First, I give my profuse thanks to the publisher, Atlantic, for the early copy of this book in exchange for this review. I was immensely excited to read this after it made the longlist for the esteemed Booker Prize, so I floundered about looking for a way to get my hands on it. NetGalley to the rescue.

The primary character of this book, Leigh, is a Dutch scientist who was raised by an abusive father and somewhat indifferent mother. Early in childhood she develops a fascination with water (perhaps because her father works in a civil/government job for the Water Board. Leigh fixates on the tiniest organisms in water, single cell with no nuclei and imagines their evolutionary journey to the humans of her generation. As a side note, I think this book takes place in about 2029, so very near future.

Leigh earns her doctorate in marine biology and seizes every opportunity to study - the remote lakes of the Azores, and an opportunity to explore the deepest depths of the Atlantic, in a newly-discovered chasm that appears to be several times deeper than the Marianas Trench. She spends several weeks at sea, diving a few times into this trench collecting samples and observing.

Eventually, Leigh finds herself employed at a a company that represents several nations as they endeavor to transcend the known universe. The recent development of new technology to enable more distant exploration of space leads to a mission to send scientists into the great unknown. Leigh's job, primarily, is to develop an algae that can be grown in space and serve as a primary source of nutrients for crew. Leigh devotes herself to this task even as changes and developments in her personal life fight for her attention.

It's not lost on me that Leigh's journey is metaphoric as well as literal, but the problem for me is that Leigh was such a boring, robotic person that I just couldn't care about her. I felt, much to my frustration, that the algae she grew was as important a character as she was. Yet this was a book that I read propulsively, despite the fact that I was often underwhelmed. I wish Leigh had been developed more, given more personality.

I think, as I let this book marinate in the recesses of my brain, it will begin to make a lot more sense. Maybe it can be a Matrix-like film someday. I think it would be a good one.

Looking at the length of this book, and reading other reviews I was a little nervous the story would go over my head, or just wouldn't resonate with me.

Having finished it, my experience was the opposite. While the overall pacing of the story is pretty slow, I could not put this down (especially once I hit the second half of the book). I was absolutely taken by the story, the science, the writing. If you’re a fan of Annihilation, or Arrival, or have a love for really beautifully written near-future science fiction I think you’ll love this story too.

Overall, this book floored me. I really enjoyed it, and I have a feeling I’ll be thinking about it for a while. Rounding up from 4.5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

I agree with the reviewer who said this one gives Our Wives Under the Sea vibes but with a dude. Strong start, but like The Martian, it got a bit academic in the middle and I lost steam with this one.

It's basically Our Wives Under the Sea if it were written by a dude whose favorite movie is Ad Astra. As with both of those projects, a lot the world-building ideas are fascinating and compelling but the story's ultimate conclusion lands pretty flat.

Kind of a bummer because during the Endeavour and Datura sections of this novel, I was thinking it was something really special, but it couldn't stick the landing.

DNF at 75%
Oh gosh, this one made me tired. I like sci-fi and had high hopes for this book, after all, it´s a nominee for a Booker Prize. However, I found very little that would interest me here. I like the beginning and the family story, but then something happens. The story slows down even more and it feels so heavy, it keeps dragging on and on. There are interesting parts regarding the environment, but it´s not enough to make a book great.

Unfortunately for me, this was a DNF. I made it to just over 20% before I decided not to read on. It just wasn't my cup of tea and I could not get into the story at all.

I LOVED the beginning and ending of In Ascension. Some of the best writing, characters, and story I've read in a really long time. The middle lost me just a tiny little bit, and I do think the same thing could have been accomplished in shorter pages. Nonetheless, this is a great book!

This book had a lot of promise at the start, but the further it went on, the lower my interest was. I liked the youthful amazement given to the young protagonist and her experience at the deep sea trench, but when the story progressed to California it just got too diluted.
I also did not like the numerous similarities to Contact and the Abyss. Those two stories (book and movies) show the way humans would deal with the unexplainable better than In Ascension. Their main characters are also more believable and likeable than the protagonist here.
To end, the family drama felt a bit stapled on. It was as if the author was afraid to make this story a true speculative (or god forbid we say SF) book, that they put the family drama to make it more appealing to the general audiences.
Thia book shpuld have chosen a path and stuck with it, not switched lanes every other chapter.

The premise was so intriguing and had a lot of potential – I really wanted to like this. I felt especially pulled in at the beginning of the book and there was some beautiful writing when we are first introduced to the protagonist and what leads her towards her looming discovery and adventure.

However, the middle dragged on with long, overexplained scientific paragraphs. While the scientific and technical language could have been interesting, it instead seemed to be included to flex knowledge and not to advance the story. I wanted more from the plot and the characters, but instead found both elements somewhat boring and problematic.

The most interesting part of the story (for me) happens when we finally get a different character's POV, but even then, we are only reminded of just how horrible the protagonist’s family members are (and how uninteresting she is as a protagonist.)

For a book that felt way too long, the ending also left me thinking, “That’s it”?

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars.

I spent the majority of the time I was reading this literary hard science fiction novel thinking it was a 4 star read (I'm still rounding it up since half stars are not an option here). Despite the fact that much of it was basically a monologue imparting information with only a fraction of the time spent on things actually happening, I felt it was provocative and touched on a lot of intriguing ideas and speculations on life, its origins and natural caps, its filters and meaning. But in the end so many answers are just left so vague that I wasn’t satisfied.

Leigh is a marine biologist who, as a student, has the opportunity to work on a ship researching a newly discovered deep sea vent. This anomaly shows up at the same time it is announced that engineers have discovered a new way to travel through space that will allow crewed missions to go much, much farther than it was ever believed they could. At the same time, an apparent message is received from distant space, and these things may be related to the previously undiscovered archaea located in the deep sea vent that induces strange effects in anyone exposed to it.

Having been part of the deep sea vent exploration, and with her research on algae providing a viable option for nutrition for crewed missions during interstellar travel, Leigh finds herself at the center of a project aiming to send a response to the message received from beyond the stars. Against this backdrop, she tackles questions of isolation and communication. These fixations inherited from her childhood become interwoven with the work she is doing, and how it all circles back to nothing less than life itself.

This is not an easy read; it will require your full attention and much of your brain power. It is, however, thought-provoking, and profound. But as I said, the more concrete questions it raises are answered too vaguely, leaving me feeling a bit cheated at the end.

Ascension is a clever novel with a slow burn of a plot and a cracker of an ending.
When MacInnes's writing hits its stride it is very good - compelling edge-of-your seat suspense with intelligently drawn characters. Unfortunately there are a fair few chapters loaded with technical and scientific information which I found reasonably interesting but a bit of struggle to get through.
Weaving Leigh's past and how she dwells on her parents' and sister's lives in relation to her own is an engaging counterbalance to the focused direction of her current circumstance.
It was intriguing to consider the various ideas of Ascension which run through this plot. I would be keen to see what this author does next.

This is the second Booker-nominated novel I’ve read recently, and based on this evidence, I’m a little astonished it didn’t make it to the shortlist, particularly when I compare how more compelling a read I found it versus the eventual winner.
We are (un)willing passengers on a journey that plumbs the depths of our planet and seeks out what may exist at the outer limits of our universe. These voyages take time, naturally, and the plot often moves at a glacial pace.
Nonetheless, it is an excellent piece of literary fiction and an accessible form of science fiction that seems more like science fact. It’s highbrow food for thought and an intimate exploration of our humanity, our very existence and connectedness with Mother Earth and how we should seek to preserve and embrace, not destroy that singular bond.
My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for granting this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review..

Wow, I loved this! It’s about life and life cycles, how it began, how it ends and everything from single cell organisms to humans. There’s lots of mystery, nothing is fully explained still I was immersed in the writing and found it hard to stop reading. The ending is the beginning.

Although I must confess that science-fiction (as this book has been broadly categorised) is not a genre that I generally reach for, its synopsis and style contains several elements which should appeal to my tastes as a reader: an ambiguous protagonist with a complicated past; lucid, yet careful prose; a cleverly integrated interest in the climate crisis.

The first quarter of the novel - in which we are introduced to our narrator, Leigh, a marine biologist embarking on a strange, loosely nautical expedition - was captivating, told in a way which was both vaguely, disconcertingly uncanny (at any time, it seemed, something lurking below the ocean's surface might emerge or attack) and quiet, calm and precise. While at times told at such length that it almost veered into technobabble, the science appeared (at least to this non-scientifically-minded reader) convincing and believable, and I felt reasonably briefed as to the technicalities of Leigh's work and her place in the project as a whole,

That being said, however, as the book progressed, the same aspects which had previously been so compelling - the hazy details, the mysterious connection between Leigh and the wider interests of her fellow researchers and their employers - seemed to fizzle out; its length began to feel less like a sign of authorial ambition than one of a bloated, under-edited, and possibly undercooked plot. While at its best, the novel invites favourable comparisons to Jeff VanderMeer's Annihilation, an atmospheric sci-fi which benefitted from its concise, tight structure, this one sadly missed the mark for me - although I would definitely be interested to see what MacInnes does next.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Press for this free ARC ebook!

I finished IN ASCENSION almost 2 months ago now, but am only getting around to writing a review now - and in some ways, I am glad for the delay, because it is the type of book that has marinated with time and grown to be more interesting the more I think about it.

IN ASCENSION follows Leigh, a marine microbiologist who studies life in the harshest climates under the sea. She boards the Endeavour, a ship on a voyage to explore a hydrothermal vent under the Atlantic Ocean, where the scientific expedition finds an anomaly that takes the rest of the book on a journey from the deepest places on earth to the farthest expanses of our solar system.

IN ASCENSION was initially billed to me as a literary science-fiction book, but I think this description set false expectations for me about world-building that colored my initial experience reading this book. Instead, I would describe it as a literary and metaphorical explanation of what it means to be alive and to be human - which happens to explore these themes at the extremes of our world. That said, there are places where I felt the execution of this really fascinating premise could have been tighter - in particular, the author is fairly heavy-handed with the descriptions of the childhood trauma that defines the relationship between Leigh and her parents. These often slow the pace of the book's narrative and break up otherwise propulsive sections. But even these sections, which sometimes feel like a distraction in the beginning of the book, come together with the plot by the end.

A comparable artistic experience for me was that of watching 2001: A Space Odyssey - if you let the science fiction plot elements guide you along this slow and moving reflection on shared human experience and responsibility, you might find yourself reflecting on its themes days, weeks, and months later. I will look forward to rereading.

I actually really enjoyed this, but the author was heavy handed at times. I also felt like the last chapter was unnecessary— both the sister’s perspective and their plunge into primordial earth. It was stronger leaving the idea of them reseeding the earth as implied. I was more interested in the effects on their world that the sister hints at: children who struggle with speech, high rates of dependence and helplessness among the young, higher rates of senility, loss in visual perception globally, weakness in their limbs…

These things are mentioned but never actually shown. So what was the point of having her sister mention them? She stumbles once due to her weak bones walking to the post office, but happily treks around an island a few pages later… makes little sense.

This is part of why it feels a ham fisted and forced. The sister only says these things because the author wants to make it clear that the same effects that began to change the astronauts are happening on earth, presumably because of continued use of the power. Beyond that, it has no utility so it’s just dropped.

I also don’t understand why we needed so much thought from her sister on whether she was actually abused by their father and how she made herself a victim. If we did need it to the amount in the book, can someone explain why this is right at the close of the book??? Helena ended up coming off just as self-aggrandizing and self-absorbed as she felt Leigh to be. With so little time left to grapple with these emotions and no potential resolution , why did we waste several pages on that?

Fat in need of a trim.

I’ll be nice so I won’t say it was bloated, but it was too long.

I can understand why this was long listed for the Booker, but not surprised it wasn’t shortlisted.

Lands somewhere between a 3 and a 3.5 for me.

I DNF’d at 34%. This book was so slow. I purchased a physical copy though because I feel like this is the type of book I will grow into. I want to read it when I am in the mood for a slow burn and really appreciate it.

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 Netgalley and Atlantic Books for the review copy!

This is just the kind of book I like, a smart novel with a science-y story that keeps me on the edge of my seat. In this case, there is both extreme marine biology, in the case of life-originating organisms found in deep ocean trenches, and deep space, in the exploration of the outer limits of our universe. The writing, which is both smart and easy to understand, drew me in in the best way as I raced to see the outcome for the main character, Leigh.

It's hard to say much about In Ascension without giving away the plot. Suffice it to say that the surprises are worth it. The family-oriented parts of this story are weaker than the scientific ones, but I didn’t mind them. Leigh is a complicated character from a Dutch family in which her father was abusive and her mother detached. Along with her increasing science pursuits, Leigh has to deal with her mother’s deteriorating health, but in this, Leigh has her sister to help.

Exploration of deep sea and deep space, and the possible discovery of the origins of life, make this novel unique. Highly recommended.

Thanks for NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my review.

A strange, lonely, complicated book with a simple story at its heart, about belonging and coming home. Several times I wanted to give up but something made me keep going, much like the characters themselves. The ending is worth what was sometimes a slog. Compelling. I'm glad I read it.