sterile. The author attempts to make us believe that this is how academics / engineers / scientists talk, but it’s more like reading a text book. I’ve spent time with some incredibly smart people, and none of them speak or behave like these characters.
The book isn’t badly written; which is what compelled me to actually finish it, but the story is awful – which ultimately is worse in my opinion.
The lack of emotional connection between any of the characters wildly is unsatisfying. Every time a new character was introduced I kept thinking ‘maybe now we’ll get more’ – but the story dragged on and on and we get nothing.
Love is an action. People who love you don’t just say it, they show it. No one in this book shows any love. Not between parents, not between siblings, not between spouses, not between friends.
I found Leigh’s characterization to be jarringly inconsistent. Sometimes she’s quiet and reserved, randomly she’ll suddenly seem bold and assertive. Sometimes she has an almost preternatural ability to read and sense what other people are feeling, other times she seems dense and unaware.
Additionally the lack of dialog tags made listening to the audio-book frustrating. I thought the narrator was excellent but at times I think even she was confused about who was supposed to be talking.
In the end, I couldn’t tell you what the point of this book is. I get there’s a theme of cycles and beginnings and ends being intertwined, but what about it? I didn't feel like the book actually 'said' anything about this theme.
Some of the reviews remind me of when people watch a really artsy movie but don’t understand it at all, so out of fear of sounding unintelligent, they just say they liked it.
If anything, this book feels like a prolonged episode of depressive disassociation. Hopefully the author is doing better mentally than the characters in this book, who all seriously need therapy.
If you had a rough childhood or a bad relationship with your parents, I would NOT recommend this book. (I wouldn’t recommend it at all, honestly.)
I cannot figure out if the author really holds these toxic beliefs about childhood trauma or if he just wanted characters who did – and you can’t tell because no characters in the book provide any healthy counterpoint, reflection, or guidance to the narrator’s warped internal dialog.
I found myself both viscerally and intellectually hating Leigh’s whole family.
If anger and disgust were the emotions the author was intending to evoke then I suppose he did a great job, but that was pretty much all I felt about this book.
The dad, the mom, the sister… they are all horrible humans. Neglectful, selfish, narcissistic, abusive, manipulative, unsympathetic … gross. You could argue it’s ‘realistic’ but what was the point of telling a fictional story of abused children if you aren’t going to make a point about it?
And most infuriating of all – the book constantly make excuses and justifications for these people. Especially the parents – the “I should have been more grateful” or “they are doing it for me” attitudes towards abusive and neglectful parents is disgusting and toxic.
There are essentially two stories being told in this book, one of childhood trauma, and one of space exploration, and neither of them have any resolution – they offer nothing – no insight, no growth, no healing, no revelations. Not even a satisfying fictional account of what first contact might be like.
As someone who is an aerospace engineer and actually worked at JPL for several years – I did not find the technical content of this book confusing – I did however find it boring.
The text is bloated, it tries to wax poetic about everything, which ultimately leaves the actual interesting moments with little to no impact. This book could easily have been 1/3 the length.
I love sci-fi and while I’m willing to suspend my disbelief for a lot of things, the author tried way too hard to make this realistic and in the process made it horribly NOT realistic.
The dialog is stilted and sterile. The author attempts to make us believe that this is how academics / engineers / scientists talk, but it’s more like reading a text book. I’ve spent time with some incredibly smart people, and none of them speak or behave like these characters.
The book isn’t badly written; which is what compelled me to actually finish it, but the story is awful – which ultimately is worse in my opinion.
The lack of emotional connection between any of the characters wildly is unsatisfying. Every time a new character was introduced I kept thinking ‘maybe now we’ll get more’ – but the story dragged on and on and we get nothing.
Love is an action. People who love you don’t just say it, they show it. No one in this book shows any love. Not between parents, not between siblings, not between spouses, not between friends.
I found Leigh’s characterization to be jarringly inconsistent. Sometimes she’s quiet and reserved, randomly she’ll suddenly seem bold and assertive. Sometimes she has an almost preternatural ability to read and sense what other people are feeling, other times she seems dense and unaware.
Additionally the lack of dialog tags made listening to the audio-book frustrating. I thought the narrator was excellent but at times I think even she was confused about who was supposed to be talking.
In the end, I couldn’t tell you what the point of this book is. I get there’s a theme of cycles and beginnings and ends being intertwined, but what about it? I didn't feel like the book actually 'said' anything about this theme.
Some of the reviews remind me of when people watch a really artsy movie but don’t understand it at all, so out of fear of sounding unintelligent, they just say they liked it.
If anything, this book feels like a prolonged episode of depressive disassociation. Hopefully the author is doing better mentally than the characters in this book, who all seriously need therapy.
August 10, 2023
DNF @ 63% Pseudo-literary and derivative.
I’m marking it as read because this book is probably 200 pages longer than it needs to be, with all the repetitive flashbacks and interminable lectures. Leigh sounds like a YA protagonist masquerading as an adult. Sorry, not sorry.
I continue to be underwhelmed with this year’s Booker longlist!
I’m marking it as read because this book is probably 200 pages longer than it needs to be, with all the repetitive flashbacks and interminable lectures. Leigh sounds like a YA protagonist masquerading as an adult. Sorry, not sorry.
I continue to be underwhelmed with this year’s Booker longlist!
August 13, 2023
4.5 - An ambitious, intelligent and beautiful science fiction novel by an author who is not afraid to take on big themes. I hope it will be on many prize lists this year (edit: it made the Booker longlist, yes!).
Leigh grows up below sea level, in Rotterdam. As a promising young marine biologist she joins an expedition in the Atlantic Ocean where an extremely deep trench and chemical vent has been discovered that may contain clues about the beginnings of life on Earth. Divers develop mysterious symptoms and strange things are happening on board the ship. The expedition, surrounded by secrecy and seemingly related to a breakthrough discovery in propulsion technology, may really be a test for a deep space mission. But which company or government is behind it and what the real objectives are is kept hidden for all involved. Years later Leigh is bio-engineering microalgae as a sustainable food source and has the opportunity to join the mission, but that means choosing career over taking care of her deteriorating mother.
The novel's strongest point is the balance it strikes between science and psychology. Leigh loves nature and continues to be amazed by the wonder of life on Earth. Thankfully though, she never becomes melodramatic (as Richard Powers tends to do with his characters).
She loves her job, so a lot of the book is about the job (no distracting romances or little lectures about gender). This keeps it credible and intellectually interesting (although admittedly some of the science went over my head, especially since I only had an audio version) and there are eco-thriller and mystery elements to maintain the tension (and which sometimes reminded me of the new Eleanor Catton).
I read part of this on audio: the narrator is excellent, but if you want to make sure you get all of the science I would go for a physical copy or e-book (I didn´t mind though).
Leigh grows up below sea level, in Rotterdam. As a promising young marine biologist she joins an expedition in the Atlantic Ocean where an extremely deep trench and chemical vent has been discovered that may contain clues about the beginnings of life on Earth. Divers develop mysterious symptoms and strange things are happening on board the ship. The expedition, surrounded by secrecy and seemingly related to a breakthrough discovery in propulsion technology, may really be a test for a deep space mission. But which company or government is behind it and what the real objectives are is kept hidden for all involved. Years later Leigh is bio-engineering microalgae as a sustainable food source and has the opportunity to join the mission, but that means choosing career over taking care of her deteriorating mother.
The novel's strongest point is the balance it strikes between science and psychology. Leigh loves nature and continues to be amazed by the wonder of life on Earth. Thankfully though, she never becomes melodramatic (as Richard Powers tends to do with his characters).
She loves her job, so a lot of the book is about the job (no distracting romances or little lectures about gender). This keeps it credible and intellectually interesting (although admittedly some of the science went over my head, especially since I only had an audio version) and there are eco-thriller and mystery elements to maintain the tension (and which sometimes reminded me of the new Eleanor Catton).
I read part of this on audio: the narrator is excellent, but if you want to make sure you get all of the science I would go for a physical copy or e-book (I didn´t mind though).
June 29, 2023
Sprawling epic literary science fiction that traverses the depths of oceanic trenches to the far reaches of the solar system. Protagonist Leigh is a microbiologist who has written a thesis on algae and its connections to primitive lifeforms. Due to her expertise, she earns a role on the submarine Endeavor, exploring the ocean’s floor, where a thermal vent deeper than any previously known is being studied. Initially they are told they are analyzing possible mining opportunities, but it is soon evident that their research has to do with the origins of life, and their exposure to the mysterious glowing lights cause side-effects, including loss of consciousness. After her experience on the maritime expedition, she works on determining if the algae they discovered can be used as a source of food. This work is supported by an organization studying mining on certain of Saturn’s moons. The storyline also provides Leigh’s background, growing up in a dysfunctional family in Rotterdam with her younger sister, Helena, and delicate mother.
There are many moving parts in this story and the author balances them beautifully. Pieces of the maritime story are used in the segment pertaining to space exploration. Parts of her family’s story come into play in both environments. If you enjoy lots of science in your science fiction, this book should have great appeal. There is futuristic technology, astrophysics, ecology, biology, botany, as well as the possibility of extraterrestrial existence. Themes also include isolation, interpersonal dynamics, and the desire to find meaning and purpose in one’s life.
It is beautifully written and constructed. It serves as a reminder to care for our home planet. The ending contains a few surprises that added a dimension I was not expecting. This complex narrative is so well executed, and I am super impressed. This is a book that can (and should in my opinion) win literary awards. It will make my short list of favorites for the year.
There are many moving parts in this story and the author balances them beautifully. Pieces of the maritime story are used in the segment pertaining to space exploration. Parts of her family’s story come into play in both environments. If you enjoy lots of science in your science fiction, this book should have great appeal. There is futuristic technology, astrophysics, ecology, biology, botany, as well as the possibility of extraterrestrial existence. Themes also include isolation, interpersonal dynamics, and the desire to find meaning and purpose in one’s life.
It is beautifully written and constructed. It serves as a reminder to care for our home planet. The ending contains a few surprises that added a dimension I was not expecting. This complex narrative is so well executed, and I am super impressed. This is a book that can (and should in my opinion) win literary awards. It will make my short list of favorites for the year.
September 26, 2023
A heavily philosophical sci-fi eco-thriller that is intergalactic but not stellar.
3.5 stars
3.5 stars
August 22, 2023
Oh boy this is bad.
Many problems here. The Sci-Fi is jarringly implausible, the depiction of an abuse survivor doesn't ring true and the characters are completely humourless.
There are utter basics here in Scientific method and technical details, not to mention fundamental physics, that the author, editor or publisher should have checked as feasible before continuing.
Not to mention, basic safety precautions while diving were not adhered to and then the main character is offered a place on a Space flight? All divers don't jump out of a zodiac without anyone staying on the boat. I mean WTF, in the middle of the ocean?
Oh, not to mention the preparations for Space travel and how they carry on while there. Seems somebody forgot to pack the Geiger counter, so the poor sods can't be certain if they were exposed to radiation (head-slap).
I can read fiction and practicalities don't bother me, but it has to be written in a way that I can see beyond it and not be completely yanked out of the story. I couldn't suspend disbelief at all, despite listening to the end in the hope it would get better. I can't rate it higher than two stars for that.
Many problems here. The Sci-Fi is jarringly implausible, the depiction of an abuse survivor doesn't ring true and the characters are completely humourless.
There are utter basics here in Scientific method and technical details, not to mention fundamental physics, that the author, editor or publisher should have checked as feasible before continuing.
Not to mention, basic safety precautions while diving were not adhered to and then the main character is offered a place on a Space flight? All divers don't jump out of a zodiac without anyone staying on the boat. I mean WTF, in the middle of the ocean?
Oh, not to mention the preparations for Space travel and how they carry on while there. Seems somebody forgot to pack the Geiger counter, so the poor sods can't be certain if they were exposed to radiation (head-slap).
I can read fiction and practicalities don't bother me, but it has to be written in a way that I can see beyond it and not be completely yanked out of the story. I couldn't suspend disbelief at all, despite listening to the end in the hope it would get better. I can't rate it higher than two stars for that.
February 2, 2024
Since 'In Ascension' will be published in the US in February 2024., I just wanted to remind everyone it's a great book.
With thematic similarities to Interstellar and an atmospheric counterpart to Arrival and The Martian, In Ascension is one of the most mesmerizing books I've read. In Ascension is 500+ pages long and encompasses many different ideas and themes. Seeing many negative reviews about this book saddens me. MacInnes wrote something truly stunning and thought-provoking, but not many people can see its beauty.
After moving from Rotterdam to California, Leigh leaves her unhappy childhood behind to pursue a career as a microbiologist researcher. She boards Endeavor – a ship designed to carry scientists to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, where lies a previously discovered hydrothermal vent. Leigh is especially drawn to those peculiar underwater places as they mimic conditions where first cells could have blossomed. Things go awry on the expedition, but discovering a new deep-sea species of archaea propels the story in an unexpected direction. From the abysmal depth of the Atlantic Ocean, we are thrust into deep uncharted space. Leigh's pursuit of the origin of life forces her to abandon everyone she loves. Leigh and her crewmates' voyage into the cosmos will take them further than anyone thought possible.
To me, the scope of this book is nearly indescribable. MacInnes shows us Leigh's physical journey from her flooded hometown of Rotterdam to the sunny coast of California and her mental journey escaping the trauma of parental abuse. By being further away from the place she spent her childhood in, she creates this physical barrier to her past, yet the memories remain to haunt her. The story has constant intermissions in the form of flashbacks to the instances where her father laid his hands on her and her mother's tending to her aching bones. Leigh is above average height, and her bones grew faster than average, which caused her immense pain when she was a child. At night, her mother would knead her limbs to help ease the pain. Leigh comments on how that might have been her mother's way of indirectly offering relief from the abuse. Neither her mother nor her sister ever acknowledged the abuse. In the penultimate part of the book, the POV switches to Leigh's sister, Helena, who claims the beatings were not as bad as Leigh said. Helena thinks Leigh is playing the victim card. As jarring as that switch in narrative voice is, it offers us a coup d'oeil into Helena's mind. Leigh is not a good person, and we see Helena is not either. Despite Leigh's timid characterization, she feels like a real person. Her path in life is being selfish and avoidant while obsessively focusing only on work. As her mother's health continues to deteriorate throughout the book, she persistently tells Helena and herself she doesn't have time to check up on her mother.
One of this book's reviews accentuates Leigh's childhood trauma, how horrible all family members are, and the lack of a point behind the two. The reviewer claims there are no healthy counterpoints to the awful characters and no reflection on them. Writing about any trauma is unquestionably difficult. Not everyone will resonate with how you portray the abuse through characters and their inner voices. I don't think every book that includes trauma is supposed to be about healing. Sometimes people cannot heal for whatever reason. Leigh never heals. Helena heals in a way that's dismissive of her sister's abuse. There is no perfect recipe for healing from trauma. Leigh's toxic beliefs about her trauma are her way of unhealthy coping. She actively avoids seeking help. Before Leigh's journey into space, she talks with a psychologist. During that conversation, her belligerent attitude toward the psychologist's inquiry into her past is glaringly noticeable. Leigh is confident her past will not become a future problem during her stay on Nereus (the spaceship).
In Ascension, a mix of sci-fi and literary genres, offers plenty of general musings on the nature of life. At times, it reads like an intellectual and profound novel. MacInnes includes a lot of technical language related to marine biology, microbiology, and later aeronautics. The biology parts were my favorite, while the ones focused on engineering were tedious to read and lessened my enjoyment. The overall pacing is slow but not dull.
I started reading In Ascension while in a reading slump, and it honestly helped me regain the will to read. I kept returning to this book every day. One reason why this book resonated with me is my academic background. I am a biology major with a keen interest in biochemistry and microbiology. I, too, obsessively think about life and its many forms. Certain areas of biology seek answers to the most entrancing and complex questions, such as where life comes from. And how? But not why. I don't think there is an answer to that, but I appreciate MacInnes devoting his book to bringing awareness to the philosophical nature of scientific questions.
In the fifth part, titled Nereus - after the spaceship, Leigh, Karius, and Tyler are traveling toward the Great Perhaps. The atmosphere becomes more dreamlike and surreal, but the story ultimately stagnates. Things start to fall into place. Without revealing the wondrous mystery, it is during this part that the story most resembles the movie Interstellar. The ending is abrupt, purposefully left painfully open, and unresolved. While my main issue is the lack of emotional connection to the characters and the story, I am willing to overlook it on behalf of the diverse themes. MacInnes masterfully explored the themes of isolation and connection through Leigh's character and her relationship dynamics with other characters. Another theme that emerges in the novel is Earth's ecological future and the implication of human ignorance concerning the well-being of our planet.
Thank you to Netgalley and Atlantic Books for the free review copy!
With thematic similarities to Interstellar and an atmospheric counterpart to Arrival and The Martian, In Ascension is one of the most mesmerizing books I've read. In Ascension is 500+ pages long and encompasses many different ideas and themes. Seeing many negative reviews about this book saddens me. MacInnes wrote something truly stunning and thought-provoking, but not many people can see its beauty.
After moving from Rotterdam to California, Leigh leaves her unhappy childhood behind to pursue a career as a microbiologist researcher. She boards Endeavor – a ship designed to carry scientists to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, where lies a previously discovered hydrothermal vent. Leigh is especially drawn to those peculiar underwater places as they mimic conditions where first cells could have blossomed. Things go awry on the expedition, but discovering a new deep-sea species of archaea propels the story in an unexpected direction. From the abysmal depth of the Atlantic Ocean, we are thrust into deep uncharted space. Leigh's pursuit of the origin of life forces her to abandon everyone she loves. Leigh and her crewmates' voyage into the cosmos will take them further than anyone thought possible.
To me, the scope of this book is nearly indescribable. MacInnes shows us Leigh's physical journey from her flooded hometown of Rotterdam to the sunny coast of California and her mental journey escaping the trauma of parental abuse. By being further away from the place she spent her childhood in, she creates this physical barrier to her past, yet the memories remain to haunt her. The story has constant intermissions in the form of flashbacks to the instances where her father laid his hands on her and her mother's tending to her aching bones. Leigh is above average height, and her bones grew faster than average, which caused her immense pain when she was a child. At night, her mother would knead her limbs to help ease the pain. Leigh comments on how that might have been her mother's way of indirectly offering relief from the abuse. Neither her mother nor her sister ever acknowledged the abuse. In the penultimate part of the book, the POV switches to Leigh's sister, Helena, who claims the beatings were not as bad as Leigh said. Helena thinks Leigh is playing the victim card. As jarring as that switch in narrative voice is, it offers us a coup d'oeil into Helena's mind. Leigh is not a good person, and we see Helena is not either. Despite Leigh's timid characterization, she feels like a real person. Her path in life is being selfish and avoidant while obsessively focusing only on work. As her mother's health continues to deteriorate throughout the book, she persistently tells Helena and herself she doesn't have time to check up on her mother.
One of this book's reviews accentuates Leigh's childhood trauma, how horrible all family members are, and the lack of a point behind the two. The reviewer claims there are no healthy counterpoints to the awful characters and no reflection on them. Writing about any trauma is unquestionably difficult. Not everyone will resonate with how you portray the abuse through characters and their inner voices. I don't think every book that includes trauma is supposed to be about healing. Sometimes people cannot heal for whatever reason. Leigh never heals. Helena heals in a way that's dismissive of her sister's abuse. There is no perfect recipe for healing from trauma. Leigh's toxic beliefs about her trauma are her way of unhealthy coping. She actively avoids seeking help. Before Leigh's journey into space, she talks with a psychologist. During that conversation, her belligerent attitude toward the psychologist's inquiry into her past is glaringly noticeable. Leigh is confident her past will not become a future problem during her stay on Nereus (the spaceship).
In Ascension, a mix of sci-fi and literary genres, offers plenty of general musings on the nature of life. At times, it reads like an intellectual and profound novel. MacInnes includes a lot of technical language related to marine biology, microbiology, and later aeronautics. The biology parts were my favorite, while the ones focused on engineering were tedious to read and lessened my enjoyment. The overall pacing is slow but not dull.
I started reading In Ascension while in a reading slump, and it honestly helped me regain the will to read. I kept returning to this book every day. One reason why this book resonated with me is my academic background. I am a biology major with a keen interest in biochemistry and microbiology. I, too, obsessively think about life and its many forms. Certain areas of biology seek answers to the most entrancing and complex questions, such as where life comes from. And how? But not why. I don't think there is an answer to that, but I appreciate MacInnes devoting his book to bringing awareness to the philosophical nature of scientific questions.
In the fifth part, titled Nereus - after the spaceship, Leigh, Karius, and Tyler are traveling toward the Great Perhaps. The atmosphere becomes more dreamlike and surreal, but the story ultimately stagnates. Things start to fall into place. Without revealing the wondrous mystery, it is during this part that the story most resembles the movie Interstellar. The ending is abrupt, purposefully left painfully open, and unresolved. While my main issue is the lack of emotional connection to the characters and the story, I am willing to overlook it on behalf of the diverse themes. MacInnes masterfully explored the themes of isolation and connection through Leigh's character and her relationship dynamics with other characters. Another theme that emerges in the novel is Earth's ecological future and the implication of human ignorance concerning the well-being of our planet.
Thank you to Netgalley and Atlantic Books for the free review copy!
August 2, 2023
I found both of Martin MacInnes' previous novels so incredible that I deliberately saved In Ascension until the weekend. I knew that it would be impossible to put down after starting to read, and so it was. Earlier this evening I tried to explain to my Mum what is so distinctive and special about his writing. It's something about his ability to capture the vertiginous wonder and terror of life at all scales, from bacteria all the way up to the whole ecosystem of the Earth. He writes ecologically, somehow, despite human characters and plots that follow them. Gathering Evidence and In Ascension are near future sci-fi that treat the environment in an extraordinarily powerful yet subtle way. In The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable, Amitav Ghosh argued that literary fiction is failing to capture the uncanny nature of environmental breakdown. MacInnes is the only author I've found who manages to do this. Literary fiction is starting to capture human turmoil in response to climate change, pollution, and species extinction, but only MacInnes somehow conveys the environmental uncanny on its own terms. I'm not explaining this very well, so just take my word for it as someone who reads a lot of fiction with environmental themes: all three of his novels are uniquely brilliant.
In Ascension follows a Dutch woman called Leigh, whose research into algae and interest in marine biology land her on experimental expeditions to the far edges of human understanding. The narrative is thus much concerned with the scientific pursuit of knowledge and its constraints:
The enormous difficulty of understanding the deepest ocean depths is paralleled by similar difficulty in understanding the furthest reaches of space that probes have reached:
Type I and type II errors, crudely speaking. This meeting of the uncanny and intellectual enquiry is explored with great insight throughout, via Leigh's experiences. Do not let me give the impression that this consists largely of abstract discussions. Although I've quoted two because I particularly enjoyed them, the narrative is also visceral, grounded in emotion and bodily sensation. A single paragraph moves between human and abstract scales effortlessly:
One aspect that I didn't fully appreciate during initial reading is that much of In Ascension is told in the first person, yet somehow still doesn't centre the human. That's quite an achievement. Leigh is a fascinating, fully-realised character and her interactions with and curiosity about the world she moves through drive the book. The reader sees her juxtaposed with tiny life (her algae garden) and with the incomprehensible distances of outer space. The ending is moving and astonishing.
I highly recommend all of MacInnes' fiction. There is nothing else quite like it, and believe me I have looked.
In Ascension follows a Dutch woman called Leigh, whose research into algae and interest in marine biology land her on experimental expeditions to the far edges of human understanding. The narrative is thus much concerned with the scientific pursuit of knowledge and its constraints:
Sonar readings were always unreliable, but Amy said you could mitigate errors by programming the device according to the characteristics of the water. What lived there, what composed it, what its character was. 1,500 metres per second as a standard measurement of sound velocity wasn't helpful, because speed varies in different conditions, and every part of the ocean is unique. So to get a reliable depth, you need to know the area already. The paradox again. As a general rule, you couldn't learn anything radically new, rate of progress capped from the start by inertia, inability to recognise anything past the limits of present imagination. You could only see, essentially, the world as you already knew it.
"If something unprecedented does exist in the vent," I said to Felix, as we made our way back upstairs, "there's no guarantee we'd acknowledge it. Even it moves right past us."
The enormous difficulty of understanding the deepest ocean depths is paralleled by similar difficulty in understanding the furthest reaches of space that probes have reached:
"It's not a perfect system. In my opinion, it's not even a very good system. Like many of the systems here, it has its roots in the military. Tier software was developed for use on human crowds. One of the more obvious flaws is that it relies too heavily on upward trafficking. Basically, it's guided by what it's already seen. An object acts in an unusual way, it's studied more, further anomalous data comes in, leading to still greater attention; the process feeds back on itself. But as a rule, any object studied in sufficient depth will eventually exhibit anomalous behaviour. Objects will be anomalous largely because they were the ones picked out, when really it could be the reverse. This creates at least two possible categories of error: false attribution, and blindness."
Type I and type II errors, crudely speaking. This meeting of the uncanny and intellectual enquiry is explored with great insight throughout, via Leigh's experiences. Do not let me give the impression that this consists largely of abstract discussions. Although I've quoted two because I particularly enjoyed them, the narrative is also visceral, grounded in emotion and bodily sensation. A single paragraph moves between human and abstract scales effortlessly:
It's the most unbearable time of day. My shirt sticks to my shoulders and I go off for a shower and rare privacy. The ice water unfastens my body in a travelling line, and my thoughts follow it. The power is a form of contact; that's what I said to Uria. We activate it, we build this thing from it, the first step in a sustained encounter. It's volatile because it's sufficiently new to us. It resists containment because it is itself a container. Circles inside circles. A technology that enables other technologies, an unlimited application. A thing that can carry other things, two hands together as a cup, a receptacle for water, a signal of generosity, passing something to another. Protect the precious interior. Language, introspection, technology. Agriculture, medicine, weapons and cities and global heating, spacecraft and the exploration of the outer solar system. But should we do any of this?
The power, as we attempt and fail to observe it, resists us like it is itself alive. Life is not necessarily carried in a body. And what is a body, in the loosest terms, but a set of agreements among matter and energy that endures for a period and exhibits a metabolic response?
One aspect that I didn't fully appreciate during initial reading is that much of In Ascension is told in the first person, yet somehow still doesn't centre the human. That's quite an achievement. Leigh is a fascinating, fully-realised character and her interactions with and curiosity about the world she moves through drive the book. The reader sees her juxtaposed with tiny life (her algae garden) and with the incomprehensible distances of outer space. The ending is moving and astonishing.
I highly recommend all of MacInnes' fiction. There is nothing else quite like it, and believe me I have looked.
March 29, 2023
There’s a quote on the back cover from Karen Joy Fowler (I’ve no idea who that is!): “I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that was as profound and moving at every scale …”. With the greatest of respect, she’s obviously not very well read. This book somehow manages to be not moving AT ALL. Completely devoid of emotion, despite a promising plot line. Incidentally, one of my major disappointments was how such a promising plot line led to such a weak book. It reads like a textbook, not a novel, moreover one with several pages missing.
April 20, 2024
If you liked Arrival, you’ll enjoy this literary sci-fi, which is as much about human relationships as it is about space exploration. I do feel like this book lagged a bit in the middle, but the beautiful, somewhat ambiguous ending made the journey more than worth it.
October 22, 2023
In Ascension was the only book out of Booker line up that stood out to me. The reviews were polarising to say the least. How did I feel about it?
I really really enjoyed it. Sci fi is not my favourite genre but this book blends scifi with eco fiction, deep ocean voyage to deep space travel to family bonds to solitude and philosophy and creates a surreal hybrid of sorts which at some points took my breath away.
Through Leigh our marine biologist protagonist, Macinnes takes us from the depths of the sea where an ancient discovery of the origins of all life are discovered to the desert where Leigh is recruited to work on farming Algae for deep space travel in total secrecy. This is where the book takes a lull when nothing much seems to be happening and the cold monotonous tone and indifference of Leigh towards her family left me a little disconnected.
But as soon as Leigh is taken into confidence by her supervisor Uria,and recruited into the space travel programme as the third team in waiting, the book started it's Ascension ( pun intended 😉) The mysterious contact from alien spacecraft Datura sending a technology which enables humans to travel millions of miles away from our Solar System at eye watering speeds was fascinating although more detail would have been welcome. Leigh and her crew of two go on a long training programme, further distancing Leigh from her mother and sister. From having minimal chance of the third team travelling , Leigh's crew fatefully becomes the team that actually takes off.
I loved the space travel. All of it. It actually turned into a suspenseful adventure at the end. Reminded me of Interstellar and Arrival. This book may at times seem tedious to read and Macinnes have been criticised severely for lack of research and basically shooting in the dark, I read this book purely as "science fiction ". Fiction being the operative word here. The writing liberties that the author has taken are in my eyes forgivable because the end product is engaging, highly thought provoking, existential and even transcendent.
The end may leave you with questions. You may not understand everything. I certainly didn't. But it gave me the reading high that I crave every time I start a book.
I really really enjoyed it. Sci fi is not my favourite genre but this book blends scifi with eco fiction, deep ocean voyage to deep space travel to family bonds to solitude and philosophy and creates a surreal hybrid of sorts which at some points took my breath away.
Through Leigh our marine biologist protagonist, Macinnes takes us from the depths of the sea where an ancient discovery of the origins of all life are discovered to the desert where Leigh is recruited to work on farming Algae for deep space travel in total secrecy. This is where the book takes a lull when nothing much seems to be happening and the cold monotonous tone and indifference of Leigh towards her family left me a little disconnected.
But as soon as Leigh is taken into confidence by her supervisor Uria,and recruited into the space travel programme as the third team in waiting, the book started it's Ascension ( pun intended 😉) The mysterious contact from alien spacecraft Datura sending a technology which enables humans to travel millions of miles away from our Solar System at eye watering speeds was fascinating although more detail would have been welcome. Leigh and her crew of two go on a long training programme, further distancing Leigh from her mother and sister. From having minimal chance of the third team travelling , Leigh's crew fatefully becomes the team that actually takes off.
I loved the space travel. All of it. It actually turned into a suspenseful adventure at the end. Reminded me of Interstellar and Arrival. This book may at times seem tedious to read and Macinnes have been criticised severely for lack of research and basically shooting in the dark, I read this book purely as "science fiction ". Fiction being the operative word here. The writing liberties that the author has taken are in my eyes forgivable because the end product is engaging, highly thought provoking, existential and even transcendent.
The end may leave you with questions. You may not understand everything. I certainly didn't. But it gave me the reading high that I crave every time I start a book.
June 29, 2024
A curious approach, the story of an androgynous female biology doctorate candidate joins an expedition to explore an unusually deep ocean vent then evolves into a space journey.
A Dutch family, Leigh was verbally and physically abused by her father, her mother Fenna and sister Helena, unaware. Years later, she's in the final stages of her doctorate degree in Biology and joins an expedition on the Endeavor where a team of researchers use a Remote submarine pod to explore a 12 km deep vent in the ocean. In the process Leigh takes samples of unknown algae and over the course of months, is tasked with genetically altering it to produce a gravity resistant strain for a space journey.
We learn that JPL has secretly engineered a propulsion technology that's hundreds if not thousands of times faster than others. Meanwhile radio telescopes have picked up signals from Datura, an oval shaped planet in the Oort cloud millions of light years away.
Being a bio-genetic specialist, Leigh is recruited to join the research team to continue her development of the algae strain that will be a food source for the eventual journey to Datura. Over the course of time, she's recruited to be a crew member as well.
The difficulty with the author's narrative, is he toggles back and forth between Leigh's family issues, back story, locations and time periods which made my head spin in wonder. There's nothing really unusual here with the exception of a space vehicle that travels at 9000 miles/second. Outside of that, its pacing, plot confusion and characters leave much to be desired
A Dutch family, Leigh was verbally and physically abused by her father, her mother Fenna and sister Helena, unaware. Years later, she's in the final stages of her doctorate degree in Biology and joins an expedition on the Endeavor where a team of researchers use a Remote submarine pod to explore a 12 km deep vent in the ocean. In the process Leigh takes samples of unknown algae and over the course of months, is tasked with genetically altering it to produce a gravity resistant strain for a space journey.
We learn that JPL has secretly engineered a propulsion technology that's hundreds if not thousands of times faster than others. Meanwhile radio telescopes have picked up signals from Datura, an oval shaped planet in the Oort cloud millions of light years away.
Being a bio-genetic specialist, Leigh is recruited to join the research team to continue her development of the algae strain that will be a food source for the eventual journey to Datura. Over the course of time, she's recruited to be a crew member as well.
The difficulty with the author's narrative, is he toggles back and forth between Leigh's family issues, back story, locations and time periods which made my head spin in wonder. There's nothing really unusual here with the exception of a space vehicle that travels at 9000 miles/second. Outside of that, its pacing, plot confusion and characters leave much to be desired
August 21, 2023
In Ascension is one of these head-scratching novels where my feelings towards it have swung widely from "this is sensational " ( Part 1 ), to "why is there so much excitement about algae" ( Part 2 ) to can we just get into space already (Part 3) and then finally "Huh ?"
However, it's sticking with me somehow. I find myself mulling over the big questions, the origin of life on earth, Panspermia, the Femi Paradox, just how deep that vent went and most importantly is this going to make it on the Booker shortlist.
I think that this is a book that is going to frustrate serious readers of science fiction because there isn't enough world-building or fleshing out of some of these ideas. There are slow-moving sections about caring for an ageing mother ( I liked these parts but I can see how for some they might not work ) and ALOT of pre-departure futzing around .... I am not entirely sure I know what the author's thesis is nor if it makes much sense, scientifically or otherwise.
However, I applaud the pitch-perfectness of Part One and certain brilliantly done space scenes later in the novel.
In some ineffable way, I find this novel haunts me and yet I could be easily persuaded its all a bit of nonsense ....
However, it's sticking with me somehow. I find myself mulling over the big questions, the origin of life on earth, Panspermia, the Femi Paradox, just how deep that vent went and most importantly is this going to make it on the Booker shortlist.
I think that this is a book that is going to frustrate serious readers of science fiction because there isn't enough world-building or fleshing out of some of these ideas. There are slow-moving sections about caring for an ageing mother ( I liked these parts but I can see how for some they might not work ) and ALOT of pre-departure futzing around .... I am not entirely sure I know what the author's thesis is nor if it makes much sense, scientifically or otherwise.
However, I applaud the pitch-perfectness of Part One and certain brilliantly done space scenes later in the novel.
In some ineffable way, I find this novel haunts me and yet I could be easily persuaded its all a bit of nonsense ....
September 22, 2023
Živo me zanima hoće li jedan ovakav mek saj faj uzeti Bukera. Kontam da je preblizu žanru za tako nešto i da je širi izbor svakako uspeh, ali biće zanimljivo ispratiti.
Malo je gadno „upozoriti“ na ovu knjigu, jer time se ipak nešto o njoj otkriva (a naslovnica – i to kakva! – dovoljno je sugestivna), ali kontam da je vredno pomena – ako neko mrzi nerešena pitanja i manje-više simboličan razrešetak, In Ascension nije knjiga vredna čitanja. A ako neko voli onu tanku ivicu između neverovatne lepote (a u nastavku i naše prirode) i zaprepašćujuće jezivosti svemira, plus ne smetaju mu pasusi i pasusi i pasusi (i pasusi!) lirske introspekcije, In Ascension je ta knjiga. MakInesov roman je sve ono što je Interstelar u filmskom svetu mogao biti da a) Nolan zna da piše ženske likove, b) Nolan nije pomalo patetičan pripovedač. Epopeja od okeanskih dubina i evolutivnih početaka do kraja univerzuma, o ljudskoj samoći i blizini – roman o kontradikciji, jer jebiga, biti živ znači i ne-biti.
p.s. I ispušio MakInes za Bukera :)
5-
Malo je gadno „upozoriti“ na ovu knjigu, jer time se ipak nešto o njoj otkriva (a naslovnica – i to kakva! – dovoljno je sugestivna), ali kontam da je vredno pomena – ako neko mrzi nerešena pitanja i manje-više simboličan razrešetak, In Ascension nije knjiga vredna čitanja. A ako neko voli onu tanku ivicu između neverovatne lepote (a u nastavku i naše prirode) i zaprepašćujuće jezivosti svemira, plus ne smetaju mu pasusi i pasusi i pasusi (i pasusi!) lirske introspekcije, In Ascension je ta knjiga. MakInesov roman je sve ono što je Interstelar u filmskom svetu mogao biti da a) Nolan zna da piše ženske likove, b) Nolan nije pomalo patetičan pripovedač. Epopeja od okeanskih dubina i evolutivnih početaka do kraja univerzuma, o ljudskoj samoći i blizini – roman o kontradikciji, jer jebiga, biti živ znači i ne-biti.
p.s. I ispušio MakInes za Bukera :)
5-
Shelved as 'dnfs'
August 6, 2023DNF at 20%
the writing is beautiful, but its not enough to make up for a story that is so sorely lacking in interesting character dynamics. ive just hit a point in the novel where my patience has run out; beautiful writing can only engage me for so long before i start craving an actual story.
the writing is beautiful, but its not enough to make up for a story that is so sorely lacking in interesting character dynamics. ive just hit a point in the novel where my patience has run out; beautiful writing can only engage me for so long before i start craving an actual story.
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