Taste_in_Books's Reviews > In Ascension

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.