Monday, December 3, 2018

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Ascension by Jacqueline Koyanagi




Ascension is a SciFi book that has a lot of ideas and doesn't quite succeed at putting all of them together in a way to make them all payoff.  And yet Ascension succeeds with a lot of ideas, and the resultant book is one that I really liked.  In a way, Ascension reminded me a bit of Becky Chambers' A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, in that it features a crew of misfits in a journey through space, with our viewpoint character trying to find her place amongst them as one of their family.  Unlike Chambers' work, Ascension does have a clear underlying plot and focuses largely on our lead protagonist a lot more than the rest of the cast.

The result however is a work that I enjoyed a lot, with a cast that's a lot of fun and whose learning to like and then love each other is a joy to read.  Not everything the book does works, as the plot kind of goes a bit off the deep end in the end, but the characters are a joy and I really want to read more about this crew (the book is subtitled as if it's the first in a series, but there's no sign of a sequel a few years later).


-------------------------------------------------Plot Summary------------------------------------------------
Alana Quick is a sky surgeon in a Universe that no longer appreciates the work of keeping beautiful ships flying through space.  Impoverished as a result, she refuses to take another job, and as a result is running out of money to pay for the medicine she needs for her anti-immune disorder, Mel's disease, which will eventually kill her.  The only reason she and her Aunt have money enough to pay for rent is the generosity of her wildly successful spiritual guide sister, Nova.  Meanwhile all those she knows are having to quit their jobs and work for Transliminal Solutions, a company from another universe that is fast taking over practically every line of business - and who holds the secret of curing Alana's disease.

But when a ship touches down in her shipyard looking for Nova, Alana stows away hoping desperately they'll keep her on as a mechanic.  But the ship, the Tangled Axon, is nothing like she could've imagined: the engineer has strange wolf-like tendencies, the ship's doctor doesn't have a license, and the pilot can't stop disappearing.  And then there's the Captain, a gorgeous woman who Alana desires almost immediately, but who is none too happy about having a new stowaway and is willing to do nearly anything in order to achieve her goals.  And those goals involve Alana's sister.

But those goals will force Alana and the Tangled Axon against Transliminal, the most powerful corporation in the multiverse, whose leader will stop at nothing to achieve its goals.  And as Alana finds herself on board the Tangled Axon and interacting more with the crew she can't help but wonder: is there really a place for her aboard this ship, as part of this family?
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Ascension is told from Alana Quick's first person point of view throughout, and this story is mostly her story as she tries to find herself on board Tangled Axon and its motley crew.  Alana's an easy character to root for - determined yet hamstrung by factors out of her control (poverty/illness), passionate about her dreams (working on a ship) and not willing to settle for less, you get the point.  And her attractions to things on the Tangled Axon - to its captain Tev, as well as to the ship itself, are written really well.

The rest of the cast is also really fun - whether it be Ovie - the engineer who's real spirit is that of a wolf, Slip the ship's doctor who is adventurous but wants a little more, Marre the disappearing and dying pilot, Nova - Alana's spirit guide sister, or Tev the ship's captain who will seemingly do anything (but not quite anything) in order to save those she cares about.  As I said before the jump, the cast reminds me of the crew of Becky Chambers' Wayfarer, which is a really positive comparison - each member of the crew has their own real personality and being, is more than a cliche, and is just easy to care about.   

Like those books, this story is in large part about Alana finding love and family and understanding how that love isn't finite and doesn't need to be exclusive.  So yeah, this is a story about a polyamorous family, and Alana coming to grips with what that means.  And it works really damn well, with the story logically framing it as being nothing different than how a person feels love toward a person as well as their vocation and has to balance the same.

If there is a major flaw with Ascension, it's with the ending, where a major reveal just seems incredibly cliche and out of nowhere, and then isn't really of major significance.  Then things are solved via a means that is just a bit too simple.  It's a minor fault in the book, which is otherwise wonderful due to the characters, so I didn't care that much about it.

Recommended.  The book's title suggests this was to be the first in a series about this crew, but as there's been nothing since 2013 from the author, it sadly looks like a sequel may not be coming.  Even so, this is well worth your time as a stand-alone.
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