A review by insectoidreviews
Ascension by Jacqueline Koyanagi
5.0
I ended up reading Ascension in a night since it moved fast. Two things that I liked right off the bat is that Alana is introduced as black through mentioning her hair style, she immediately talks about being disabled, and then 5 pages in we find out she is a huge lesbian. It’s just really nice to read a novel that starts off right the bat with the queer themes.
Alana’s chronic illness affects her joints and muscles but is managed with medication. The medication isn’t cheap and the anxiety and worry about affording it is very realistic. I was originally worried that Koyanagi would take the magic bullet route with curing Alana’s disability when a cure is first offered. However, that is not the route taken which is wonderful because we do not need anymore “magically cured disabled” or “no disabled people”. It turns out that this is an Own Voices novel since Koyanagi has chronic illnesses and drew on her experiences. Alana’s resentment with her sister not taking care of herself is one of the threads in the book and I appreciated how her sister, Nova, acts as a foil to Alana. There is also a subplot that involves trauma which is so subtle and yet ties so well into the twist.
Part of why I liked Ascension is that it uses magic in a space opera setting. At first, it wasn’t clear to me that there are two universes that people travel between. Alana’s universe is one where magic is used to keep living ships healthy and as well to help people with their worries. The Otherside is introduced as a technologically superior universe that has been selling its tech to different universes. Transliminal Solutions is the big corporation from the Otherside that perhaps has a cure for Alana’s condition, but at a steep cost. It was not until halfway through the novel that I realized there was two universes involved. The extra dimensions of multiple realities existing was an interesting addition to magic in space. I appreciated that the magic had some basis in physics, but it still remained the fantastical elements. I also enjoyed the world building around ships since it hit on several motifs I love — spaceships singing, empathic bonds between ship and crew, and ships having organic components.
The other part of of the book that really pops is the character design. If I were to be asked to draw any of the characters, I would be able to without hesitation since the descriptions were so vivid and well done. I particularly liked the design of Marre which has a heavy bee motif but also is very uncanny. The crew that Alana joins is very much a group of scrappy misfits.
The steamy romance between Alana and Tev, the captain of the Tangled Axon hits all the high marks for me. Koyanagi blends together all the good, good tropes to make an intense romance from the classic “enemies to lovers” to “hurt,comfort”. It feels like a romance novel in sections. I just love the melodramatic bits:
She was almost whispering now, breath hot on my lips. “I can’t stand how much like my dreams you smell;it’s torture. You are torture. You wear metal on your skin like you’re made of it, and it bites at me every time you’re around. No matter how many showers I take, I smell your scent on me, on this ship, while I’m trying to sleep. I don’t understand it, and can’t stand it.
This sort of interaction just makes me grin so hard while reading. There is also a thread about loving spaceships and spaceships loving their crew which is the kind of thing I just absolutely eat up.
The plot is fast paced and solid. I did not see the twist coming. It was very much what I did not expect. The one quibble I have about the plot is the amount of time spent on Alana trying to wrap her head around the fact that Tev is polyamorous and in a open relation. It honestly felt too long and was frustrating because of the focus on Alana being from a monogamous culture. I liked the fact found family was a really heavy theme which fits into the poly subplot very well. Once the communication issues are through, the relationships are full of respect and kindness. Not only that, it is made clear that the crew of the ship accepts Alana into their family despite the fact she stowed away on their ship and causes some havoc. It is a big contrast to how Nova treats Alana (despite being overly supportive in Alana’s romantic life).
I absolutely recommend Ascension. It does many things, but it does it well. It works well as a stand alone novel, but it if any sequels are published I would not hesitate to pick them up.
Content Warnings: assault/violence
Alana’s chronic illness affects her joints and muscles but is managed with medication. The medication isn’t cheap and the anxiety and worry about affording it is very realistic. I was originally worried that Koyanagi would take the magic bullet route with curing Alana’s disability when a cure is first offered. However, that is not the route taken which is wonderful because we do not need anymore “magically cured disabled” or “no disabled people”. It turns out that this is an Own Voices novel since Koyanagi has chronic illnesses and drew on her experiences. Alana’s resentment with her sister not taking care of herself is one of the threads in the book and I appreciated how her sister, Nova, acts as a foil to Alana. There is also a subplot that involves trauma which is so subtle and yet ties so well into the twist.
Part of why I liked Ascension is that it uses magic in a space opera setting. At first, it wasn’t clear to me that there are two universes that people travel between. Alana’s universe is one where magic is used to keep living ships healthy and as well to help people with their worries. The Otherside is introduced as a technologically superior universe that has been selling its tech to different universes. Transliminal Solutions is the big corporation from the Otherside that perhaps has a cure for Alana’s condition, but at a steep cost. It was not until halfway through the novel that I realized there was two universes involved. The extra dimensions of multiple realities existing was an interesting addition to magic in space. I appreciated that the magic had some basis in physics, but it still remained the fantastical elements. I also enjoyed the world building around ships since it hit on several motifs I love — spaceships singing, empathic bonds between ship and crew, and ships having organic components.
The other part of of the book that really pops is the character design. If I were to be asked to draw any of the characters, I would be able to without hesitation since the descriptions were so vivid and well done. I particularly liked the design of Marre which has a heavy bee motif but also is very uncanny. The crew that Alana joins is very much a group of scrappy misfits.
The steamy romance between Alana and Tev, the captain of the Tangled Axon hits all the high marks for me. Koyanagi blends together all the good, good tropes to make an intense romance from the classic “enemies to lovers” to “hurt,comfort”. It feels like a romance novel in sections. I just love the melodramatic bits:
She was almost whispering now, breath hot on my lips. “I can’t stand how much like my dreams you smell;it’s torture. You are torture. You wear metal on your skin like you’re made of it, and it bites at me every time you’re around. No matter how many showers I take, I smell your scent on me, on this ship, while I’m trying to sleep. I don’t understand it, and can’t stand it.
This sort of interaction just makes me grin so hard while reading. There is also a thread about loving spaceships and spaceships loving their crew which is the kind of thing I just absolutely eat up.
The plot is fast paced and solid. I did not see the twist coming. It was very much what I did not expect. The one quibble I have about the plot is the amount of time spent on Alana trying to wrap her head around the fact that Tev is polyamorous and in a open relation. It honestly felt too long and was frustrating because of the focus on Alana being from a monogamous culture. I liked the fact found family was a really heavy theme which fits into the poly subplot very well. Once the communication issues are through, the relationships are full of respect and kindness. Not only that, it is made clear that the crew of the ship accepts Alana into their family despite the fact she stowed away on their ship and causes some havoc. It is a big contrast to how Nova treats Alana (despite being overly supportive in Alana’s romantic life).
I absolutely recommend Ascension. It does many things, but it does it well. It works well as a stand alone novel, but it if any sequels are published I would not hesitate to pick them up.
Content Warnings: assault/violence