In Ascension

A slowly told near future story of exploration, in the deep ocean, in space, inside ourselves. I particularly appreciated the themes of cooperation for survival. Individual strength may not be enough where a group can endure and thrive.

The scifi elements are handled lightly, told from the point of view of someone who doesn't know the details.

At the top of the mountain the view is spectacular, and then one must descend again.

Beautiful book.

"Even at this distance, Jupiter is incomprehensibly vast. We stare through the porthole at its soft milky hue, the watercolour whirls, repeating our unbelief. K looks at the settings on the screen showing the camera feed. Something in the rendering of Jupiter looks too virtual, too predictable. It's exactly like the images I've seen of it before. This is a senseless thing to say, of course, but I expected the gas giant to appear different when I saw it myself, so close. It looks too perfect, too controlled. It lacks independence, as if conforming to our expectations, which is ironically not what we expected at all. You're in shock, Tyler says. We all are. It isn't the camera, or the screen, K, it's us. We don't know how to see it." (357)

Hoped for a story like "Project hail Mary" but this is much slower paced. Started good. A bit like the film arrival. But find arrival as story even better.