In Ascension (2023) by Martin Macinnes

 Book Review

In Ascension (2023)

by Martin MacInnes

   The Guardian review of In Ascension, the third novel by Scottish author Martin MacInnes because it was a clear example of the literary fiction x science fiction genre-crossover that I enjoy.  MacInnes doesn't have a high profile in the US and I'm not sure what the situation is in the UK- In Ascension is not what you would call a hit- it's too different, but it was very interesting, and I really enjoyed the Audiobook, narrated by Freya Miller.    Miller speaks in the voice of narrator and protagonist Leigh Hasenbock, a Dutch biologist specializing in ancient forms of life like Arcahea.  Arcahea branch off from bacteria and they play a huge and little understood part of microscopic existence.   I actually read The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life (2018) by David Quammen back in 2019, and he provides much of the background you would need to understand Hasenbock's scientic specialization.

  Not that In Ascension is "hard sci fi."  Quite the opposite.  MacInnes presents the book in five separate parts- part one is about the physical and psychological abuse Hasenbock suffered as a child at the hands of her father, a frustrated architect in charge of administering Dutch polders.    We pick up in the present day with Hasenbock on a boat in the middle of nowhere Pacific ocean, a junior member of a vessel exploring a hole in the ocean which is many times deeper than the Marianas trench.  This part reads like reportage with an ominous frisson of sci fi anxiety- they can't measure the depth of the hole in the ocean! People who swim around inside the ocean near the hole feel funny when they get out of the ocean!

  Fast forward, and Hasenbock is recruited to work on a highly secretive project which seemingly has something to do with an announcement that there has been a scientific breakthrough which will shortly lead to interstellar travel.  It's part Kubrick, part Tarkovsky and part Booker nominee level literary fiction.  

  I did want to mention that the Guardian review I read seemed to indicate that there wasn't a proper resolution but the edition I listened to very much did provide an ending- so not sure what happened there.   The Audiobook was great- loved Freya Miller and her voice. MacInnes deserves a higher profile in America and def will check out his other two books.