An elegiac voyage through these questions, a vaulting exploration of the interplay between the micro and the macro, the human and the otherworldly ... Leigh’s connection to, and reverence for, the natural world is profoundly moving. MacInnes’s descriptions are lush, almost devotional at times.
Moves beyond the tactile, intimate surrealism of his prior books to tell a more epic if also more conventional story ... Lovely, energizing scenes ... Comes to life in awe-inspiring, tragic and life-affirming ways.
A thrilling, thought-provoking celebration of the marvels and mysteries of the universe ... The novel is beautifully constructed, each of its parts snapping together satisfyingly ... Few novels toggle so beautifully between the minute and the vast, the personal and the theoretical, the quotidian and the extraordinary, the knowable and the unfathomable. In Ascension raises big questions about the universe and humanity’s place in it. Even better, it evokes wonder at every turn.
Eel-slippery ... Gloriously hard to pin down. He dangles the pacy trappings of a space odyssey – missing scientists, a cryptic interstellar message, a paradox or two – but what he actually delivers is an unhurried tale of inner space ... His book is a primer to marvel.
Extends his range and should add to his reputation. This time he takes the tropes of science fiction and, in five leisurely parts, turns them inward ... The long, slow process to get from the deepest part of the planet to the farthest reaches of space is described in this long, slow-moving book. The story blooms so subtly, like a flower unfurling, that the reader hardly notices the dramatic developments until they suddenly are upon us ... The mystery of where Leigh will end up is so enticing that it’s a shame when the last substantive section of the book returns us to Earth and family life, with a thud of crammed backstory and a few future shocks. But an uncertain finish doesn’t damage what went before. Indeed, it’s an apt approach for a book that reminds us to value above all the journey we are on, and the world we live in.
It would be wrong to suggest that Scottish writer Martin MacInnes cheats the reader of the satisfactions of solution. He is not a frustrating or peekaboo author: quite the reverse. And yet, though his novels tell stories that hang on mysteries, his distinctiveness as a writer does not depend on plot reveals ... The whole novel is beautifully written: richly atmospheric, full of brilliantly evoked detail, never sacrificing the grounded verisimilitude of lived experience to its vast mysteries, but also capturing a numinous, vatic strangeness that hints at genuine profundities about life. Nobody else writes like MacInnes, and this magnificent book is his best yet.
Daring and execution are in perfect alignment. I would sincerely hope to see it on various prize shortlists ... The novel’s intellectual daring is formidable ... This is fiction which is both stellar and grounded; an exemplar of what the novel alone can still do.
To the handful of recent classics such as Richard Powers' The Overstory and Kim Stanley Robinson's The Ministry for the Future can be added Martin MacInnes' In Ascension... The richness of the novel is endlessly rewarding. In Ascension is a far-reaching epic that blends a deep scientific knowledge with a wide-eyed wonder at our place in the universe.
...the two storylines are closer to a double exposure. Individually, they compel – MacInnes is especially sharp on the practicalities and politicking of humanity’s first manned interplanetary mission; the rub of egos, the buzz of working on an 'insane' project. But taken together, they blur. The effect is not unlike Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar – the book’s closest twin, despite being a film. Nolan, too, tried to mesh the intimate with the grandiose. In MacInnes’s novel, the overall impact is monumental, but chilly, lacking the warmth of human scale. Still, MacInnes has no lack of gumption, and for a longish book, In Ascension rarely slips from G-inducing pace. It’s that rare thing: a big, brawny novel of ideas that’s actually readable. And for that considerable achievement, MacInnes deserves praise. It’s no small thing, after all, to reach for the stars.
MacInnes wrongfoots genre expectations in order to deliver longer-lasting excitement ... Blockbuster territory, for sure, but MacInnes unspools his disaster scenario at near-glacial pace, slowly cranking the tension as he embarks on a shattering investigation of nothing less than humanity’s place in the cosmos. The complex and troubling result unsettles magical thinking about the environment.
The novel lags during dialogue-heavy scenes; the characters’ interactions can be somewhat stilted and drawn out, and Leigh’s steady and often monotone narration can be frustrating in its lack of emotional edge. But readers of speculative fiction will appreciate this intellectually rich addition to the canon, which considers what new discoveries might tell humans about ourselves and the planet we inhabit. An interesting investigation of home and interpersonal responsibilities through deep-sea and far-space travel.
